Eduardo Germán Otero (born February 4, 1980) is an Argentine former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke and butterfly events. He is a three-time Olympian, a multiple-time national record holder, and a two-time champion for the 50 m backstroke at the

South American Games The South American Games (also known as ODESUR Games; Spanish: ''Juegos Suramericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos''), formerly the Southern Cross Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Cruz del Sur'') is a regional multi-sport event held between nati ...

. He is also a member of Club Nadadores del Rio Plata, and is coached and trained by Marcelo "Yuri" Quaglia. Otero's Olympic debut came at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. There, he failed to reach the top 16 in any of his individual events, finishing fortieth in the

100 m backstroke 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

(58.09), and thirty-fourth in the 200 m backstroke (2:05.51). He also placed eighteenth as a member of the Argentine team in the 4 × 100 m medley relay (3:43.61). Teaming with

Sergio Ferreyra Sergio Andrés Ferreyra (born May 21, 1977) is an Argentine former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He is a multiple-time Argentine record holder, and a two-time medalist in the breaststroke (both 100 and 200 m) at the 2006 South ...

Pablo Martín Abal Pablo Martín Abal (born March 19, 1977) is an Argentine former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and backstroke events. He is a 2000 Olympian, an Argentine record holder in both sprint backstroke and butterfly, and a three-time All-American ...

, and

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 ...

, Otero swam a backstroke leg with a split of 58.00 seconds. On his second Olympic appearance in

Athens 2004 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), ...

, Otero decided to drop his specialty event, the 200 m backstroke, and experiment with the 100 m butterfly. He also qualified for the

by clearing a FINA B-standard entry time of 56.36 from the South American Championships in Maldonado, Uruguay. Otero repeated his luck from Sydney, as he rounded out to last place in heat three and thirty-third overall with a time of 57.28. In the

100 m butterfly 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, Otero placed forty-fourth on the morning's preliminaries. Swimming in the same heat, he posted a lifetime best of 55.24 to earn a fourth spot by nearly half a second (0.50) behind winner Jeong Doo-Hee of South Korea. Eight years after competing in his first Olympics, Otero qualified for his third Argentine team as a 28-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 achieved an Olympic B-cut of 56.38 seconds from the national trials in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. He challenged seven other swimmers on the third heat, including fellow three-time Olympian and former finalist

Örn Arnarson Örn Arnarson (born 31 August 1981 in Reykjavík) is a swimmer from Iceland. He won his first major title in 1998 at the European SC Championships in Sheffield. There he captured the title in the 200 m backstroke. A year later, at the E ...

of Iceland. Otero raced to seventh place by 0.19 of a second behind Ukraine's

Oleksandr Isakov Oleksandr Isakov (born 17 October 1989, Ivano-Frankivsk) is a Ukrainian swimmer. He swam for the Ukraine in three events at the 2008 Summer Olympics, the 100 m backstroke, finishing in 38th place, the 200 m backstroke, finishing in 39th place, and ...

in 56.74. Otero failed to advance into the semifinals, as he matched his position from Sydney in the preliminaries.

References

External links

NBC Olympics Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otero, Eduardo German 1980 births Living people Argentine male backstroke swimmers Argentine male butterfly swimmers Olympic swimmers for Argentina Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province South American Games gold medalists for Argentina South American Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 2002 South American Games Competitors at the 2006 South American Games