Costantino Dennerlein

The son of a German father and a Romanian mother, Bubi Dennerlein was one of the greatest stars of the yellow/red club Circolo Canottieri Napoli. Bubi was the first great Italian swim champion from this club, with whom he won 10 titles and set four national records, At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics he was an alternate to the swim team, and he won two national titles in water polo in 1957-58.

Dennerlein is mostly known for his coaching, modernizing Italian training with interval training and a more scientific method. At the Molosiglio pool Dennerlein had hundreds of pupils who won 51 Italian titles. His first star was his younger brother Fritz, who won 37 titles and set five European records. Bubi led the Canottieri Napoli to sensational results. At the 1961 Italian championships in Torino the club won 11 gold medals and 2 silvers in 13 events. The following year in Roma they had 9 wins and 4 runners-up in 14 events. In addition, coaching the water polo team, he led them to the 1963 national title, the only one not won in the 1960s by Pro Recco.

Dennerlein became coach of the Italian National team, where he coached for 24 consecutive years, He was the undisputed head of the Azzurri swimming for seven Olympic Games, whose star pupil was Novella Calligaris, who won three Olympic medals, three World Championships medals, three European Championship medals, and 36 Italian titles.