Benjamin Marshall Wildman-Tobriner (born September 21, 1984) is an American competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder.

Early life

Wildman-Tobriner was born in San Francisco to Michael Tobriner and Stephanie Wildman, and is Jewish. He grew up in San Francisco with his parents and older sister, Rebecca. He attended

Lick-Wilmerding High School Lick-Wilmerding High School is a private college-preparatory high school located in San Francisco, California, United States. History Lick-Wilmerding High School was founded on September 21, 1874 as the California School of Mechanical Arts by a ...

of San Francisco. Wildman-Tobriner's paternal grandfather, Mathew Tobriner, served as a

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

for 20 years.

Swimming career

Wilman-Tobriner began his career swimming for a local recreational team called Swimarin in the Marin Swim League until the age of 12. Even at that age, he managed to set several team, pool, and league records and become recognized for his talents. Around the age of 12, he joined the Fog City Hammerheads Swim Team under the instruction of the notable coach, Matthew "Berto" Roberto. He attended

, where he was a four-year varsity swimmer, and three-time MVP. While in high school he received numerous

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n awards for swimming excellence, and set the California North Coast Sectional record in the freestyle and achieving the second-fastest time for a 17- to 18-year-old male in the 50-meter freestyle in the United States. After graduating Lick-Wilmerding, Wildman-Tobriner attended Stanford University where, as well as swimming all four years, he graduated in 2007 as a Biomechanical Engineer. Wildman-Tobriner is most famous for his achievements in the 50-meter freestyle. In the spring on 2007, he competed in the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

where he won the 50-meter freestyle in a time of 21.88 seconds. He had the former American record in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 18.87 seconds. He currently has 1 NCAA gold medal for the 400 Medley Relay (2005) as well as more than a dozen All-Americans and Pac-10 championships. In December 2007, Wildman-Tobriner injured his left

pectoral Pectoral may refer to: * The chest region and anything relating to it. * Pectoral cross, a cross worn on the chest * a decorative, usually jeweled version of a gorget * Pectoral (Ancient Egypt), a type of jewelry worn in ancient Egypt * Pectorali ...

tendon, completely separating it from the humerus bone. After surgery, he resumed training, at first swimming using only his right arm, with his left arm in a sling. By May 2008, he had recovered enough to compete again, finishing fourth in a race in Santa Clara. On July 3, 2008, Wildman-Tobriner qualified for the Olympic relay team as the second alternate in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. In Beijing, during the evening preliminary heats on August 10, he became a member of the World Record 4 × 100 m freestyle relay (3:12.23) by swimming the third leg in a time of 48.03. The next day, Wildman-Tobriner earned a gold medal (but lost the world record) when

Jason Lezak Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spannin ...

swam down

Alain Bernard Alain Bernard (; born 1 May 1983) is a former French swimmer from Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône. Bernard won a total of four medals (two golds, one silver, and one bronze) at two Olympic Games (2008 and 2012). He also won numerous medals at the W ...

in the final leg of the relay's final in world record time.

Post-swimming career

After the Olympics, he went on to medical school at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...

. Since 2018, he has been an assistant professor of radiology at the Duke University School of Medicine.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wildman-Tobriner, Ben 1984 births Living people American male freestyle swimmers American radiologists Duke University School of Medicine faculty Jewish American sportspeople Jewish swimmers Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Swimmers from San Francisco Stanford Cardinal men's swimmers Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming World record setters in swimming 21st-century American Jews

Early life

Swimming career

Post-swimming career

See also

References

External links