Yoav Meiri (; born July 28, 1975) is an Israeli former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly events. He is a 2000 Olympian, a 20-time Israeli champion, and a four-time national record holder in sprint butterfly. While studying in the United States, he earned

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

and All-Big Ten honors in the 200-yard butterfly as a member of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

swimming and diving team. Meiri accepted an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private school, private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the U ...

to attend the

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, where he played for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

under head coach Dennis Dale and then Assistant Coach Clark Campbell. While swimming for the Gophers, he recorded a second-fastest time (1:45.98) in the 200 m butterfly at the 2000

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

Championships, and fifteenth at the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Championships (1:58.75) to earn

honors. Meiri competed in two swimming events for

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. He achieved a

FINA World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in List of water sports, water sports. It is one of several interna ...

B-cut of 55.25 (100 m butterfly) from the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. On the sixth day of the Games, Meiri placed thirty-seventh in the 100 m butterfly. Swimming in heat four, he picked up a fourth seed by 63-hundredths of a second behind winner

Simão Morgado Simão Morgado (born 4 March 1979) is a male Portuguese swimmer. He is the national record holder of the 50-meter butterfly (long course) and since 1997 and he has beaten the National Record in the 100 meters thirteen times, what makes him one of ...

of Portugal in 55.38. Meiri also teamed up with

Eithan Urbach Eithan Urbach (; born 12 January 1977 in Haifa) is a former backstroke swimmer from Israel who swam for Auburn University. Swimming for Israel, Urbach competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. In the ...

Tal Stricker Tal Stricker (; born May 29, 1979) is a breaststroke swimmer from Israel, who competed for Israel at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Early life Stricker was born in Ramat Gan, Israel, and his parents are Rafi and Nava Stricker. He ...

, and

Yoav Bruck Yoav Bruck (; born March 6, 1972, in moshav Lakhish) in the northern Negev in south-central Israel, is a former Israeli swimmer, who competed in three Summer Olympics for his native country, in the years 1992, 1996, and 2000. In Olympic competi ...

in the 4×100 m medley relay. Swimming a butterfly leg in heat two, Meiri recorded a split of 54.54, but the Israelis settled only for fifth place and seventeenth overall in a final time of 3:43.39.

References

External links

* 1975 births Living people Jewish Israeli sportspeople Israeli male swimmers Jewish swimmers Olympic swimmers for Israel Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Israeli male butterfly swimmers Minnesota Golden Gophers men's swimmers Israeli expatriate swimmers in the United States University of Minnesota alumni Sportspeople from Jerusalem 21st-century Israeli sportsmen {{Israel-swimming-bio-stub