Ben Wildman-Tobriner

Last updated

Ben Wildman-Tobriner
Personal information
Full nameBenjamin Marshall Wildman-Tobriner
Nickname(s)"Ben," "Wild Man," [1] "Vildman" [2]
National teamFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Born (1984-09-21) September 21, 1984 (age 39)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight201 lb (91 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle
College team Stanford University
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Olympic Games
Olympic rings.svg
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2008 Beijing 4×100 m freestyle
World Championships (LC)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2005 Montréal 4×100 m freestyle
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2007 Melbourne 50 m freestyle
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2007 Melbourne 4×100 m freestyle

Benjamin Marshall Wildman-Tobriner (born September 21, 1984) is an American physician and former competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder.

Contents

Early life

Wildman-Tobriner was born in San Francisco to Michael Tobriner and Stephanie Wildman, and is Jewish. [3] He grew up in San Francisco with his parents and older sister, Rebecca. He attended Lick-Wilmerding High School of San Francisco. [4] Wildman-Tobriner's paternal grandfather, Mathew Tobriner, served as a California Supreme Court Justice for 20 years. [2]

Swimming career

Wildman-Tobriner began his career swimming for a local recreational team called Swimarin in the Marin Swim League until the age of 12. Even at that age, he managed to set several team, pool, and league records and become recognized for his talents. Around the age of 12, he joined the Fog City Hammerheads Swim Team under the instruction of the notable coach, Matthew "Berto" Roberto.

He attended Lick-Wilmerding High School, where he was a four-year varsity swimmer, and three-time MVP. While in high school he received numerous All-American awards for swimming excellence, and set the California North Coast Sectional record in the 50-yard (46 m) freestyle and achieving the second-fastest time for a 17- to 18-year-old male in the 50-meter freestyle in the United States. After graduating Lick-Wilmerding, Wildman-Tobriner attended Stanford University where, as well as swimming all four years, he graduated in 2007 as a Biomechanical Engineer.

Wildman-Tobriner is most famous for his achievements in the 50-meter freestyle. In the spring of 2007, he competed in the World Championships where he won the 50-meter freestyle in a time of 21.88 seconds. He had the former American record in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 18.87 seconds. He currently has 1 NCAA gold medal for the 400 Medley Relay (2005) as well as more than a dozen All-Americans and Pac-10 championships.

In December 2007, Wildman-Tobriner injured his left pectoral tendon, completely separating it from the humerus bone. After surgery, he resumed training, at first swimming using only his right arm, with his left arm in a sling. By May 2008, he had recovered enough to compete again, finishing fourth in a race in Santa Clara. [5]

On July 3, 2008, Wildman-Tobriner qualified for the Olympic relay team as the second alternate in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. In Beijing, during the evening preliminary heats on August 10, he became a member of the World Record 4 × 100 m freestyle relay (3:12.23) by swimming the third leg in a time of 48.03. The next day, Wildman-Tobriner earned a gold medal (but lost the world record) when Jason Lezak swam down Alain Bernard in the final leg of the relay's final in world record time. [6]

Post-swimming career

After the Olympics, he went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. [7] Since 2018, he has been an assistant professor of radiology at the Duke University School of Medicine. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

Jennifer Beth Thompson is an American former competition swimmer and anesthesiologist.

Matthew Nicholas Biondi is an American former competitive swimmer and water polo player. As a swimmer, he is an eleven-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder in five events. Biondi competed in the Summer Olympic Games in 1984, 1988 and 1992, winning a total of eleven medals. During his career, he set three individual world records in the 50-meter freestyle and four in the 100-meter freestyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maritza Correia</span> Puerto Rican swimmer, Olympic silver medalist, former world record-breaker

Maritza Correia, also known by her married name Maritza McClendon, is a former Olympic swimmer from Puerto Rico who swam representing the United States. When she qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in 2004, she became the first Puerto Rican of African descent to be a member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team. She was the first female African-American swimmer for the United States to win an Olympic medal. She also became the first black American swimmer to set an American and world swimming record.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dara Torres</span> American swimmer (born 1967)

Dara Grace Torres is an American former competitive swimmer, who is a 12-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in three events. Torres is the first swimmer to represent the United States in five Olympic Games, and at age 41, the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she competed in the 50-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter medley relay, and 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and won silver medals in all three events.

Joseph Bernard Hudepohl is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Lezak</span> American swimming executive (born 1975)

Jason Edward Lezak is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spanning four Olympic games and eight Olympic medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Ervin</span> American swimmer (born 1981)

Anthony Lee Ervin is an American competition swimmer who has won four Olympic medals and two World Championship golds. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the men's 50-meter freestyle, and earned a silver medal as a member of the second-place United States relay team in the 4×100-meter freestyle event. He was the second swimmer of African descent after Anthony Nesty of Suriname to win an individual gold medal in Olympic swimming. He is the first United States citizen of African descent to medal gold in an individual Olympic swimming event. In 2017 he knelt for the National Anthem prior to the start of a competition in Brazil.

Erik K. Vendt is an American former competition swimmer. He won a silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 400-meter individual medley. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Vendt won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. 4×200-meter freestyle relay team, swimming in the preliminary heats of the relay event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cullen Jones</span> American swimmer

Cullen Andrew Jones is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist who specializes in freestyle sprint events. As part of the American team, he holds the world record in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won silver medals in the 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay and the 50-meter freestyle, as well as the gold in the 4 x 100-metre medley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Peyton</span> American swimmer (1957–1986)

Kim Marie Peyton, also known by her married name Kim McDonald, was an American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist at the 1976 Summer Olympics. She was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, three years after her death at age 29 from a brain tumor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan Adrian</span> American swimmer (born 1988)

Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian is an American competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist who formerly held the American record in the long course 50-meter freestyle event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garrett Weber-Gale</span> American swimmer (born 1985)

Garrett Weber-Gale is an American competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and world record-holder in two events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre freestyle</span>

The men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 14–16 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Grevers</span> American swimmer (born 1985)

Matthew Grevers is a former American competition swimmer who competes in the backstroke and freestyle events, and is a six-time Olympic medalist. He has won a total of thirty-three medals in major international competition, fourteen gold, twelve silver, and seven bronze spanning the Olympics, World Championships, and the Universiade. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Grevers won gold medals as a member of the U.S. teams in the 4×100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relays, and a silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke. Four years later, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won gold medals in the 100-meter backstroke and the 4×100-meter medley relay, and a silver medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wally Wolf</span> American swimmer and water polo player

Wallace "Wally" Perry Wolf Jr. was an American attorney, bank director, competition swimmer, water polo player, and Olympic champion. He competed in the 1948, 1952, 1956, and 1960 Summer Olympics.

Jack Babashoff Jr. is an American former competition swimmer and a 1976 Olympic silver medal winner in the 100 meter freestyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Ledecky</span> American swimmer (born 1997)

Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won nine Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the female with the most gold medals and fifth-most decorated athlete in Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's eight individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming‌. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simone Manuel</span> American swimmer (born 1996)

Simone Ashley Manuel is an American professional swimmer specializing in freestyle events. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she won two gold and two silver medals: gold in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter medley, and silver in the 50-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In winning the 100-meter freestyle, a tie with Penny Oleksiak of Canada, Manuel became the first Black American woman to win an individual Olympic gold in swimming and set an Olympic record and an American record. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she won a bronze medal as the anchor of the American 4×100-meter freestyle relay team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Murez</span> Israeli swimmer (born 1992)

Andrea "Andi" Murez is an Olympic swimmer. Born in the United States, she represents Israel internationally and competed for her country of birth in the past. She swam for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics. She represented Israel for the third time at the at the 2024 Paris Olympics where she was one of the flag bearers together with the Olympic judoka Peter Paltchik.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Curzan</span> American swimmer (born 2004)

Claire Curzan is an American competitive swimmer and Olympian. Specialising in multiple events, she earned an Olympic silver medal in the 4×100 meter medley relay in the 2020 Summer Olympics by swimming the preliminary butterfly leg. She holds junior world records in the long course 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter butterfly and the short course 50 meter butterfly and 100 meter butterfly. She also holds American records in the short course 50 meter backstroke and 50 meter butterfly, and formerly held the American record in the 100 yard butterfly. She currently swims for the Virginia Cavaliers.

References

  1. ↑ "2008 Beijing Summer Olympics – Ben Wildman-Tobriner – Profile & Bio". NBC. 2008. Archived from the original on August 8, 2008.
  2. 1 2 "USA Swimming – Athletes – Ben Wildman-Tobriner". United States Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on July 14, 2008.
  3. ↑ Crouse, Karen (January 17, 2009). "From the Pool to the Dead Sea". The New York Times.
  4. ↑ "HIGH SCHOOL PROFILE / Ben Wildman-Tobriner / Swimmer on verge of stardom". May 5, 2002.
  5. ↑ Eule, Brian (July–August 2008). "Ben Wildman-Tobriner". Stanford Magazine. Vol. 37, no. 4. pp. 46–47. Archived from the original on September 19, 2008.
  6. ↑ "Jewish swimmers pace U.S. to relay gold". JTA. August 11, 2008. Archived from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  7. ↑ Crouse, Karen (June 8, 2008). "Olympic Hopeful Is Facing Some Tough Choices". The New York Times . Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  8. ↑ "Benjamin Wildman-Tobriner, M.D. - Duke University Department of Radiology". Duke University School of Medicine . Retrieved May 11, 2021.
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.