Lára Hrund Bjargardóttir (born 15 July 1981) is an Icelandic former

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

, who specialized in

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

and individual medley events. She is a multiple-time Big West Conference honoree, four-time Icelandic record holder, and a member of the swimming team for the

UC Irvine Anteaters The UC Irvine Anteaters (referred to Anteaters) are the athletic teams fielded by the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine). Its athletics programs participate in the NCAA's Division I, as members of the Big West Conference and the Mount ...

at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

. Bjargardottir made her first Icelandic team 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, she failed to advance into the semifinals in any of her individual events, finishing twenty-seventh in the 200 m freestyle (2:05.22), and thirty-sixth in the

100 m freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1 ...

(58.44). At the

2004 Summer Olympics 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), ...

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 ...

, Bjargardottir shortened her program on her second Olympic appearance, swimming only in the 200 m individual medley. She achieved a FINA B-standard of 2:20.35 from the World Championships in

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. Bjargardottir challenged five other swimmers in heat one, including two-time Olympians

Marina Mulyayeva Marina Vladimirovna Mulyayeva ( kz, Марина Владимировна Муляева; born April 30, 1981) is a Kazakh former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle and individual medley events. She is a six-time national record holder, ...

of Kazakhstan and Vered Borochovski of Israel. She raced to fourth place by 0.62 of a second behind 16-year-old swimmer

Park Na-Ri Park Na-ri ( ko, 박 나리; born March 3, 1988) is a South Korean swimmer, who specialized in freestyle and individual medley events. She won two bronze medals, as a member of the South Korean swimming team, in the 800 m freestyle relay at the ...

of South Korea with a time of 2:22.00. Bjargardottir failed to qualify for the semifinals, as she placed twenty-seventh overall for the second time in the preliminaries.

References

1981 births Living people Lara Hrund Bjargardottir Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Icelandic female freestyle swimmers Icelandic female medley swimmers Lara Hrund Bjargardottir UC Irvine Anteaters athletes University of California, Irvine alumni {{Iceland-swimming-bio-stub