Lara Heinz (born 27 May 1981 in

Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Lu ...

) is a retired Luxembourgian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. She is a two-time national record holder for both the long and short course freestyle (50 and 100 m). Heinz made her Olympic debut, as a 19-year-old, at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

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 ...

, competing in both 50 and 100-metre freestyle. First, Heinz touched out Thailand's Pilin Tachakittiranan to take the fourth spot in heat three of the women's 100 m freestyle by 0.14 of a second in 58.55. In her second event, 50 m freestyle, Heinz snared the fifth spot by two hundredths of a second ahead of Fiji's Caroline Pickering in 26.55, but fell short to advance to the semifinals, placing thirty-fourth overall on the morning prelims. Heinz also served as Luxembourg's flag bearer in the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

. Four years later, Heinz qualified for her second Luxembourgian team, as a 23-year-old, at 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 ...

. She attained B-standard entry times of 26.41 (50 m freestyle) and 57.14 (100 m freestyle) from the European Long Course Meet in Luxembourg. In the

100 m freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1 ...

, Heinz edged out Hungary's Ágnes Mutina to take the fifth spot in heat three and thirty-sixth overall by 0.70 of a second, with a time of 57.40. In the 50 m freestyle, Heinz touched out Iceland's

Ragnheiður Ragnarsdóttir Ragnheiður Ragnarsdóttir, also known as Ragga Ragnars (born 24 October 1984) is an Icelandic actress and former swimmer, who specialised in sprint freestyle events. She is a multiple-time Icelandic record holder in both long and short course f ...

to a fifth-heat triumph by a single hundredth margin (0.01), breaking a Luxembourgian record of 26.35 seconds. Her storming victory was not insufficiently enough to put her through the semifinals, as Heinz placed thirtieth out of 75 swimmers in the morning preliminaries.

References

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* * * 1981 births Living people Luxembourgian female swimmers Olympic swimmers for Luxembourg Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Luxembourgian female freestyle swimmers Sportspeople from Luxembourg City {{Luxembourg-swimming-bio-stub