The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, congratulated swimmer Diogo Ribeiro on Monday for winning the silver medal in the 50-meter butterfly at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, “a historic feat.”
“The President of the Republic congratulates the swimmer Diogo Ribeiro for the historic achievement in Portuguese swimming, having won the first medal for Portugal in the final of the World Swimming Championships”, can be read on the official website of the presidency on the Internet.
The President of the Government, António Costa, also sees Diogo Ribeiro’s feat as historic for national swimming.
“I congratulate Diogo Ribeiro for winning the silver medal in the 50-meter butterfly at the World Swimming Championships. It is a historic result for national swimming. Congratulations to our runner-up!” António Costa wrote on Twitter.
The President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, was also proud.
“I salute the new world runner-up in the 50-meter butterfly, Diogo Ribeiro. It is a qualitative leap in Portuguese swimming, which opens horizons and fills us with pride”, can be read on Santos Silva’s Twitter.
The Benfica swimmer, junior world record holder in the distance, swam the final in 22.80 seconds, a new national record, finishing just behind the Italian Thomas Ceccon (22.68) and immediately ahead of the Frenchman Maxime Grousset (22.82), third.
Diogo Ribeiro, who is making his debut in the senior World Cup, gave Portugal its first medal, bettering Alexandre Yokochi’s fifth place in the 200-meter breaststroke in Madrid 1986, with Ana Barros, eighth in the 50-meter backstroke in Perth 1991, the other Portuguese finalist in the World Cup.
Source: TSF
