Ray Hass is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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 ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. Originally from South Africa, Hass immigrated to Australia with his family in 1993 and was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holder.Australian Institute of Sport Swimming Achievements

Swimming career

After swimming the heat of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan 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 ancient times. ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, Hass was a spectator for the final, when the Australians set a world record of 7:04.66 mins. He went on to swim in the semifinal of the 200 m backstroke finishing 9th. At the 2002 FINA Short Course World Championships, Hass won a gold medal for Australia as part of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, swimming alongside compatriots Leon Dunne, Todd Pearson and

Grant Hackett Grant George Hackett Order of Australia, OAM (born 9 May 1980) is an Australian swimmer, most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle swimming, freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hass, Ray 1977 births Living people Swimmers from Pretoria Australian male backstroke swimmers Australian male freestyle swimmers Australian Institute of Sport swimmers Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Goodwill Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games People educated at Ivanhoe Grammar School