Maria Albert (since 2009 Mäihäniemi; born 7 January 1985) is an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n swimmer. She was born in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

. She began her studies at the Tallinn Health Care College and in 2018, she graduated from

Tampere University Tampere University (, shortened TAU) is a multidisclipinary public university located in the city of Tampere, Finland. It is the second largest university in the country by student enrollment. The university was established on January 1, 2019, a ...

's Faculty of Medicine. She began her swimming career in 1996, coached by Ain Kaasik. She competed at

World Aquatics Championships The World Aquatics Championships, formerly the FINA World Championships, are the World Championships for six aquatic disciplines: swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo. The championships are st ...

. She is multiple-times Estonian champion in different swimming disciplines. She has also won Finnish championships. 1997–2008 she was a member of Estonian national swimming team. Since 2020 she is working as a

midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...

and at the

Hatanpää Hatanpää () is a district in Tampere, Finland, located in the southern part of the Keskusta, Tampere, city center on the shores of Pyhäjärvi (Tampere region), Lake Pyhäjärvi. Hatanpää is actually a peninsula that protrudes towards the lake ...

hospital in Tampere.

References

Living people 1985 births Estonian female swimmers Estonian expatriates in Finland Swimmers from Tallinn {{estonia-swimming-bio-stub