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Lenny Krayzelburg |
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Olympic medalist |
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Men’s swimming |
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Gold |
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Gold |
2000 |
200m backstroke |
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Gold |
2000 |
4x100m medley relay |
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Lenny Krayzelburg
is an American backstroke swimmer.
Early years
Krayzelburg was born to Jewish parents in Odessa (formerly in
the Soviet
Union, now in Ukraine),
on September
28, 1975. He and
his family left the Soviet Union in 1989, to look for new opportunities in the United States. They
settled in Los Angeles.
Here Krayzelburg's family suffered
from financial difficulties. He had to commute by bus and foot 45 minutes each
way to swimming practice, and didn't get home before 9.30 in the evening. In
addition, Lenny had to cope with language problems, and to study English
rapidly in order to understand his coaches' instructions. Thankfully he was
aided by the extensive Russian community in Los Angeles,
and managed to adapt quickly.
Lenny first attended Santa Monica
College where he won both the 100 and 200 yard backstroke junior college
titles. His coach at Santa Monica recognized his talent and recommended him to
Mark Schubert at USC. Lenny transferred to the University of Southern California.
In 1995, he became a
naturalized citizen of the United
States. Four years later became the first swimmer since 1986 to sweep the
backstroke events, (100m & 200m), in the world championships. Later that
month Krayzelburg broke both the 100 and the 200m world records respectively,
setting the clock on 53.60 and 1.55.87. He was then recognized as the top
backstroke swimmer in the world and one of the best in the history of this
swimming style. He continued to dominate at the Sydney 2000
Olympics backstroke, shattering the Olympic record and nearing his own 1999 world record with
53.72 in the 100m, while making another Olympic record in the 200m with
1.56.76. He also played an important role in helping the American team win a
gold medal in the 4x100m relay with a new world record of 3.33.73.
After the Olympics Krayzelburg
decided to skip the 2001 World Championships that took place in Fukuoka,
Japan, in order to
focus on the Maccabiah games in Israel. Being Jewish, Krayzelburg wanted to take this once-in-a-lifetime
chance to compete with other top Jewish athletes. In addition, he wanted to fulfill a childhood
dream by visiting the holy land and lifting the American delegate flag during
the games' opening ceremony.
Krayzelburg is known as one of the
physically strongest swimmers around, and for his powerful arm strokes, a
product of his training regimen and bodybuilder-esque physique. He is 1.88m
tall and weighs just above 85 kg.
Lenny owes lots of his career
achievements to his father Oleg, who has been a significant part of his success
by repeatedly urging and pushing him to go on, even when Lenny wanted to quit
at the age of 14. He enjoys reading as well as working with computers.
Additionally, he was voted as 1999's USA swimmer of the year.
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Lenny Krayzelburg on his way to winning 200m backstroke gold in
Sydney.AFP/File |
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