By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Giusy Cisale and Retta Race contributed to this report.
Italian Olympic swimmer Chiara Tarnatino has opened up about the Singapore shoplifting ordeal in an interview with La Gazzetta dell Mezzogiorno.
The 23-year-old from Puglia, who swam on Italy’s 400 free relay that made the finals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, recently returned from a 90 day suspension for her part in a shoplifting scandal at the Singapore airport after last summer’s World Championships.
Tarantino, then 22, and her teammate Benedetta Pilato, then 20, were caught stealing from a duty free shop after the World Championships.
According to reports, security cameras appeared to show the athletes placing items into a bag and leaving without paying for them. The duo was held for several hours before being released. This happened on the return home from a vacation in Bali following the Singapore-hosted World Championships.
Singapore authorities doled out a 12-month conditional warning with the swimmers also having been banned from entering Singapore, a significant punishment given the country’s penchant for hosting elite international swimming events, including previous stops of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.
“This experience, although truly awful, helped me grow as a person and made me settle down. I realized that swimming is truly a part of me,” Tarantino explained , highlighting how being away from the pool has strengthened her awareness of her connection to the sport.
She cited the break from the routine as one of the most difficult parts of the suspension, especially early on. The lack of daily training and teamwork required an adaptation process that the athlete faced gradually, accepting the consequences and focusing on the restart.
She also distanced herself from social media.
In the interview, she also took personal responsibility for the incident.
“To err is human, no one is perfect. Today I feel more responsible. I know my worth and I can’t wait to get back on the pool deck to prove it,” she said.
Chiara, who deleted her social media profiles after the incident, responded to a post by Pilato after the incident that distanced herself from it. Pilato said at the time that she “had been indirectly involved in an unpleasant episode,” which she later deleted.
Pilato later admitted her guilt in front of a tribunal, though.
Tarantino responded diplomatically to a question about what happened that day and Pilato’s post.
“I think we both truly know what happened,” Tarantino said. “I took responsibility for what I did because I decided to follow this path, which is always the right one in my opinion. As for the rest, everyone decides what to do with their own lives and will accept the consequences.”
As for now Tarantino is two meets back into racing, having competed in Milan in February (very slowly in prelims and a time trial of the 100 free) and then in Lausanne two weeks ago (where she won the 200 free in 2:01.16).
She said that her return to racing was more symbolic than about results, with a goal to rediscover the joy of competition without the obsession of time. She was also called up to a national sprint training camp in Ostia.
Pilato, meanwhile, has competed four times in 2026: the first two in Italy, then more recently in Portugal in February and at the Spanish Open Championships in March: all meets relatively outside of the Italian spotlight. She won the 50 breaststroke (30.65, 30.38 in prelims) and 100 breaststroke (1:07.11) in Spain.
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