Riley Janes (born June 30, 1980) is a Canadian former competition swimmer who specialized in freestyle and backstroke events. He is a single-time Olympian (2004), and is part of the bronze-medal Canadian medley relay team at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

Manchester, England Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Raised in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

, Janes started swimming at the age of 6, when he competed for the Saskatoon Goldfins under his personal coach. He has held 14 club and 8 age-group state records in the 100-metre backstroke, before joining with the Canadian national team at age 15. He attended the

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, 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-n ...

on an athletic scholarship, and swam for the

Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M Aggies refers to the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname " Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Agg ...

swimming team, under head coach Mel Nash. While swimming for the Aggies, he received eleven All-American honors, and set a short-course Canadian record of 23.90 at the 2000 NCAA Swimming Championships. In 2002, Janes graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in marketing. In 2002, Janes made international headlines at the

Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships is a long course swimming event first held in 1985.Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

in Manchester, England, where he earned bronze medals for Canada in the 4×100 m medley relay, along with Mike Brown,

Mike Mintenko Michael Mintenko (born November 7, 1975) is a former competition swimmer who represented Canada in butterfly and freestyle events in various international championships, including the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. He is a ten-time medallist, sp ...

, and

Brent Hayden Brent Matthew Hayden (born October 21, 1983) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. Representing Canada for a decade, Hayden is regarded as the fastest swimmer in Canadian history. Hayden won a bronze medal in the 100 m freestyle at the 2012 Summ ...

(3:38.17 in Pan Pacific, and 3:38.91 in Commonwealth). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Janes competed only in two events as a relay swimmer. On the second day of the Games, Janes, along with Mintenko, Hayden, and

Yannick Lupien Yannick Lupien (born February 21, 1980 in Laval, Quebec, Canada) is a former freestyle swimmer who represented Canada at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. His best Olympic result was sixth place as a member of the Canadian team in the 4x100- ...

, placed ninth in the 4×100 m freestyle relay with a time of 3:18.35. Six days later, in the 4×100 m medley relay, Janes reunited with Mintenko, Hayden, and Brown after winning their bronze medal for Canada from the Pan Pacific Championships two years earlier. Leading off the backstroke leg in heat one, Janes recorded a split of 56.17, but the Canadians missed the top 8 final by half a second (0.05), finishing in fourth place and tenth overall with a final time of 3:39.36.

References

External links

Profile – Canadian Olympic TeamProfile – Canoe.caAthlete Bio – Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janes, Riley 1980 births Living people Canadian male backstroke swimmers Canadian male freestyle swimmers Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada Olympic swimmers of Canada Swimmers from Edmonton Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Texas A&M Aggies men's swimmers Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games

See also

References

External links