Ben Labowitch

Last updated

Ben Labowitch
Personal information
Full nameBen-Rachmiel Labowitch
National teamFlag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Born (1980-07-01) 1 July 1980 (age 43)
Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Height1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight90 kg (198 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Breaststroke
ClubNorth Shore Swim Club
College team Drury University (U.S.)
CoachThomas Ansorg

Ben-Rachmiel Labowitch (born 1 July 1980) is a New Zealand former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. [1] Since his mother is a New Zealand citizen, Labowitch claims a dual citizenship which allowed him to try out and make the New Zealand Olympic team. [2] Labowitch is also a former member of North Shore Swim Club under his coach Thomas Ensorg, and a graduate of Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, where he played for the Drury Panthers. [3]

Labowitch qualified for three swimming events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He posted FINA B-standard entry times of 1:04.35 (100 m breaststroke) and 2:18.10 (200 m breaststroke) from the Olympic trials in Auckland. [4] [5] [6] On the first day of the Games, Labowitch shared a thirty-sixth place tie with Puerto Rico's Arsenio López in the 100 m breaststroke. Swimming in heat three, he edged out Lithuania's Aurimas Valaitis to break a 1:04 barrier and seize a third seed by 0.12 of a second in 1:03.99. [7] [8] In his second event, 200 m breaststroke, Labowitch challenged seven other swimmers in heat two, including dual citizen Mihail Alexandrov of Bulgaria. He raced to seventh place and thirty-ninth overall in 2:19.25, just 1.15 seconds off his entry time. [9] [10] He also teamed up with Scott Talbot-Cameron, Corney Swanepoel, and Cameron Gibson in the 4 × 100 m medley relay. Swimming the breaststroke leg in heat two, Labowitch recorded a time of 1:03.88, but the New Zealand team missed the final by 5 seconds, finishing in seventh place and twelfth overall with a final time of 3:42.74. [11] [12]

Related Research Articles

Aleksandr Baldin is an Estonian former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He is a 15-time long-course Estonian swimming champion in the breaststroke, and a member of SK Garant in Tallinn, under the tutelage of his personal coach Dmitri Kapelin. Baldin also represented his nation Estonia in a breaststroke double at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Jaclyn Pangilinan is a Filipino-American former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. She is a two-time Filipino record holder, a four-time Ivy League champion in the 100 and 200 m breaststroke, and a multiple-time medalist at the Southeast Asian Games. Born to a Filipino father, and an American mother, Pangilinan holds a dual citizenship to compete collegiately and internationally in swimming.

Jeong Doo-hee is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly events. He represented his nation South Korea at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and shared silver medals with Park Seon-kwan, Choi Kyu-woong, and Park Tae-hwan in the 4×100 m medley relay at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

George Gleason is a former swimmer from the U.S. Virgin Islands, who specialized in freestyle and backstroke events. He is a two-time Olympian, a swimming captain for the Yale Bulldogs, and a graduate of sociology (2001) at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Gleason also capped his swimming career by an eleventh-place finish in the 200 m backstroke at the NCAA Swimming Championships in College Station, Texas, earning him All-American honors.

Omar Abu Fares is a Jordanian former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke and individual medley events.

Aurimas Valaitis is a Lithuanian former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He beat a 29-second barrier to earn a bronze medal in the 50 m breaststroke at the 2006 European Junior Swimming Championships in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, with his personal best of 28.98.

You Seung-hun is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He shared bronze medals with Sung Min, Jeong Doo-Hee, and Park Tae-Hwan in the 4 × 100 m medley relay (3:41.33) at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.

Aleksandar Miladinovski is a Macedonian former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and individual medley events. He represented the Republic of Macedonia in two editions of the Olympic Games, and held five Macedonian records in the butterfly and individual medley.

Lee Ji-young is a South Korean swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. She became the first female South Korean in history to train in the United States, and swim for the Peddie Aquatic Association in Hightstown, New Jersey.

Imaday Núñez González is a Cuban former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. She won a total of three medals in the breaststroke and medley relay at the 1998 Central American and Caribbean Games in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Annabelle Jane Carey was a New Zealand swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. As of 2006, she currently holds a New Zealand record of 1:09.26 in the 100 m breaststroke from the World Championship Trials in Auckland. In the same year she helped out the New Zealand team to pull off a fourth-place effort in the medley relay at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, with a record-breaking time of 4:06.30.

Daniel Tam Chi-kin is a Hong Kong former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He is a two-time Olympian, and a double finalist in the 100 and 200 m breaststroke at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. Tam is a member of the swimming team for SLA Sports Club, and is trained by an Australian-born coach Anthony Giorgi.

Ratapong "Nuk" Sirisanont is a Thai former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke, but also competed in long-distance freestyle and individual medley. He is a four-time Olympian, a three-time Asian Games participant, and a seven-time SEA Games athlete (1991–2003). Regarded as Thailand's top swimmer, he has won a total of sixteen medals at the Southeast Asian Games since 1995, and six at the Asian Games, including two golds in the 200 and 400 m individual medley. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Sirisanont became the first Thai swimmer to reach the final twice. Sirisanont is also one of three Southeast Asian swimmers, along with Malaysia's Alex Lim and Philippines' Miguel Molina, to train for the California Golden Bears in the United States, under head coach Nort Thornton.

Wu Nien-pin is a Taiwanese former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle and medley events. He is a two-time Olympian, and a seventh-place finalist in the 100 m freestyle at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. A graduate of information engineering at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Wu also trained full-time for the university's swimming squad.

Christos Papadopoulos is a Greek swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. Papadopoulos qualified for the men's 100 m breaststroke at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, representing the host nation Greece. He cleared a FINA B-standard entry time of 1:04.10 from a test event at the Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre. He challenged seven other swimmers on the fourth heat, including four-time Olympian Ratapong Sirisanont (Thailand), who was later disqualified for a false start. He touched out Senegal's Malick Fall to take a third spot by 0.07 of a second in 1:04.43. Papadopoulos failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed thirty-ninth overall on the first day of preliminaries. At 2002 Balkan Games in Volos he won the gold medal with national record in 200 breaststroke (2.18.70). At the 2005 Mediterranean Games, he took 8th place in 200m breaststroke.

Arsenio Alexander López Rosario, also known as Alex Lopez, is a Puerto Rican former swimmer and three-time Olympian who specialized in breaststroke and individual medley events.

Aikaterini "Katia" Sarakatsani is a Greek swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke and individual medley events. She is a three-time Olympian, a former Greek record holder in the breaststroke, and a member of the swimming team for Hawaiʻi Rainbow Wahine at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, under head coach Vojko Race.

Yevgeny Petrashov is a Kyrgyzstani former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He is a three-time Olympian, and a former Kyrgyzstan record holder in both 100 and 200 m breaststroke.

Nicole Zahnd is a retired Swiss swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. She was born in Bern. She is a two-time Olympian, and a top 8 finalist in the 200 m freestyle at the 2001 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. Zahnd played for two swimming clubs in Geneva, before she trained under head coach Dirk Reinecke as part of the Swiss national team. Zahnd is also the wife of former medley swimmer and two-time Olympian Yves Platel.

Valērijs "Val" Kalmikovs is a Latvian former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke and individual medley events. He is a two-time Olympian and a top 16 finalist in the 200 m breaststroke on his Olympic debut in Atlanta (1996). He still holds a Latvian record in the 200 m breaststroke (2:16.21) that stood for more than a decade. While studying in the United States, Kalmikovs achieved a sixth-fastest of all time in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2000 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. He has also been named a three-time Big-12 Conference Champion and a nine-time All-American, as a member of the University of Nebraska swimming and diving team. Since his sporting career ended in 2004, Kalmikovs has extensively traveled across the United States and Europe, working as a swimming coach. On September 9. 2019 Val became the first Latvian to swim across The English Channel. It took him 11 hours and 13 minutes (6pm-5am) to successfully finish the challenge.

References

  1. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ben Labowitch". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  2. ↑ Hayes, Jeron (14 October 2010). "Marine Captain was Olympic contender". DC Military. Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "A Time: President's Report 2004". Drury University. Archived from the original on 9 September 2006. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  4. ↑ "Swimming – Men's 100m Breaststroke Startlist (Heat 3)". Athens 2004 . Omega Timing. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  5. ↑ "Swimming – Men's 200m Breaststroke Startlist (Heat 2)". Athens 2004 . Omega Timing. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  6. ↑ "NZ Olympic Team Profiles: Swimming". TVNZ. 30 June 2004. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  7. ↑ "Men's 100m Breaststroke Heat 3". Athens 2004 . BBC Sport. 14 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  8. ↑ Whitten, Phillip (14 August 2004). "Prelims, Men's 100 Breaststroke: Kitajima, Hansen Qualify One-Two; Japanese Sets Olympic Record". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  9. ↑ "Men's 200m Breaststroke Heat 2". Athens 2004 . BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  10. ↑ Thomas, Stephen (17 August 2004). "Men's 200 Breaststroke Prelims, Day 4: 15 Year-Old Daniel Gyurta Continues the Hungarian Tradition, Leads with a Swift 2:11.29". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 December 2005. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  11. ↑ "Men's 4×100m Medley Heat 2". Athens 2004 . BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  12. ↑ Thomas, Stephen (20 August 2004). "Men's 400 Medley Relay, Prelims Day 7: USA Looks Absolutely Unbeatable; Expect a World Record!". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.