Jowan Qupty ("koop-tee", ar, جوان قبطي, he, ג'ואן קופטי; born June 6, 1990) is a Palestinian-Israeli swimmer. His hometown is Jerusalem. He swims the

breaststroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be s ...

. He is a three-time Israeli champion in the 100 m and 200 m

. He and Olympian

Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or Nimrod Shapira ( he, נמרוד שפירא בר אור; born April 25, 1989) is an Israeli two-time Olympic swimmer, having represented Israel at the 2008 Olympics in the 100 meter and 200 meter freestyle, and in the 200 m freestyle for Israel at ...

were high school roommates.

Swimming career

Qupty started swimming at a Jerusalem YMCA. Swimming in Israel as a youth, his team was a mixture of Jews, Muslims, and Christians. He established records in the 200 m

in the Israeli national age group for ages 14, 15, 16, and 17. At age 15, he won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the 200 m breaststroke junior division at the

2005 Maccabiah Games The 17th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-17 ישראל תשס"ה), held in Israel, were an incarnation of the 'Jewish Olympics.' They attracted the largest attendance of any Maccabiah Games, including more than 900 representatives from the Un ...

. Qupty attended high school at The

Bolles School The Bolles School is an American private college preparatory day and boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida. It has a lower school (including pre-kindergarten), a middle school, and a high school, spread across four campuses around the Jackson ...

, in Jacksonville, Florida, where he was 2007 ''Times-Union'' All-First Coast Florida Swimmer of the Year, and graduated in 2008. He won the Florida high school swimming state 100 yard breaststroke championship (57.27 seconds) for the Bulldogs. At 17 years of age, Quipty was ranked # 1 in the United States in the 200 yard breaststroke. He missed most of the 2008–09 swim season due to a shoulder injury. Qupty and fellow

Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli ...

swimmer

had known each other when they were children, and swum together for the Jerusalem United swim club in Israel. They attended Bolles together, where they were roommates for two years, swim team teammates, and became best friends. Qupty's father, commenting on the friendship and teamwork between his Christian Arab Israeli son and his son's Jewish Israeli roommate/teammate, said: "Just to see them together after the race jumping and hugging each other; they were so happy. I was looking at them through my tears. Coming from our part of the world, you don't see that." The younger Qupty observed that "people were amazed all the time" that he – a Palestinian – and a Jew could coexist, and Shapira Bar-Or said: "It shows how simple the situation is. If I can live with a Palestinian guy, I'm sure in our country we can live with a couple millions of Palestinians and Israelis together." In July 2009, he won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

in 200 m breaststroke (2:24.43), behind Israelis Tom Beeri and Daniel Malnik, in Swimming at the 2009 Maccabiah Games. In December 2010, while a junior at University of Missouri, he established the Mizzou Invitational meet record in the 200 y breaststroke(1:59.56). In November 2011, he was training in hopes of qualifying for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London.

References

External links

*
Swimmingtimes.com entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qupty, Jowan 1990 births Living people Israeli male swimmers Israeli Arab Christians Israeli male breaststroke swimmers Sportspeople from Jerusalem Maccabiah Games bronze medalists for Israel Maccabiah Games medalists in swimming