Martin Liivamägi (born 5 July 1988) is an Estonian swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke and individual medley events. He is a two-time Olympian (2008 and 2012), a 2010 Pac-10 champion in the 200 m individual medley, a double NCAA team titleholder (2011 and 2012), a 43-time Estonian swimming champion, and a 24-time national record holder in different age groups. He also won a silver medal in the same stroke at the

2006 European Junior Swimming Championships The 2006 European Junior Swimming Championships were held from July 6 to July 9, 2006, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The age groups for this event were girls born in 1990 or 1991 and boys born in 1988 or 1989. Medal table Medal summary Boy's eve ...

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...

, Spain.

Personal life

Liivamagi was born in Tallinn, Estonia, the son of Kalle and Tiina Liivamägi. He attended Tallinna Saksa Gümnaasium, and also, swam for the Kalevi Ujumiskool for four years, until he graduated from high school in 2007. One year before, Liivamagi rose to international fame at the

, Spain, where he earned a silver medal in the 200 m individual medley.

Career

2007 FINA World Championships

At the 2007 FINA World Championships in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropol ...

, Liivamagi placed fourteenth in the 200 m individual medley. He broke a 2:02 barrier and posted an Estonian record of 2:01.37 in the preliminary heats to secure his place for the semifinals. Liivamagi's record time also cleared a FINA A-cut, and earned a spot on the Estonian Olympic team.

2008 Summer Olympics

Liivamagi qualified only for the men's 200 m individual medley at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing. He challenged seven other swimmers on the fourth heat, including defending European champion László Cseh of Hungary. Liivamagi rounded out the field to last place by 0.48 of a second behind Spain's

Brenton Cabello Brenton Cabello Forns (born 26 September 1981 in Barcelona) is a Spanish medley swimmer who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), we ...

in 2:03.56. Liivamagi failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed thirty-fourth overall in the preliminary heats. Shortly after his first Olympics, Liivamagi matriculated at the University of California, Berkeley in fall 2008, where he majored in political economy with a focus on industrial societies and globalization. He also played for the

California Bears The California Golden Bears are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 Varsity team, varsity athletic programs ...

swimming and diving team, under head coaches David Durden and Greg Meehan.

2009 season

While attending UC Berkeley, Liivamagi still continued to fulfill prior commitments for the Estonian swimming team, by showing great improvement on the world stage. At the

2009 FINA World Championships The 2009 World Aquatics Championships ( it, Campionati mondiali di nuoto 2009) or the XIII FINA World Championships were held in Rome, Italy from 18 July to 2 August 2009. The 2009 Championships featured competition in all 5 aquatics disciplines ...

Rome, Italy , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (Romulus and Remus, legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg ...

, he cleared a 2-minute barrier for the first time, lowering a new Estonian record of 1:59.95 in the 200 m individual medley. He also barely missed the semifinals by recording a sixteenth fastest time and notching a final spot from the heats. At the

2009 European Short Course Swimming Championships The 2009 European Short Course Swimming Championships was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from Thursday 10 to Sunday 13 December 2009. A temporary swimming pool was built within the Abdi İpekçi Arena. The event was held over four days with: heats, s ...

in Istanbul, Turkey, Liivamagi set short-course Estonian records of 53.52 and 4:12.15 in the 100 and 400 m individual medley.

2010–2011 season

In 2010, Liivamagi won his first ever individual title at the Pac-10 Championships in Long Beach, California, posting a time of 1:43.73 in the 200 m individual medley to clear an NCAA A-cut. On the same year, he wounded up a third-place finish at the NCAA Division I Championships in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

with his collegiate best of 1:43.05. For the 2011–2012 season, Liivamagi helped his college team by rebounding two back-to-back swimming titles at the NCAA Championships in Federal Way, Washington. At the 2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China, Liivamagi failed to advance into the semifinals of the 200 m individual medley, as he finished his preliminary run in twenty-sixth place, outside his record time of 2:01.88.

2012 Summer Olympics

At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, Liivamagi extended his program, swimming in two individual events. He cleared FINA B-standard entry times of 1:01.45 (100 m breaststroke) and 2:01.50 (200 m individual medley) from the USA Swimming Grand Prix in Indianapolis, Indiana. During his Olympic run, Liivamagi was fully trained by California Golden Bears coach Greg Meehan, who served as an assistant for the Estonian team. On the first day of preliminaries, Liivamagi placed twenty-ninth in the 100 m breaststroke. Swimming in heat three, he posted a time of 1:01.57 to earn a fifth spot over Poland's

Dawid Szulich Dawid Szulich (born 19 May 1990) is a Polish swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 ...

and Israel's

Imri Ganiel Imri Ganiel ( he, אמרי גניאל; born 8 January 1992) is an Israeli swimmer. Biography Imri Ganiel was born in Beersheba and grew up in Omer. Ganiel started swimming at the age of 8 and has competed in swimming since the age of 12. He is th ...

by one tenth of a second. In the 200 m individual medley, Liivamagi challenged seven other swimmers on the second heat, including fellow Olympic veterans

Bradley Ally Bradley Kevin Ally (born December 11, 1986) is a three-time Olympic swimmer from Barbados. He represented Barbados at the Barbados at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2004, 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. He was the bronze medalist ...

of Barbados and

Raphaël Stacchiotti Raphaël Stacchiotti (born 9 March 1992 in Luxembourg City) is a Luxembourgish swimmer, who specialized in the freestyle and individual medley events. He is a four-time Olympian (2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020), a multiple-time Luxembourgian record h ...

of Luxembourg. He picked up another fifth spot by 0.09 of a second behind Russia's

Alexander Tikhonov Alexander Ivanovich Tikhonov (russian: Александр Иванович Тихонов; born 2 January 1947) is a former Soviet-Russian biathlete. On 23 July 2007, he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to three ye ...

in 2:01.09. Liivamagi failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed twenty-fifth overall in the preliminaries.

Personal bests

References

External links

*
Player Bio – California Golden Bears
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liivamagi, Martin 1988 births Living people Estonian male breaststroke swimmers Olympic swimmers for Estonia Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Estonian male medley swimmers Swimmers from Tallinn California Golden Bears men's swimmers Estonian expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century Estonian people