Hem Raksmey (born September 6, 1983) is a Cambodian former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle and breaststroke events. She represented Cambodia in two editions of the Olympic Games (1996 and 2000), and also held numerous age group records in all strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly). She also shared a sibling tandem together with her brother Hem Kiry, when they both competed 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 ...

. Hem made her Olympic debut, as Cambodia's youngest ever athlete and swimmer (aged 12), at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta. There, she failed to reach the top 16 final in the 100 m breaststroke, finishing last out of 46 swimmers in 1:44.68. At the

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 ...

, Hem competed only 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 ...

. Invited to the Games as a wild card selection by FINA officials, she entered the race in her lifetime best of 34.78. She challenged six other swimmers in heat two, including Maldives' 13-year-old

Fariha Fathimath Fariha Fathimath (born March 10, 1987) is a Maldivian former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. Fathimath competed for the Maldives, as a 13-year-old, in the women's 50 m freestyle at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney Sy ...

. She scorched the field to a seventh seed in a Cambodian record of 33.11, edging Iraq's Noor Haki out to last place by 2.4 seconds. Hem failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed seventieth overall in the prelims.

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* 1983 births Living people Cambodian female breaststroke swimmers Olympic swimmers for Cambodia Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Cambodian female freestyle swimmers Sportspeople from Phnom Penh {{Cambodia-swimming-bio-stub