Ruslan Gaziev (born August 16, 1999) is a Canadian competitive swimmer of Avar descent who specializes in the freestyle. Gaziev currently resides and trains in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Career

In 2017, Gaziev won two gold medals as part of mixed relay teams at the 2017 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, including breaking the World Junior record in the 4x100 freestyle relay. In 2018, Gaziev was named to his first senior team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. Gaziev also competed at the

2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, a long course (50 m) event, was held in Tokyo, Japan, from 9 to 14 August 2018. Qualifying criteria Unlike the World Championships and Olympic Games, nations can enter as many people as they like ...

. As part of the 2021 Canadian Olympic swimming trials in

, Gaziev finished in third in the 100m freestyle. This qualified him for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Gaziev competed collegiately for The

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. At the

2022 World Aquatics Championships The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FINA banned both the Russian an ...

, Gaziev swam the lead-off for the Canadian team in the heats of the 4×100 m mixed freestyle relay, helping them qualify to the event final in second place. He was replaced by

Joshua Liendo Joshua Liendo Edwards (born August 20, 2002) is a Canadian competitive swimmer who specializes in the freestyle and butterfly. A four-time World Aquatics Championships medalist and three-time FINA World Swimming Championships medalist, he is al ...

in the final, but shared in the team's silver medal win, his first World medal. That same summer Gaziev participated in his second Commonwealth Games team, for the 2022 edition in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

. He swam in the heats of the mixed 4×100 m freestyle relay for the Canadian team, being replaced in the event final by

Javier Acevedo Javier Carlos Acevedo (born January 28, 1998) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. He competes primarily in the backstroke events. Acevedo won two bronze medals at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships as part of both the mixed 4×100 m frees ...

, and shared in the team's bronze medal win. The following day he won a bronze with the men's team in the 4×100 m freestyle. This was the first men's relay medal for Canada at a major event since the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

, and the first at the Commonwealth Games since 2006. Gaziev said afterward that "I told the boys this is two years out of the Olympics. We might not have won but we are building momentum. We're young and we have so much there." He went on to reach the final of 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 ...

, and placed fourth, 0.27 seconds behind bronze medalist Duncan Scott. He noted "four years ago at this meet I didn't even reach the semifinal so I've come a long way." Gaziev then distinguished himself swimming the anchor leg for Canada in the 4×100 m mixed medley, narrowly out-touching

Freya Anderson Freya Ann Alexandra Anderson (born 4 March 2001) is a British swimmer, known primarily for her achievements as a freestyle sprinter, especially as a relay swimmer for Great Britain. Anderson achieved nine relay gold medals at three editions of t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to take the silver medal for the team.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaziev, Ruslan 1999 births Living people Avar people Canadian male freestyle swimmers Swimmers from Moscow Swimmers from Toronto Swimmers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers for Canada World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games 21st-century Canadian people Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games