Brendan Ashby (born June 30, 1980) is a Zimbabwean former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke events. Since 2004, Ashby currently holds two Zimbabwean records in the 100 and 200 m backstroke from the World championships and U.S. invitational meets. He is also a former member of the swimming team 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 me ...

at the

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

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 ...

. Ashby stands and weighs . Ashby qualified for the men's 100 m backstroke at the 2004 Summer Olympics in

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 ...

, by eclipsing a FINA B-standard entry time of 58.28 from the USA Swimming Grand Prix in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. He challenged seven other swimmers on the second heat, including Olympic veterans

Nicholas Neckles Nicholas ("Nick") Alfred Neckles (born 24 November 1978 in Bridgetown, Barbados) is a 3-time Olympic swimmer from Barbados. He swam for Barbados at the 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olympics. Heckles also competed at the 1999, 2003 and 2007 Pan American ...

of Barbados,

George Gleason George Gleason (born August 8, 1979) is a former swimmer from the U.S. Virgin Islands, who specialized in freestyle and backstroke events. He is a two-time Olympian (2000 and 2004), a swimming captain for the Yale Bulldogs, and a graduate of soci ...

of the Virgin Islands, and Sung Min of South Korea. Swimming in lane one, Ashby raced to sixth place by a 1.27-second margin behind Gleason in 58.91. Ashby failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed thirty-ninth overall in the preliminaries.

References

1980 births Alumni of Falcon College Living people Zimbabwean people of British descent Zimbabwean male backstroke swimmers Olympic swimmers for Zimbabwe Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Gweru Alabama Crimson Tide men's swimmers White Zimbabwean sportspeople {{Zimbabwe-swimming-bio-stub