Eduardo Germán Otero (born February 4, 1980) is an Argentine former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke and butterfly events. He is a three-time Olympian, a multiple-time national record holder, and a two-time champion for the 50 m backstroke at the

South American Games The South American Games (also known as ODESUR Games; Spanish: ''Juegos Suramericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos''), formerly the Southern Cross Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Cruz del Sur'') is a regional multi-sport event held between nat ...

. He is also a member of Club Nadadores del Rio Plata, and is coached and trained by Marcelo "Yuri" Quaglia. Otero's Olympic debut came at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. There, he failed to reach the top 16 in any of his individual events, finishing fortieth in the 100 m backstroke (58.09), and thirty-fourth in the 200 m backstroke (2:05.51). He also placed eighteenth as a member of the Argentine team in the 4 × 100 m medley relay (3:43.61). Teaming with Sergio Ferreyra,

Pablo Martín Abal Pablo Martín Abal (born March 19, 1977) is an Argentine former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and backstroke events. He is a 2000 Olympian, an Argentine record holder in both sprint backstroke and butterfly, and a three-time All-American ...

, and

José Meolans José Martin Meolans (born June 22, 1978 in Cordoba, Argentina, Córdoba) is a Freestyle swimming, freestyle swimmer from Argentina, who won the world title in the 50 metre freestyle at the 2002 FINA Short Course World Championships in Moscow, Mo ...

, Otero swam a backstroke leg with a split of 58.00 seconds. On his second Olympic appearance in

Athens 2004 Athens 2004 may refer to: * 2004 Summer Olympics * 2004 Summer Paralympics The 2004 Summer Paralympics (), the 12th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the Internati ...

, Otero decided to drop his specialty event, the 200 m backstroke, and experiment with the 100 m butterfly. He also qualified for the 100 m backstroke by clearing a FINA B-standard entry time of 56.36 from the South American Championships in

Maldonado, Uruguay Maldonado () is the capital city of Maldonado Department, in eastern Uruguay. According to the 2023 Census, it is the fourth most populated city in the country, with about 102 thousand inhabitants. However, together with the cities of Punta del E ...

. Otero repeated his luck from Sydney, as he rounded out to last place in heat three and thirty-third overall with a time of 57.28. In the 100 m butterfly, Otero placed forty-fourth on the morning's preliminaries. Swimming in the same heat, he posted a lifetime best of 55.24 to earn a fourth spot by nearly half a second (0.50) behind winner Jeong Doo-Hee of South Korea. Eight years after competing in his first Olympics, Otero qualified for his third Argentine team as a 28-year-old at the

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

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. He achieved an Olympic B-cut of 56.38 seconds from the national trials in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. He challenged seven other swimmers on the third heat, including fellow three-time Olympian and former finalist

Örn Arnarson Örn Arnarson (born 31 August 1981 in Reykjavík) is a swimmer from Iceland. He won his first major title in 1998 at the European SC Championships 1998, European SC Championships in Sheffield. There he captured the title in the 200 m backs ...

of Iceland. Otero raced to seventh place by 0.19 of a second behind Ukraine's Oleksandr Isakov in 56.74. Otero failed to advance into the semifinals, as he matched his position from Sydney in the preliminaries.

References

External links

NBC Olympics Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otero, Eduardo German 1980 births Living people Argentine male backstroke swimmers Argentine male butterfly swimmers Olympic swimmers for Argentina Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Buenos Aires Province South American Games gold medalists for Argentina South American Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 2002 South American Games Competitors at the 2006 South American Games 21st-century Argentine sportsmen 20th-century Argentine sportsmen