Paul Palmer (born 18 October 1974 in Lincoln, England) is a former international freestyle swimmer for England and Great Britain.
He lived on Longdales Road, and attended Lincoln Christ's Hospital School. [1]
Coached by Ian Turner at the City of Lincoln Pentaqua Swimming Club, Palmer qualified for the 200 m, 400 m and 1500 m freestyle at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, finishing a respectable 9th position (winning the "B" final) in the 200 m, and 10th position in the 400 m. After this success, in order to increase his chances of a medal at the following Atlanta games, Palmer relocated to Bath, along with Turner. Training in a 50 m pool, alongside other Olympic hopefuls at the performance centre allowed Palmer to further increase his swimming skills.
Palmer won the silver medal in the 400 m freestyle at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. [2] A year later, at the 1997 European Aquatics Championships in Seville, he won gold in the 200 m freestyle.
He won the 2001 British Championship in the 100 metres freestyle, was six times winner of the 200 metres freestyle (1993, 1995, 1998–2001) and a six times winner of the 400 metres freestyle in (1992, 1993, 1998–2001). [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
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.
Shane Elizabeth Gould is an Australian former competition swimmer. She won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze, at the 1972 Summer Olympics, becoming the first woman swimmer to win five individual medals. In 2018, she won the fifth season of Australian Survivor, becoming the oldest winner of any Survivor franchise.
Michelle Smith de Bruin is an Irish lawyer and retired Olympic swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley, and also won the bronze medal for the 200 m butterfly event.
Claudia María Poll Ahrens is a Costa Rican-Nicaraguan former swimmer who competed in the 200 m to 800 m freestyle events. She is Costa Rica's only Olympic gold-medalist, having won the country's first Olympic gold medals at the 1996 Olympics in the 200 meter freestyle. Claudia also competed at the 2000 Olympics, where she won two bronze medals. She is a multiple national record holder in the freestyle events.
Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. British athletes have competed in every single Summer Olympic Games. 300 competitors, 184 men and 116 women, took part in 175 events in 22 sports. The Atlanta games saw Great Britain's worst performance at a Summer Olympics since 1952, finishing in 36th position with a single gold medal, and 15 medals overall.
Gustavo França Borges is a Brazilian former competitive swimmer. He swam for Brazil in four Summer Olympic Games: 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. Borges has won the fourth-most Olympic medals of any Brazilian, with four —one in 1992, two in 1996 and one in 2000—only behind sailors Robert Scheidt and Torben Grael and canoeist Isaquias Queiroz with five, and gymnast Rebeca Andrade with six. He also has eight Pan American Games gold medals, the third-most of any Brazilian and only behind swimmer Thiago Pereira and table tennis player Hugo Hoyama. Borges was Brazil's flagbearer for the Closing Ceremony at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
The 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Munich, West Germany. 29 events in swimming were contested. There were a total of 532 participants from 52 countries competing.
Karen Denise Pickering, MBE is a former freestyle swimmer from Great Britain.
Mehmet Uğur Taner is a retired Turkish-born American swimmer who was a High School All American, national public school record holder and Washington state champion specializing in sprint freestyle and butterfly. He competed for Turkey at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in five events, won a gold medal for the U.S. team in the September, 1994 Rome World Championships in the 4x100-meter relay, and was an All American swimmer at the University of California Berkeley.
Sarah Lucy Hardcastle, also known by her married name Sarah Thomas, is a British former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics, world championships and European championships, and swam for England in the Commonwealth Games. She specialised in the 400- and 800-metre freestyle, and also competed in medley races. Hardcastle won multiple major championship medals over the course of her career, including individual silver and bronze medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics at the age of 15 and two individual gold medals at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. She retired from the sport in 1986 but returned in 1993, winning gold at the World Short Course Championships for the 800-metre freestyle in 1995 and reaching the final of the same event at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 20 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States. There were 43 competitors from 36 nations, with each nation having up to two swimmers. The event was won by Danyon Loader of New Zealand, the nation's first medal in the men's 200 metre freestyle. Brazil also received its first medal in the event, with Gustavo Borges taking silver. Bronze went to Australia's Daniel Kowalski.
Ryan Thomas Berube is an American former competition swimmer and freestyle and individual medley specialist for Southern Methodist University who won the gold medal anchoring the U.S. men's team in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. A business major at SMU, he would later work as a wealth manager, and serve two decades on various boards and committees of USA Swimming.
The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 17–18 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia. There were 51 competitors from 44 nations, with each nation having up to two swimmers.
James Matthew Salter is a former international freestyle swimmer for England and Great Britain.
Gavin Meadows is a former international freestyle swimmer for England and Great Britain.
Cassiano Schalch Leal is a former international freestyle swimmer from Brazil.
Pál Joensen is a Faroese elite swimmer. He was born in Vágur, Suðuroy, Faroe Islands. He has won World and European Championship medals. His bronze medal in the men's 1500 metre freestyle at the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships in Istanbul was the first medal won by a Faroese swimmer at the World Aquatic Championships.
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.
Mackenzie James Horton is an Australian retired freestyle swimmer. He is an Olympic gold medallist, World Championships gold medallist, and 4-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he took the gold in the 400m freestyle, and became the first male swimmer from the state of Victoria to win an Olympic swimming gold in the Games' history.
Matthew Hutchins is a New Zealand swimmer who qualified to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the men's 400 metre freestyle.