Jan Bidrman (born 2 April 1966 in

Rakovník Rakovník (, german: Rakonitz) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative parts Rakovník ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

) is the head coach of the

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Academy of Swimming Excellence and the high performance coach of Swim

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. Formerly a decorated international athlete in Sweden, Bidrman was selected to the Swedish National Swim Team for both the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and 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 ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain.

Swimming career

Bidrman was a member of the Czechoslovak national team from 1980 to 1985, until his arrival in Sweden where he competed for the

Malmö KK Malmö KK, ''Malmö Kappsimningsklubb'', is a Swedish swim team from Malmö founded 1982 as competitive team for Malmö SS and Limhamns SS. Swimmers *Jan Bidrman * Daniel Carlsson (2003-) *Attila Czene (2004) *Martin Gustavsson *Ida Mattsson * S ...

swim club. In 1988, Bidrman was selected as a member of the Swedish Olympic Team, but was unable to compete due to regulations concerning transfer of representative country. However at the age of 26, Bidrman was once again selected as a member of the Swedish Olympic Team. At the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics, Bidrman participated in both the 200-meter

individual medley Medley is a combination of four different swimming styles—backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle—into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as a medley relay. Individual ...

and the 400-meter individual medley. Bidrman was disqualified in his 200-meter individual medley race, but finished 15th overall in the 400-meter individual medley. Bidrman held both the 200-meter

long course An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...

individual medley and 400-meter long course individual medley national records for Sweden during his career. At one point, he held the European record for the 400-meter

short course In swimming, the term short course (abbreviated SC) is used to identify a pool that is in length. The term is also often included in meet names when conducted in a short course pool. "Short course" is the second type of pool configuration current ...

individual medley.

Coaching career

Since his retirement as an elite swimmer, Bidrman has become an internationally acclaimed coach, coaching numerous athletes to the national and international level. Bidrman became assistant coach to Cal Bentz at the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 1992. He later became coach of the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n swim team, leading a seven-member team to six top eight finalists at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, United States. Of these members, Bidrman coached Olympic bronze medalist

Marianne Kriel Marianne Kriel (born August 30, 1971, in Bellville, Western Cape) is a former backstroke and freestyle swimmer from South Africa, who won the bronze medal in the 100 m backstroke at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Met with ...

in the 100-meter

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

. In 1997, Bidrman was appointed as head coach for the Calgary Swim Center. Since then Bidrman has been appointed as the head coach of the Calgary Academy for Swimming Excellence which works towards an “independent vision and plan for the development of continued production of internationally competitive swimmers.” https://www.swimnews.com/News/view/4232 As head coach, Bidrman works in conjunction with the Canadian Sport Center and the carded athletes under his direction. Bidrman also acts as the high performance coach of Swim Alberta. Throughout his coaching career, Bidrman has been selected to the Canadian Olympic Swim Team for the 2000 Summer Olympics in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia, the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Greece, and the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. Bidrman has also been appointed as a coach for many other international competitions, including the

1998 World Aquatics Championships The 8th FINA World Championships or the 1998 World Aquatics Championships were held from 8 to 17 January 1998 in Perth, Western Australia. The championships features competition in all five of FINA's disciplines: Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, S ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Australia, the

2001 World Aquatics Championships right The 2001 World Aquatics Championships or the 9th FINA World Swimming Championships were held in Fukuoka, Japan between 16 July and 29 July 2001. The opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the swimming and synchronised swimming events, ...

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

, Japan, and the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England.

Education

Bidrman attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he competed for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

on the collegiate swim team. Graduating in 1993 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in International Business, Bidrman continued his education and received his Masters in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

in 1995. Bidrman was also named an

Academic All-American The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...

in 1990.

Personal Bests

Long Course (50 m)

Short Course (25 m)

Clubs

References

* *http://www.swimnews.com/Magazine/1997/janmag97/birdman.shtml *http://www.calgaryswimming.com/Contact.jsp?team=canucsc *https://www.swimnews.com/News/view/4232 *https://web.archive.org/web/20110903220953/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1988/SWI/ *https://web.archive.org/web/20111110201637/http://www.swimalberta.ca/clubs/contact-information-boards-and-staff.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Bidrman, Jan 1966 births Living people Czech male swimmers Swedish male medley swimmers Swedish swimming coaches Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers for Sweden Malmö KK swimmers