Name: Santo Condorelli
Country: Canada
Events: Men's Swimming 50m and 100m Free, 100m Fly, 4x100m Free and 4x100m Medley Relays
Santo Condorelli was made for the international stage. The USC swimmer was born in Japan, raised in Oregon, prepped in Florida and competes for Canada (his mother's native country).
He will take his diverse background and several nations of support to Rio 2016 for his first Olympic Games. Condorelli plans on making the experience count by qualifying to swim in five different events.
The 21-year-old finished first in the 100m free and second in the 200m free at the Canadian Olympic Trials, but he was disqualified from the 100m butterfly competition for a non-simultaneous touch. However, he came back to set the national record in the 100m fly at a meet last month in Indianapolis, which prompted Canada to make him the team's only entrant in Rio for the event.
Before this Olympics, Condorelli was best known for his obscene, but loving gesture to his father before every race. The idea behind it is that despite his relative lack of size for the sport, he refuses to be intimidated by the competition.
"I was always taught to relax behind the blocks," Condorelli said. "Not to get too tense or excited, it's just a constant reminder for me to reflect on what I've done in the past, how I've been training, how I've been putting in the work. Yeah these guys might be doing the same but I know I'm better than everybody else I'm about to race."
