Jon Sieben
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| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Jon Sieben |
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| Men’s Swimming | |||
Competitor for  Australia |
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| Olympic Games | |||
| Gold | 1984 Los Angeles | 200 m butterfly | |
| Bronze | 1984 Los Angeles | 4 × 100 m medley | |
| Pan Pacific Games | |||
| Silver | 1985 Tokyo | 100 m butterfly | |
| Silver | 1987 Brisbane | 100 m butterfly | |
Jonathan ("Jon") Scott Sieben (born August 24, 1966) is an Australian butterfly swimmer of the 1980s, who won gold in the 200 m butterfly at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Hailing from Brisbane, Queensland, Sieben was coached by Laurie Lawrence, and made his debut at the young age of 15 at the Brisbane 1982 Commonwealth Games, where he captured a bronze in the 200 m butterfly, as well as gold in the medley relay. Sieben and Lawrence continued their preparation for Los Angeles, but were given little chance. Sieben was known to his friends as The Shrimp, as he stood just 173 cm, in contrast to the dominant swimmer of the time, West Germany's Michael Gross, the world record holder, known as The albatross with his 200 cm frame and 225 cm wingspan. He also faced the 100 m butterfly world record holder, the United States' Pablo Morales. Sieben swum in the wake of Gross and Morales in the first 150 m, before storming home in the last 50 m to claim the gold medal in a world record time of 1 m 57.04 s, more than four seconds faster than he had ever swum before. He also collected a bronze medal after swimming in the preliminaries of the medley relay. He was named the Young Australian of the Year.
By the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Sieben's ability had waned, and the selectors did not choose him for the 200 m butterfly. He finished sixth in the 100 m butterfly. He continued onto the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, but he failed to reach any finals.
[edit] References
- Andrews, Malcolm (2000). Australia at the Olympic Games.
- Howell, Max (1986). Aussie Gold.
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
Preceded by Michael Gross |
Men's 200 metre butterfly world record holder (long course) August 3, 1984 – June 29, 1985 |
Succeeded by Michael Gross |
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