Alexandru Coci (born October 31, 1989) is a Romanian swimmer, who specialized in butterfly events. He is a Romanian swimming champion and record holder in butterfly, individual medley, relay events, and honorable mention All-American in the 100 m butterfly. Coci also became the first swimmer for the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

to break a 47-second barrier, when he posted a time of 46.50 seconds in the same stroke at the NCAA Division I Championships. Coci qualified for the men's 200 m butterfly at the 2012 Summer Olympics in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, by eclipsing a FINA B-standard entry time of 1:58.42 from the European Championships in

Debrecen, Hungary Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

. He challenged seven other swimmers on the second heat, including former semifinalist Hsu Chi-chieh of the Chinese Taipei. Coci cruised to fifth place by 0.02 of a second behind Ukraine's Illya Chuyev in 1:59.67. Coci failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed twenty-ninth overall in the preliminaries. Coci was a member of the swimming team for the

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, and a former undergraduate student at the

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. After 2012 Summer Olympics, Coci has transferred schools to Arizona State University where he was coached and trained by former finalist, butterfly swimmer, and three-time Olympian Ioan Gherghel (2000, 2004, and 2008).

References

External links

Player Bio - Arizona State University
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Alexandru Coci on CollegeSwimmingAlexandru Coci on BBC Sport - Olympics London 2012
1989 births Living people Romanian male medley swimmers Olympic swimmers of Romania Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Romanian male butterfly swimmers Sportspeople from Baia Mare Alabama Crimson Tide men's swimmers Arizona State Sun Devils men's swimmers 20th-century Romanian people 21st-century Romanian people {{Romania-swimming-bio-stub