Vlastimil Burda (born November 4, 1975) is a Czech former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. He is a single-time Olympian (2000) and a resident athlete for USK Praha in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. While studying in the United States, Burda held two

NCAA 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 ...

championship titles, and a school record (4:22.58) in the 400-yard freestyle since 2002, as a member of

Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (also known as CSUB Roadrunners, and sometimes as the Bakersfield Roadrunners) are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing the California State University, Bakersfield, located in Bakersfield, Califor ...

. Burda competed in a long-distance freestyle double at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. He cleared a FINA A-standard entry time of 3:53.36 (400 m freestyle) from the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

Helsinki, Finland Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city' ...

. In the

400 m freestyle 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

, held on the first day of the Games, Burda challenged seven other swimmers in heat five, including Australia's overwhelming favorite Grant Hackett. He held off Greece's

Spyridon Gianniotis Spyridon "Spyros" Gianniotis (; born 19 February 1980) is a Greek competitive swimmer who specialises in long-distance and open-water freestyle events. He is an Olympic silver medalist, two-time World Champion, World Cup gold medalist, and two ...

to pick up a sixth spot and nineteenth overall by more than half of his body length, standing at , in a time of 3:54.40. Nearly a week later, in the

1500 m freestyle 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 album ...

, Burda placed twenty-sixth on the morning prelims. Swimming in heat one, he stormed home with an easy triumph against Chinese Taipei's

Li Yun-lun Li Yun-lun (; born December 25, 1981) is a Taiwanese former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. He is a single-time Olympian and a former record holder in the 400 and 1500 m freestyle. Li competed in a long-distance free ...

and Kyrgyzstan's Ivan Ivanov, in a lifetime best of 15:33.25.

References

1975 births Living people Olympic swimmers for the Czech Republic Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Czech male freestyle swimmers Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners men's swimmers People from Litoměřice Sportspeople from the Ústí nad Labem Region {{CzechRepublic-swimming-bio-stub