"Stacchioti
Does The Improbable"
NICOSIA, 4 June 2009
- Luxembourg was heaping praise on teenage swimmer Raphaël
Stacchiotti following his remarkable gold medal haul in
swimming at the 2009 XIII Games of the Small States of
Europe.
The French speaking newspaper La Voix, in its Thursday
edition, features on the front of its six-page pull-out
a picture of 17-year-old Stacchiotti. To sum up his
success, the daily newspaper took the title from the
French novelist Boris Vian’s book ‘L'écume des jours’
(Froth on the daydream) to state how Stacchiotti had
achieved the impossible.
“Five finals, five golds. Raphaël Stacchiotti left
nothing to chance at the Limassol Swimming Pool. The
dolphin is now the star of the games just two days into
the competition”, read the front page.
Stacchiotti took the gold medal in the 200m backstroke,
100m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 100m backstroke
and 400m freestyle.