Brendan Hansen
| Personal information |
| Full name |
Brendan Hansen |
| Nationality |
 United States |
| Stroke(s) |
Breaststroke |
| College team |
Texas Longhorns |
| Date of birth |
August 15, 1981 (1981-08-15) (age 28) |
| Place of birth |
Havertown, PA, USA |
| Height |
6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Weight |
189 pounds (86 kg) |
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Brendan Joseph Hansen (born August 15, 1981, Havertown, Pennsylvania) is an American swimmer who specializes in the breaststroke. He is a four-time Olympic medalist.
Career
Brendan Hansen grew up in Havertown, a suburb about 10 minutes away from Philadelphia. He attended Haverford Senior High School. He swam for many different clubs, including Karakung Swim Club. His main stroke is breaststroke. Hansen's well-known for his unique style of breaststroke, which incorporates a kick that is much narrower than the other swimmers, including his biggest rival, Kosuke Kitajima from Japan, who took gold in both the 100 m and 200 m Breaststroke in 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
At the 2005 World Aquatics Championships, Hansen won gold in the same three events that he participated in at the 2004 Olympics.
At the 2006 ConocoPhillips National Championships, Hansen lowered both his world records in the 100 meter and 200 meter breaststroke to 59.13 in the 100 m and 2:08.74 in the 200 m.
At the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships held in Victoria, Canada, Hansen again lowered his world record time in the 200 m breaststroke to 2:08.50. It is notable that he was a quarter of a second behind his best time at the 150 m mark, but he came back 0.6 second faster with a 33.38.
Hansen was the world record holder in the (long-course) 100 m breaststroke until Kitajima broke that record at the 2008 Olympics. The 200 m breaststroke record he set in 2006 was broken by Kitajima in June 2008.
Hansen set numerous NCAA records while swimming for the University of Texas at Austin.[citation needed] He graduated in 2005 with a degree in kinesiology. He was also NCAA Champion in the 100 yard and 200 yard breaststroke events each year of his four year college career.[citation needed]
2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games
Hansen swam in three swimming events at the 2004 Summer Games.
Despite setting the world record in the 100 and 200 meter breaststroke[1] at the 2004 U.S. Olympic trials, he did not manage to win a gold medal in either event at the 2004 Summer Olympics, as he settled for silver in the 100[2] and bronze in the 200.[3] He would win a gold for his role in the world-record setting 4 x 100 medley relay.[4] His split on the relay turned out to be one of the fastest in history. There was controversy in Kosuke Kitajima's win in the 100 m breaststroke. The underwater cameras revealed what look like to be an illegal dolphin kick at the start, which could have made the difference in the race. However, the dolphin kick went undetected by race officials, so the US Team couldn't lodge a protest.[5][6]
2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games
Hansen swam in two swimming events at the 2008 Summer Games.
Hansen swam the 100m breaststroke at the 2008 Summer Olympics, his only individual event, finishing in fourth place but earned a gold medal for his part in the 4 x 100 Medley Relay.[7] He lost the medal while on a flight home from a party in his hometown near Philadelphia to Austin. It was returned to him the following day.[8]
See also
References
External links
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Olympic Champions in Men's 4×100 m Medley Relay |
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1960 USA (McKinney, Hait, Larson, Farrell) | 1964 USA (Mann, Craig, Schmidt, Clark) | 1968 USA (Hickcox, McKenzie, Russell, Walsh) | 1972 USA (Stamm, Bruce, Spitz, Heidenreich) | 1976 USA (Naber, Hencken, Vogel, Montgomery) | 1980 Australia (Kerry, Evans, Tonelli, Brooks) | 1984 USA (Carey, Lundquist, Morales, Gaines) | 1988 USA (Berkoff, Schroeder, Biondi, Jacobs) | 1992 USA (Rouse, Diebel, Morales, Olsen) | 1996 USA (Rouse, Linn, Henderson, Hall, Jr.) | 2000 USA (Krayzelburg, Moses, Crocker, Hall, Jr.) | 2004 USA (Peirsol, Hansen, Crocker, Lezak) | 2008 USA (Peirsol, Hansen, Phelps, Lezak)
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World Short Course Champions in Men's 4×100 m Medley Relay |
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1993: United States (Schwenk, Wunderlich, Henderson, Olsen) • 1995: New Zealand (Winter, Kent, Callaghan, Bray) • 1997: Australia (Radley, Rogers, Huegill, Klim) • 1999: Australia (Welsh, Rogers, Klim, Fydler) • 2000: United States (Krayzelburg, Marrs, Walker, Tucker) • 2002: United States (Peirsol, Denniston, Marshall, Lezak) • 2004: United States (Peirsol, Hansen, Crocker, Lezak) • 2006: Australia (Welsh, Rickard, Pine, Callus) • 2008: Russia (Donets, Geybel, Korotyshkin, Sukhorukov)
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Pan Pacific Champions in Men's 4×100 m Medley Relay |
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1985: USA (Carey, Moffet, Morales, Biondi) • 1987: USA (Veatch, Schroeder, Morales, Biondi) • 1989: USA (Rouse, Korhammer, Morales, Biondi) • 1991: USA (Rouse, Barrowman, Henderson, Biondi) • 1993: USA (Rouse, Van Neerden, Henderson, Olsen) • 1995: USA (Rouse, Wunderlich, Henderson, Hall) • 1997: USA (Krayzelburg, Grote, Dusing, Walker) • 1999: USA (Krayzelburg, Grote, Wales, Walker) • 2002: USA (Peirsol, Hansen, Phelps, Lezak) • 2006: USA (Peirsol, Hansen, Crocker, Lezak)
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Kosuke Kitajima
