Rafał Marek Szukała (born 9 April 1971 in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

) is a former

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

swimmer from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, who won the silver medal in the men's 100 m butterfly at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

in Barcelona, Spain. Szukała competed in three consequentive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

. Szukała won his first major title in 1989, at the

1989 European Aquatics Championships The 1989 European Aquatics Championships were held from 15 to 20 August 1989 in Bonn, West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

, in the 100 m butterfly. He regained the European title in 1993. Szukala also won gold in the 1994 World Championships in the 100 m butterfly. He attended the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

, in the United States.

External links

Profile on Polish Olympic Committee
1971 births Living people Polish male butterfly swimmers Olympic swimmers of Poland Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Poland Sportspeople from Poznań World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Iowa Hawkeyes men's swimmers University of Iowa alumni Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming 20th-century Polish people {{Poland-Olympic-medalist-stub