An Olympic champion swimmer plunged French sport into disarray and provoked an intense diplomatic wrangle yesterday by eloping with her handsome Italian boyfriend, Luca Marin.

Laure Manaudou, who holds 36 French records, six European records and three world records, announced that she had quit her club in Canet, southern France, for “the love of my life”.

“I am choosing l’amour,” said the 20-year-old swimmer, who is almost single-handedly carrying French hopes for the Beijing Olympics next year after winning gold, silver and bronze medals at the Athens Games in 2004. “I want to live with him and have a child with him.”

At a press conference yesterday she said she would train at LaPress swimming club in Turin, which is reported to have offered her a contract worth €400,000 (£270,000) a year.

Although she denied that she had acted on the spur of the moment, she said that her boyfriend had been nonplussed when she turned up and told him she was staying. “He was surprised,” said Manaudou.

But as her move provoked fury in France and embarrassment in Italy, the champion discovered that the course of true love never did run smooth.

French officials believe that the Italians will push Manaudou into a marriage with Marin so that she acquires Italian nationality and can swim for Italy. For that reason they have been putting her under intense pressure to return.

Jean-François Lamour, the French Sports Minister, said: “It would be good if she realised that in the interests of sport she should stay in Canet.”

The French authorities have also been seeking to influence the Italian Swimming Federation, whose president, Paolo Barelli, was telephoned by France’s Ambassador in Rome. After the call, his enthusiasm for Manaudou appeared to wane. “You should not take decisions with youthful impetuosity which you realise afterwards were not thought through,” Mr Barelli said.

Italy’s most esteemed swimming coach, Alberto Castagnetti, also said he was loath to take Manaudou under his wing and help her against the Italian prodigy, Federica Pellegrini.

“Manaudou’s love is very embarrassing for France and Italy,” he said. “If Manaudou became Italian then it would be different.” However, that comment sparked further ire in Paris, where Manaudou’s patriotism was called into question after she wore an Italian swimming cap in an international competition last year.

Amid the furore, Manaudou was adamant that she would not abandon her French passport, saying: “I’m going to swim for France.” Despite the qualms of the Italian Federation, which has no desire to cross swords with its French counterpart, LaPress is determined to attract the swimmer.

The club managers believe the financial rewards will be significant, given Manaudou’s earning power. This was illustrated when she obtained a €1 million a year contract to carry out modelling work for the French billionaire, François Pinault, the owner of Gucci.

But as often in love affairs, there is a jilted party – in this case Manaudou’s tough French coach, Philippe Lucas, whose training programme includes making her swim up to 10 miles (17km) a day.

“I’m not sad,” he retorted yesterday. “There’s no problem.” However, he told reporters that Manaudou had failed to train for the past five weeks and would need put in extra work over the next four months to be in with a chance in Beijing.

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