Sotirios Pastras

Sotirios Pastras (Greek: Σωτήριος Πάστρας; born April 21, 1986) is a Greek former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly events.[1] He is a multiple-time Greek champion and record holder in the butterfly (50, 100, and 200 m). Pastras is a computer engineering graduate at University of Thessaly, and is currently a member of Nova Club in Volos, under the tutelage of his personal coach Nikolaos Prantzos.

Sotirios Pastras
Personal information
Full nameSotirios Pastras
National team Greece
Born (1986-04-21) 21 April 1986
Volos, Greece
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight75 kg (165 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesButterfly
ClubNova
CoachNikolaos Prantzos

Pastras made his first Greek team, as an 18-year-old, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where he competed in the men's 100 m butterfly. He raced to third place in heat 4 and twenty-ninth overall by six hundredths of a second (0.06) behind Slovenia's Peter Mankoč in 54.20 seconds.[2][3]

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Pastras qualified again for the men's 100 m butterfly by eclipsing a FINA B-standard entry time of 53.45 from the Nioveia Grand Prix in Thessaloniki.[4] He challenged seven other swimmers on the same heat as Athens, including Olympic veterans Juan Veloz of Mexico and Michal Rubáček of the Czech Republic. Pastras cruised to second place by 0.17 of a second behind Denmark's Jakob Andkjær, breaking both his personal best and Greek record of 52.41 seconds. Pastras failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed twenty-fifth out of 66 swimmers in the preliminaries.[5]

In November 2011, Pastras shortly retired from his swimming career to pursue his studies in media.[6]

References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Sotirios Pastras". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  2. "Men's 100m Butterfly Heat 4". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  3. Thomas, Stephen (19 August 2004). "Men's 100 Butterfly, Day 6 Prelims: Crocker Blasts Back into Form as Fastest Qualifier; Serdinov and Phelps Right on his Tail". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  4. "Olympic Cut Sheet – Men's 100m Butterfly" (PDF). Swimming World Magazine. p. 33. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  5. "Men's 100m Butterfly Heat 4". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  6. "Greece's Youth in Crisis". The Daily Beast. 22 November 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2013.


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