Daniel Velez (born December 9, 1983) is a Puerto Rican former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He represented his nation

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

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 ...

, and has won a career total of three medals (two golds and one bronze) at the 2005

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Velez was also a member of the

NC State Wolfpack The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for college footb ...

swimming and diving team under head coach Brooks Teal, while pursuing his degree in psychology at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

. Velez competed for the Puerto Rican squad in the men's 100 m breaststroke at the

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 ...

. Five months before the Games, he threw down a lifetime best of 1:03.63 to slip past the FINA B-cut (1:03.72) by almost a tenth of a second (0.1) at the All-American Championships in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Velez slipped to the front from lane one to touch the wall first in heat three with a remarkable Puerto Rican record in 1:01.80, slashing 1.83 seconds off his own entry standard and beating India's

Sandeep Sejwal Sandeep Sejwal (born 23 January 1989) is an Indian swimmer who has participated in Olympics 2008. He contested in the men's 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events at the 2010 Asian Juniors in Beijing, but did not reach the finals in both events. ...

, who finished behind him, in a close finish by only a small fraction of a second. Despite his outstanding feat in the heats, Velez ended his Olympic campaign with a thirty-third place overall finish and did not advance to the semifinals.

References

External links

NBC Olympics Profile
1983 births Living people Puerto Rican Jews Puerto Rican male swimmers Jewish American swimmers Olympic swimmers for Puerto Rico Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Male breaststroke swimmers Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Maccabiah Games bronze medalists for the United States Sportspeople from San Juan, Puerto Rico NC State Wolfpack men's swimmers North Carolina State University alumni Maccabiah Games medalists in swimming {{PuertoRico-swimming-bio-stub