ROME (AP) _ Alberto Castagnetti, the longtime head coach of Italy's swim team, has died. He was 66.

 

The Italian swimming federation said Monday that Castagnetti died at his home in Verona, where he was recovering from heart surgery. The precise cause of his death was not immediately available.

 

Castagnetti was also the personal coach for Federica Pellegrini, who won two gold medals at the world championships in Rome earlier this year and an Olympic title in 2008.

 

He was an outspoken critic of the space-age bodysuits that have altered swimming's record book over the past few years, saying they amounted to "technological doping."

 

Castagnetti had been Italy's head coach since 1987. As a swimmer he participated in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

 

Eds: APNewsNow  - US:; Intl:World