Italy exit early but di Somma thankful to recover from coma

In its 103-word entirety, English poet William Ernest Henley's Invictus is inked on Edoardo di Somma's thigh.

- David Lee

Latin for unconquered, Invictus is a poem about willpower and strength in the face of adversity, and few in the July 11-Aug 3 World Aquatics Championships (WCH) field will have a story as terrifying and triumphant to tell as the Italian water polo player.

Three months before his 18th birthday in September 2014, di Somma was involved in a traffic accident that killed the driver of the other scooter and left him in a 10-day medically induced coma with multiple fractures, while his friend Giacomo Cocchiere broke his leg.

Incredibly, after being told by doctors he would never be able to play competitive sports again, he was celebrating a world title five years and 55 days later.

While the 28-year-old was disappointed to lose 17-11 to Greece in the WCH men's water polo quarter-finals at the OCBC Aquatic Centre on July 20 after beating Olympic champions Serbia on penalties in the group stage, he knows there are more important things in life and he is grateful to even be alive and be able to play the sport he loves.

Di Somma told The Straits Times: "It was the hardest time of my life. I had to stay in my bedroom for eight months.

"When I looked at the gold medal, I experienced flashbacks. I remembered the first time I threw myself into the water after the accident, I couldn't even swim a length on my back, and with every breaststroke kick I felt excruciating pain in my pelvis.