Max Giuliani welcomed home by family and friends at Hobart Airport

A hero’s welcome awaited Tasmanian debut Olympic swimmer Max Giuliani, returning from his first games with a bronze medal. See the moment he arrived.

Tasmanian swim star Max Giuliani has arrived home from Paris, fresh from his successful Olympic debut where he picked up bronze in the 4x200m relay team.

Giuliani said he couldn’t be happier to be home when he touched down at the Hobart Airport on Friday.

Eagerly awaiting his return was a group of family and friends including two-month-old second cousin, Daisy.

“It’s a dream come true to come home with a medal from my first games,” he said.

“I couldn’t be happier to be Australian.

Max Giuliani hugging mum Jo. Tasmanian Olympic bronze medal winning swimmer Max Giuliani arrives back in Hobart after the Paris games. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Despite coming home with a medal around his neck, he said he didn’t reach his true potential in the pool this year, pointing to a bout of Covid combined with a cold and less than ideal conditions at the Olympic Village.

“I think the people do the best in the Olympics are the ones that are the most adaptable,” he said.

“I mean like we didn’t have the best accommodation in Paris. The food wasn’t the best and half the time the buses didn’t rock up but so it wasn’t ideal”

Giuliani said the Olympic medal would probably live in Tasmania, as his apartment back in Queensland didn’t have much room to display it.

“With the amount of kit we got I might have to rent a storage unit,” he said.

With his sights already set on LA 2028, Giuliani said he would be doing a lot of training including competing at the commonwealth games in the lead up to the next Olympic Games.

Max’s mum tells of a love of the pool before he was even born

Max Giuliani’s mum, Jo, said when he was in the womb she wanted to go swimming for the first time in her life.

The family lived near a pool and she said she would don her mask and snorkel and hang out in the water while pregnant with Max and when she stopped he would kick on the inside of her belly.

“He was born a swimmer,” Mrs Giuliani said while waiting for Giuliani to touch down in Hobart after his first Olympic Games.

His Dad, Mic Giuliani, said his successes were “all him” and he was always a driven child, pursuing his goals with fever and even picking his school, St Virgils, because of its focus on sports.

During lockdown, Giuliani swam daily laps in a neighbours 15m pool, even through a brisk Hobart winter, to keep up his training.

Mr Giuliani said Giuliani really wanted to represent Tasmania as a Tasmanian resident in the Olympics.

Mr and Mrs Giuliani visited Paris to watch Giuliani’s Olympic debut, returning home to Carlton last week.

Max Giuliani with dad Mick and mum Jo. Tasmanian Olympic bronze medal winning swimmer Max Giuliani arrives back in Hobart after the Paris games. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

They said they almost missed their window of opportunity to see Giuliani after his swim but luckily found a small gap in the crowd and were able to give him a big hug to celebrate.

There were plenty of hugs to go round at the Hobart airport on Friday where Max’s parents and his extended family and friends were waiting for his arrival and to say happy 21st birthday, which he celebrated in France on July 3.

Although Mr Giuliani said his son was “chomping at the bit” to get back into the pool, he was keen to spend the next few days enjoying the water from a different vantage point heading further down South for a fishing trip.