Nathaniel O'Brien

Nathaniel O'Brien (born March 3, 1983) is a Canadian competition swimmer who specialized in backstroke and butterfly events.[1] He is a two-time national championship titleholder, and also, a member of the Pacific Coast Swimming Club in Victoria, British Columbia, under head coach and former Olympic swimmer Ron Jacks.[2] O'Brien is the son of former swimmer Lisa Geary, who competed for the host nation Canada, and placed tenth in the women's 800-metre freestyle at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.[3]

Nathaniel O'Brien
Personal information
Full nameNathaniel O'Brien
National team Canada
Born (1983-03-03) March 3, 1983
Bellevue, Washington
Height1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight86 kg (190 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesBackstroke, butterfly
ClubBellevue Club Swim Team
College teamUniversity of Texas

Representing his adopted nation Canada, O'Brien qualified for the men's 200-metre backstroke at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, by attaining an A-standard time of 1:59.17 and beating national record holder Keith Beavers from the Olympic trials.[4][5] O'Brien advanced to the semifinals from the morning's preliminary heats, with a qualified entry time of 2:00.49; however, he fell short in his bid for the final, as he emulated his mother's luck in tenth place, finishing the first semi-final at 2:00.13.[6] In the men's 200-metre butterfly, O'Brien won the second heat by less than sixteen hundredths of a second (0.84) ahead of South Korea's Jeong Doo-Hee, with a time of 2:00.12. O'Brien, however, failed to advance into the semi-finals, as he placed twenty-third out of thirty-nine swimmers in the overall rankings.[7]

O'Brien was also a member of the Texas Longhorns swimming and diving team, and is a graduate of politics and governance at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas.

He began swimming as a freshman at Eastlake High School and did not begin year round competitive swimming until his sophomore year of high school with Bellevue Club Swim Team.

He was former head coach in the Bellevue, Washington area for Bellevue Club Swim Team (BCST) and is currently a Senior Team coach at Olympic Cascade Aquatics (OCA) based on Mercer Island, Washington.

References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Nathaniel O'Brien". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  2. Corbella, Licia (12 August 2004). "Pool haul a worry". Canoe.ca. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  3. "Our local Olympic hopefuls". Seattle Times. 10 August 2004. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  4. Dryden, Nikki (9 July 2004). "2004 Canadian Olympic Trials – Day Four". Swim News. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  5. "Swimming – Men's 200m Backstroke Startlist (Heat 3)" (PDF). Athens 2004. Omega Timing. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  6. "Men's 200m Backstroke Semifinal 1". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 18 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  7. "Men's 200m Butterfly Heat 2". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 16 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
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