Italy's Zazzeri paints swimming pool as he longs for return to water

You can keep Lorenzo Zazzeri out of the water but you cannot take the water out of Lorenzo Zazzeri, as the Olympic silver medallist likes to paint swimming pools as he recovers from the complications of an anaphylactic shock suffered over the summer.

The 28-year-old, who was part of Italy's 4x100m freestyle relay team at last year's Tokyo Olympics, has focused on painting having signed up for art school, using the canvas to express his desire of returning to his beloved pool.

"For me art is an amazing way to spend time but my favourite activity remains swimming," Zazzeri, who won gold in the 4x100m medley at this year's world championships, told newspaper Corriere della Sera on Friday.

It is not the first time he has used art therapy as he has previously used painting as a way to help ease the pressure of swimming competitions.

He has a separate account on Instagram to display his work, which ranges from photorealism to cubism, and has almost 20,000 followers.

Zazzeri initially had an anaphylactic shock due to food but further tests following the incident revealed he had a cardiac biomarker which needed to be stabilised. He said earlier this week he had not been able to train for three months.