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 Israel competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. This was Israel's fourteenth participation in the Summer Olympics. Israel sent 43 athletes to compete in Beijing, the largest Israeli delegation in Olympic history, with the previou ...

in the 100 meter and 200 meter freestyle, and in the 200 m freestyle for

Israel at the 2012 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's fifteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics. The Olympic Committee of Israel sent 37 athletes to the Games, 19 men and 18 women, to comp ...

. He is a 27-time Israeli Champion in the 50, 100 and 200 Freestyle events as well as 100 & 200 Butterfly. He won a silver medal in the 200 meter

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 a bronze medal in the 400 meter freestyle, at the 2007 European Junior Swimming Championships. He won a silver medal in the 100 meter freestyle at the

2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-18 ישראל תשס"ט), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the Ol ...

. In 2013, after swimming in his second Olympic games, Shapira founded a swim club and swim schools in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

called AquaSwimClub. His swim program grew to 7 locations in Michigan with over 800 swimmers. In 2017, AquaSwimClub's 800 swimmers turned into Shapira's first brick and mortar location, AQUAfin Swim School in Jacksonville Florida and serves thousands of swimmers on weekly basis.

Biography

Shapira hometown is Moshav

Avigdor Avigdor ( he, אֲבִיגְדוֹר) a small moshav in southern Israel. Located south of Kiryat Malakhi and 11 km north of Kiryat Gat and covering 3.75 km², it falls under the jurisdiction of Be'er Tuvia Regional Council. In its pop ...

, South Israel. Although he played basketball for a top Israeli junior team, a knee injury that he suffered at 11 years of age led him to shift his focus to swimming. At age of 7, Shapira has drowned in a pool during a birthday party and was saved by his uncle. This tragedy led his parents to get him and his sister into swim lessons at their local pool. At age of 11, Shapira got back in the pool for a swim practice and his passion to swimming began.

Swimming career

European Junior Championships

In July 2007, he won a silver medal at the

European Junior Swimming Championships The European Junior Swimming Championships (50 m) is an annual swimming competition for European swimmers organized by the Ligue Européenne de Natation and held over five days.

in the 200 m freestyle (1.50.36), in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Belgium. He also won a bronze medal in the 400 m freestyle (3:54.83).

High school

In November 2006, Shapira attended The Bolles School and he won the 200 yard freestyle (1:38.37) at the Florida State 1A Championships, and was runner-up in the 500 yard freestyle. He was named ''Times-Union'' 2006 Florida All-First Coast Swimmer of the Year.

Israeli national championships and records

Shapira is the only one in Israeli history to win all freestyle events within the same competition. In August 2007, he won a gold medal in the 400 m freestyle (3:55.23), and established the Israeli 18-and-under national record in the 200 m freestyle (1:50.06) at the Israeli Summer National Championships. In March 2008, he swam on the team that set a new Israeli record in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay, at 7:20.87, at the 2008 European Championships in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

, Croatia. He broke his own national record in the 200 meter freestyle the next month at the Olympics. In July 2009, he set a new Israeli record in the 100 meter freestyle, at 48.93, at the World Championships in Rome, Italy. Also at the 2009 World Championships, he swam on the team that set a new Israeli record in the 4×100 meter medley relay, at 3:36.23. In August 2009, he won gold medals in the 50 m (22.75; surpassing the 14-year-old former record of 22.79), 100 m (49.49), 200 m (1:49.36), and 400 m freestyle races at the Israeli Summer National Championships at

Wingate Institute Wingate Institute ( he, מכון וינגייט), officially Orde Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sports ( he, המכון לחינוך גופני ולספורט ע"ש אורד וינגייט), is a sports training institute located so ...

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

. In July 2010, he won gold medals in the 50 m, 100 m (49.89), 200 m, and 400 m freestyle races at the Israeli Long Course National Championships.

College

After high school, Nimrod Shapira attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, where he majored in Business Management. In 2009, he was a silver medalist at the

NCAA Championships The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin. ...

as part of the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

800 free relay team (6:11.82), and in 2010, he was a bronze medalist in the same event in

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, Ohio. He was honored as a member of the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

All-Academic First Team. He was named the Counsilman-Hunsaker National Collegiate Swimmer-of-the-Week on November 17, 2010, and again honored in 2011 as a member of the Pac-10 All-Academic First Team. His fastest times in college competitions, through March 2011, were 19.92 in the 50 yard freestyle (2010), 42.37 in the 100 y freestyle (2011), 46.44 in the 100 y fly (2010), 1:33.50 in the 200 y freestyle (2010), 1:43.71 in the 200 y fly (2010), and 1:44.85 in the 200 y IM (2011).

Olympics

Shapira is a two-time Olympian. He competed on behalf of

Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. This was Israel's fourteenth participation in the Summer Olympics. Israel sent 43 athletes to compete in Beijing, the largest Israeli delegation in Olympic history, with the previous ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. In the

100 meter 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 ...

he swam a 49.10 (a national record) and came in 26th, and in the 200 meter freestyle he swam a 1:47.78 (also a national record) in the first heat, and a 1:48.16 in the semi-finals, coming in 15th. He was the first Israeli swimmer to compete in an Olympic semi-finals. He competed on behalf of

, in London in the 200 m freestyle, finishing in 21st place.

Maccabiah Games

He won a silver medal 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 ...

(49.02; behind

Jason Lezak Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spannin ...

, and a new Israeli record) at the July

Entrepreneurship and business

Shapira was born to a family of business owners and saw all the ups and downs that came with owning your own business. At age 7, he began to raise and sell rabbits from his family farm in South Israel. Upon graduating The University of Arizona in 2013, he got into the business side of the swimming world and started a swim club and swim school. After starting AquaSwimClub with only $480 and turning it into a successful 7-location business, Shapira began to focus more on the swim school side of the industry. Today, AQUAfin Swim School is the number one swim school in Northeast Florida, with 3 locations in and around Jacksonville, FL and still growing. Shapira has recently begun his journey as a franchisor with AQUAfin Swim School's first franchise location opening in August 2022 in Orange City, FL. He is also a real estate investor with $6m+ of personal holdings.

References

External links

*
Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or
on ArizonaWildcats.com
Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or
at SwimmingTimes.com
"2008 Olympic Games-Bolles Swimmers in Beijing and US Trials"
by Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or, bollesswimming, September 29, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Shapira Bar-Or, Nimrod 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Jerusalem Israeli male swimmers Olympic swimmers of Israel Israeli expatriates in the United States Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Maccabiah Games medalists in swimming Maccabiah Games silver medalists for Israel Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Israeli Jews Jewish swimmers Arizona Wildcats men's swimmers Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent