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Manuel Mateo Bortuzzo was born in Trieste on May 3rd 1999, he moved to Treviso with his family. Since his childhood he has always been passionate about swimming. He attended the Centro Nuoto Portogruaro until 2013 and the Gruppo Hydros. Since the beginning of his career, the athlete has always been better than the others at swimming, and this has always been proved by the excellent results he obtained. He won everything that could be won, with results that exceeded the ones expected from the category he belonged to. In March 2015 he won gold in the 1500 m freestyle and bronze in 400m. He won the qualification for EYOF (European Youth Olympic Festival). Manuel shared his training sessions with the champions Gregorio Paltrinieri and Gabriele Detti, with the tutoring of Stefano Morini. Bortuzzo was then trained by the assistant Christian Galenda, and this is what encouraged him to leave the region of Veneto and move to Ostia for his training. His best last time among the Juniors of the 400m freestyle in 2017 was 3'4834 and it led him to win the bronze medal. Among his best times for short course 1'4819 in 200 m ; 3'4776 in 400 m and 15'1118 in 1500 m freestyle. Manuel Bortuzzo was a promising swimmer who was training at Centro Federale at Ostia. On February 3rd 2019, Manuel's life suddenly changed for ever during one evening that looked just like the other ones, together with his girlfriend. Due to a case of mistaken identity, he was wounded during a shooting. His dream and his efforts were broken by that shot. He resolutely went back to swimming for physiotherapy and, in November 2019, he declared that maybe there was still hope for him: the wound was not irreversibile, so he was willing to fight and not to stop hoping. Manuel's story moved Italy. He went to the heart of Italians thanks to his smile, his determined personality and his good example. Manuel appeared on Tv for the first time in the programme hosted by Giletti "L'Arena". In September 2019 Manuel participated as a commenter in the tv programme on RaiUno "Italia Sì", hosted by Marco Liorni together with Mauro Coruzzi, Rita Dalla Chiesa and Elena Santarelli. He also participate in many others tv and radio programmes, among which "Che Tempo Che Fa", "Domenica In", "Porta A Porta", "La vita in Diretta", "I Fatti Vostri", "L' Aria Che Tira", "Storie Italiane", Radio DeeJay, Radio Due, and Radio 105. Manuel Bortuzzo moved Italy with his story and what it stands for. His courage, his resilience, the example of how we should never give up. So he was awarded several important prizes:
* on September 23rd, 2019, he met the Head of State Sergio Mattarella, during the ceremony for the closing of summer centres for disabled people. The President thanked Bortuzzo publicly for the strength he transmits to all Italian people
* on February 18th, 2020, the Mayor of Rome Virginia Razzi awarded Manuel Bortuzzo the honorary citizenship of Rome for being a great example of courage and persistence.
* on October 2019 his book "Rinascere - L' anno in cui ho ricominciato a vincere" was published by Rizzoli.
Today Manuel continues his physiotherapy and his training in the pool with the primary aim of going back to walking as soon as possible and, perhaps, taking part in the 2021 Olympic Games.
