Uğur Orel Oral (born September 26, 1979) is a Turkish former swimmer, who specialized in individual medley events. He is a two-time Olympian (2000 and 2004), and a seven-time NCAA Division II national champion while studying in the United States. He is also named Swimmer of the Year in Turkey in 2003 and 2004, and holds 15 Turkish records in the same stroke. Oral is a former varsity swimmer for the

Indianapolis Greyhounds The Indianapolis Greyhounds, also the UIndy Greyhounds, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Indianapolis (UIndy), located in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Greyhounds compete in NCAA Division II as members of the Great Lakes Va ...

at the University of Indianapolis under his head coach Gary Kinkead (2000–2004). Oral made his first Turkish team 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 ...

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. Swimming in heat two of the men's 200 m individual medley, he picked up a seventh seed and forty-eighth overall by 0.51 of a second behind Hong Kong's Alex Fong in 2:09.51. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

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, Oral qualified again for the 200 m individual medley, by eclipsing a FINA B-standard entry time of 2:07.09 from the USA National Championships in

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. He challenged six other swimmers on the second heat, including Olympic veteran Oleg Pukhnatiy of Uzbekistan. He rounded out the field to last place by 0.12 of a second behind Chinese Taipei's Wu Nien-pin in 2:08.84. Oral failed to advance into the semifinals, as he matched a forty-fifth place tie with Puerto Rico's Jorge Oliver in the preliminaries. Two months after his second Olympics, Oral posted his lifetime best and a Turkish record of 55.31 to pull off an eighth-place finish in the 100 m individual medley at the 2004 FINA World Short Course Championships in

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. In 2012, Oral was inducted into the University of Indianapolis Hall of Fame for his enormous success and full-time dedication in collegiate swimming. He is currently working as an assistant coach for the same swimming team.

References

External links

Coaching Profile – Indianapolis Greyhounds
1979 births Living people Turkish male medley swimmers Olympic swimmers for Turkey Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics College men's swimmers in the United States Turkish expatriate swimmers in the United States University of Indianapolis alumni Swimmers from Istanbul 21st-century Turkish sportsmen {{Turkey-swimming-bio-stub