Michael Williamson (born 5 February 1981) is an Irish former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He won a bronze medal in the 200 m breaststroke at the

2003 Summer Universiade The 2003 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXII Summer Universiade, took place in Daegu, South Korea. Emblem * The alphabet letter "U" and five stars, which is FISU's emblem, make up the basis of the emblem for the Daegu Universiade. * It sym ...

Daegu, South Korea Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

with a time of 2:15.52. Williamson qualified for the men's 200 m breaststroke at the 2004 Summer Olympics in

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 ...

, by achieving a FINA A-standard entry time of 2:14.18 from the British Olympic trials in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

. He challenged seven other swimmers on the sixth heat, including top medal favorites

Brendan Hansen Brendan Joseph Hansen (born August 15, 1981) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in breaststroke events. Hansen is a six-time Olympic medalist, and is also a former world record-holder in both the 100-meter and 200-meter ...

of the United States and

Dániel Gyurta Dániel Gyurta (; born 4 May 1989) is a Hungarian former competitive swimmer who mainly competed in the 200-metre breaststroke. In 2016, Gyurta became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he is a member of the European Olympic ...

of Hungary. He raced to sixth place by more than a second behind Gyurta's teammate Richárd Bodor, outside his entry time of 2:15.75. Williamson failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed twenty-second overall in the preliminaries. Three months after the Games, Williamson announced his retirement from swimming to focus his efforts on his career.

References

1981 births Living people Male swimmers from Northern Ireland Olympic swimmers for Ireland Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Male breaststroke swimmers Summer World University Games medalists in swimming Sportspeople from Belfast FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Ireland Medalists at the 2003 Summer Universiade {{Ireland-swimming-bio-stub