Yoav Meiri ( he, יואב מאירי; born July 28, 1975) is an Israeli former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly events. He is a 2000 Olympian, a 20-time Israeli champion, and a four-time national record holder in sprint butterfly. While studying in the United States, he earned All-American and All-Big Ten honors in the 200-yard butterfly as a member of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

swimming and diving team. Meiri accepted an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United Stat ...

to attend the

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, where he played for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

under head coach Dennis Dale and then Assistant Coach Clark Campbell. While swimming for the Gophers, he recorded a second-fastest time (1:45.98) in the 200 m butterfly at the 2000

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Championships, and fifteenth at the

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 ...

Championships (1:58.75) to earn All-American honors. Meiri competed in two swimming events for

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

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 achieved a

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

B-cut of 55.25 (100 m butterfly) 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 Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. On the sixth day of the Games, Meiri placed thirty-seventh in the 100 m butterfly. Swimming in heat four, he picked up a fourth seed by 63-hundredths of a second behind winner

Simão Morgado Simão Morgado (born 4 March 1979) is a male Portuguese swimmer. He is the national record holder of the 50-meter butterfly (long course) and since 1997 and he has beaten the National Record in the 100 meters thirteen times, what makes him one of ...

of Portugal in 55.38. Meiri also teamed up with

Eithan Urbach Eithan Urbach (born 12 January 1977 in Haifa) is a former backstroke swimmer from Israel. Urbach competed in two events in the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Ol ...

Tal Stricker Tal Stricker (born May 29, 1979) is a breaststroke swimmer from Israel, who competed for Israel at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Early life Stricker was born in Ramat Gan, Israel, and his parents are Rafi and Nava Stricker. He a ...

, and

Yoav Bruck Yoav Bruck ( he, יואב ברוק; born March 6, 1972, in Lakhish) is a former swimmer from Israel, who competed in three Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1992. Bruck is Jewish. He finished 32nd in the 50m freestyle (23.72) ...

in the 4×100 m medley relay. Swimming a butterfly leg in heat two, Meiri recorded a split of 54.54, but the Israelis settled only for fifth place and seventeenth overall in a final time of 3:43.39.

References

External links

* 1975 births Living people Israeli Jews Israeli male swimmers Jewish swimmers Olympic swimmers for Israel Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Male butterfly swimmers Minnesota Golden Gophers men's swimmers University of Minnesota alumni Sportspeople from Jerusalem {{Israel-swimming-bio-stub