Apostolos Tsagkarakis ( gr, Απόστολος Τσαγκαράκης; born February 19, 1982) is a Greek former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. Regarding as one of Greece's most popular swimmers in a global standard, Tsagkarakis is a 13-time swimming champion, 12-time All-American honoree, and a 20-time national record holder in both freestyle and butterfly (50 and 100 m). He is also one of two Greek swimmers, alongside

Spyridon Bitsakis Spyridon "Spiros" Bitsakis ( gr, Σπυρίδων Μπιτσάκης ; born March 4, 1981) is a Greek former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle events. He is a two-time Olympian (2000 and 2004), and a 2003 All-American swimmer in the 100 m fre ...

, who trained for the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a mem ...

, under head coach Don Gambril, at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

Career

Collegiate career

Tsagkarakis attended the

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

, on an athletic scholarship, and played for the

swimming and diving team under head coach Don Gambril from 2002 to 2007. While swimming for the Crimson Tide, he received a total of twelve All-American honors, and held school records in the 50-, 200-, and 400-m freestyle. In his senior season, Tsagkarakis was chosen by the University to take part in ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Men's At-Large Teams, following his major breakthrough from the NCAA Swimming Championships. In the spring of 2007, Tsagkarakis graduated from the University with a bachelor's degree in health care management.

International career

Tsagkarakis made his international debut at the

2002 European Short Course Swimming Championships The sixth edition of the European Short Course Swimming Championships (25 m) was held in the SachsenArena in Riesa, Germany, from December 12 till December 15, 2002. Medal table Men's events 50 m freestyle 100 m freestyle 200&nb ...

Riesa Riesa is a town in the district of Meißen in Saxony, Germany. It is located on the river Elbe, approximately northwest of Dresden. History The name ''Riesa'' is derived from Slavic ''Riezowe''. This name, romanised as "Rezoa", appears first i ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where he finished outside the medals with a fourth-place effort in the 50 m butterfly (23.75). At the

2003 FINA World Championships The 10th FINA World Aquatics Championships were held July 12–27, 2003 in Barcelona, Spain. The championships featured competition in all 5 of FINA's disciplines: Swimming, Diving, Synchronised swimming, Water Polo, and Open Water Swimming. C ...

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Tsagkarakis failed to reach the top 16 in any of his individual events, finishing forty-sixth in the

50 m freestyle 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

(23.42), and forty-ninth in the

100 m freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1 ...

(51.73). When his nation

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

hosted the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Tsagkarakis competed only in the

. He achieved a FINA B-standard of 22.90 from an Olympic test event at the

Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre The Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre is a complex at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, consisting of two outdoor pools and one indoor pool, that was built for the 1991 Mediterranean Games. It was refurbished and expanded for the 2004 Summer Olympics ...

. Despite being delighted by the home crowd, Tsagkarakis came up short in second place and twenty-fourth overall by just 0.13 of a second behind Lithuania's

Rolandas Gimbutis Rolandas Gimbutis (born 11 February 1981 in Vilnius, Lithuania) is a swimmer from Lithuania. He participated in the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics. National records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection ...

in 24.72. At the

2005 Mediterranean Games The XVth Mediterranean Games Almería 2005 (XV Juegos del Mediterráneo 2005 in Spanish), commonly known as the 2005 Mediterranean Games, were the 15th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Almería, Spain over 10 days, from 24 June to 3 Ju ...

in Almería, Spain, Tsagkarakis helped out his Greek team ( Apostolos Antonopoulos, Aristeidis Grigoriadis, and

Andreas Zisimos Andreas Zisimos (; born 31 December 1983) is a freestyle swimmer from Greece. He won two medals at the 2005 Mediterranean Games, and represented his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, ...

) earned a bronze medal in the freestyle relay, posting a final time of 3:22.95. Tsagkarakis qualified for the second time in the

, as a 26-year-old, at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. He posted a FINA B-standard entry time of 22.39 from the Akropolis Grand Prix in

. He challenged seven other swimmers in heat ten, including four-time Olympian

José Meolans José Martin Meolans (born June 22, 1978 in Córdoba) is a freestyle swimmer from Argentina, who won the world title in the 50 metre freestyle at the 2002 FINA Short Course World Championships in Moscow, Russia. A year later he won 100m freesty ...

of Argentina and 19-year-old

Yoris Grandjean Yoris Grandjean (born 20 March 1989) is a Belgian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. He won two gold medals at the 2006 FINA Youth World Swimming Championships, and later represented Belgium at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Since 20 ...

of Belgium. He raced again to second place by 0.18 of a second behind Slovenia's

Jernej Godec Jernej Godec (born January 16, 1986, in Ljubljana) is a freestyle and butterfly swimmer from Slovenia, who competed for his native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Member of th ...

in 22.39, matching his entry time in the process. Tsagkarakis failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed twenty-sixth overall in the preliminaries.

Life after swimming

Apart from his sporting career, Tsagkarakis worked for numerous institutions between Greece and the United States, where he became a full-time intern for clinical operations at the

Medical Center. He also volunteered for medical mission activities, including the ''Hurricane Katrina Relief'' program, and ''Cystic Fibrosis Fund Raiser'', a project which aimed to help and treat patients who had been afflicted with

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. O ...

. In the late 2000s Tsagkarakis established and organized Masters Dream Camp in

, together with his friend Andrea di Nino, who coached and trained an elite group of butterfly swimmers including Olympic silver medalists

Milorad Čavić Milorad "Milo" Čavić ( sr-Cyrl, Милорад "Мило" Чавић, ; born May 31, 1984) is a Serbian former professional swimmer. He won a silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2008 Summer Olympics in a historic race with American ...

and

Yevgeny Korotyshkin Yevgeny Yevgeniyevich Korotyshkin, occasionally spelled "Evgeny", (russian: Евгений Евгеньевич Коротышкин) (born 30 April 1983) is a Russian swimmer from Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москв ...

References

External links

Player Bio – Alabama Crimson TideBusiness Profile – Masters Dream Camp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsagkarakis, Apostolos 1982 births Living people Olympic swimmers for Greece Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Greek male freestyle swimmers Male butterfly swimmers Swimmers from Athens Alabama Crimson Tide men's swimmers Expatriate swimmers in the United States Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Greece Swimmers at the 2005 Mediterranean Games Swimmers at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in swimming