Nikša Roki (born 8 February 1988) is a Croatian swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and individual medley events. He represented his nation

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, and has claimed multiple-time Croatian championship titles and national records throughout his swimming career in the 200 m butterfly and the individual medley double (both 200 and 400 m). Roki competed for

in two swimming events at the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. Leading up to the Games, he managed to dip beneath the FINA B-cut in 2:01.56 (200 m butterfly) and 4:25.28 (400 m individual medley) at the Golden Bear meet in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. On the first day of the Games, Roki broke a Croatian record of 4:22.44 to touch the wall first in heat one of the 400 m individual medley, but finished only in twenty-third place. In the 200 m butterfly, Roki repeated his luck in the evening prelims, as he topped the first heat against India's Rehan Poncha, Peru's Emmanuel Crescimbeni, and Honduras' Javier Hernández Maradiaga, overhauling a sub-2:00 barrier with a new Croatian record on a tech body suit in 1:59.58, nearly two seconds faster than his entry time. Roki failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed thirty-first overall in the prelims. Roki is previously a member of the swimming team for the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

, and a graduate of biology at the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

(2011). He was also named an honorable mention Scholar All-American by the National Swimming Coaches Association of America in 2009. Roki is currently a graduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park and is a teaching assistant for freshman level bioengineering courses.

References

External links

Profile – Croatian Olympic Committee

Player Bio – Ohio State Buckeyes
1985 births Living people Croatian male swimmers Olympic swimmers for Croatia Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Male medley swimmers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Swimmers from Zagreb Ohio State Buckeyes men's swimmers Expatriate swimmers in the United States Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Croatian male butterfly swimmers {{Croatia-swimming-bio-stub