Swimming at the 1997 Summer Universiade
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The swimming competition during the 1997 Summer Universiade, also known as the XIX Summer Universiade, was a long course event (50 m), and took place on the island of Sicily, Italy from August 24 till August 30, 1997.
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One of the long-awaited stars of the Universiade was the South African double Olympic champion Penny Heyns, who had in fact first emerged into the sports limelight two years earlier at the Fukuoka Universiade. But in Sicily, the breaststroke specialist started by placing fourth in the 200 m finals. Heyns, who took the first Olympic gold for post-apartheid South Africa, started out smartly enough in Messina. In the first 50 metres she was impressive, but she weakened throughout the event, finishing in 4th place in 2:32.13 - a slower time than the one she had recorded earlier that same morning. Winner Masami Tanaka (Japan) took it in 2:30.24. Heyns was distinctly stronger in the 100 metres, but only managed a second in 1:10.15, behind the Ukraine's Svetlana Bondarenko.
Yann deFabrique of France, a student in his last year of law school at the University of North Carolina in the U.S., reached an absolute record, taking a silver in the 4x200 m Freestyle, and bringing his total number of Universiade medals in three Universiades to eight.
Technical conditions in Messina dashed athletes' hopes of beating the stopwatch; this was owing to the water temperature, which was under 25 degrees Celsius due to storms that broke out over Sicily at the end of August. The two Universiade records were set by Martina Moravcová (Slovakia) in the 200 m Freestyle, and the U.S. Men's Relay Team in the 4x100 m Freestyle. Moravcová, a student at Southern Methodist University in the U.S., became the queen of the competition, taking four individual titles and breaking a Universiade record.
The U.S. team accumulated 26 medals against Japan's 16; but never had so many countries been contenders for the swimming medals in a Universiade. The winners came from eleven different countries, with sixteen countries taking medals. Cuba's Neisser Bent, who took the gold in the 100 m and the silver in the 200 m Backstroke, also marked the end of an era in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, when he took the bronze in the 200 m, distinguishing himself as the first black swimmer.
[edit] Men's events
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
| 50 m freestyle |  Nathan Rickard (AUS) |
22.50 |  Lorenzo Vismara (ITA) |
23.04 |  Brendon Dedekind (RSA) |
23.07 |
| 100 m freestyle |  Marcos Hernández (CUB) |
50.50 | Lorenzo Vismara (ITA) |
50.70 |  Christian Tröger (GER) |
50.78 |
| 200 m freestyle |  Béla Szabados (HUN) |
1:50.70 |  Scott Goldblatt (USA) |
1:51.96 | Michael Kiedel (GER) |
1:52.13 |
| 400 m freestyle |  Luiz Lima (BRA) |
3:53.91 | Béla Szabados (HUN) |
3:54.30 |  Hisato Yasui (JPN) |
3:55.05 |
| 800 m freestyle |  Igor Snitko (UKR) |
8:05.13 | Luiz Lima (BRA) |
8:06.26 | Marco Formentini (ITA) |
8:06.37 |
| 1500 m freestyle | Luiz Lima (BRA) |
15:20.83 | Marco Formentini (ITA) |
15:21.00 | Nathaniel Lewis (USA) |
15:21.15 |
| 100 m backstroke | Neisser Bent (CUB) |
55.82 | Robert Brewer (USA) |
56.22 |  Mariusz Siembida (POL) |
56.50 |
| 200 m backstroke |  Kunpeng Ouyang (CHN) |
2:00.29 | Neisser Bent (CUB) |
2:00.37 |  Sang-Joon Ji (KOR) |
2:02.52 |
| 100 m breaststroke |  Stanislav Lopukhov (RUS) |
1:02.74 | Alexandre Tkachev (RUS) |
1:02.77 | Chikara Nakashita (JPN) |
1:03.05 |
| 200 m breaststroke | Chikara Nakashita (JPN) |
2:16.35 | Scott Werner (USA) |
2:27.41 | William Shefchik (USA) |
2:17.50 |
| 100 m butterfly | Denys Sylant'yev (UKR) |
53.73 |  Shamek Pietucha (CAN) |
54.33 | Stephen Martyak (USA) |
54.50 |
| 200 m butterfly | Denys Sylant'yev (UKR) |
1:59.67 | Jeffrey Julian (USA) |
2:00.49 | Shamek Pietucha (CAN) |
2:00.66 |
| 200 m individual medley | Tatsuya Kinugasa (JPN) |
2:04.32 | Kristopher Babylon (USA) |
2:04.88 | Toshiaki Kurasawa (JPN) |
2:05.19 |
| 400 m individual medley | Tatsuya Kinugasa (JPN) |
4:24.18 |  Michael Halika (ISR) |
4:24.96 | Stefano Battistelli (ITA) |
4:25.66 |
| 4×100 m freestyle relay | United States (USA) |
3:21.17 | Australia (AUS) |
3:23.75 |  France (FRA) |
3:23.88 |
| 4×200 m freestyle relay | United States (USA) |
7:26.78 | France (FRA) |
7:28.59 | Germany (GER) |
7:31.37 |
| 4×100 m medley relay | United States (USA) |
3:41.95 | Italy (ITA) |
3:44.26 | Russia (RUS) |
3:44.98 |
[edit] Women's events
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
| 50 m freestyle | Katherine Taylor (USA) |
26.12 |  Luminita Dobrescu (ROU) |
26.32 | Liesl Pimentel (USA) |
26.37 |
| 100 m freestyle |  Martina Moravcová (SVK) |
55.47 | Luminita Dobrescu (ROU) |
56.16 | Liesl Kolbisen (USA) |
56.91 |
| 200 m freestyle | Martina Moravcová (SVK) |
1:56.96 | Kim Black (USA) |
2:01.48 | Luminita Dobrescu (ROU) |
2:02.76 |
| 400 m freestyle | Eri Yamanoi (JPN) |
4:16.30 | Sachiko Miyaji (JPN) |
4:16.40 | Julie Varozza (USA) |
4:16.49 |
| 800 m freestyle | Suzanne Black (USA) |
8:45.82 | Joy Stover (USA) |
8:47.73 | Eri Yamanoi (JPN) |
8:48.65 |
| 1500 m freestyle | Suzanne Black (USA) |
16:40.30 | Joy Stover (USA) |
16:45.47 |  Olga Šplíchalová (CZE) |
16:52.83 |
| 100 m backstroke | Noriko Inada (JPN) |
1:02.24 | Fabíola Molina (BRA) |
1:03.76 | Paige Francis (USA) |
1:03.89 |
| 200 m backstroke | Miki Nakao (JPN) |
2:15.02 | Noriko Inada (JPN) |
2:15.88 | Erin Brooks (USA) |
2:16.76 |
| 100 m breaststroke | Svetlana Bondarenko (UKR) |
1:10.02 | Penny Heyns (RSA) |
1:10.15 | Dagmara Ajnenkiel (POL) |
1:10.70 |
| 200 m breaststroke | Masami Tanaka (JPN) |
2:30.24 | Svetlana Bondarenko (UKR) |
2:30.99 | Lenka Maňhalová (CZE) |
2:31.38 |
| 100 m butterfly | Martina Moravcová (SVK) |
1:00.40 | Junko Onishi (JPN) |
1:01.00 | Mary Bowen (USA) |
1:01.33 |
| 200 m butterfly | Anna Uryniuk (POL) |
2:12.39 | Mika Haruna (JPN) |
2:13.58 | Jean Todisco (USA) |
2:14.08 |
| 200 m individual medley | Martina Moravcová (SVK) |
2:15.55 | Elli Overton (AUS) |
2:17.50 | Lenka Maňhalová (CZE) |
2:17.59 |
| 400 m individual medley | Fumie Kurotori (JPN) |
4:46.20 | Hana Černá (CZE) |
4:48.20 | Elli Overton (AUS) |
4:52.40 |
| 4×100 m freestyle relay | United States (USA) |
3:47.80 | Italy (ITA) |
3:51.37 | Australia (AUS) |
3:52.43 |
| 4×200 m freestyle relay | United States (USA) |
8:12.16 | Australia (AUS) |
8:26.97 | Italy (ITA) |
8:27.11 |
| 4×100 m medley relay | Japan (JPN) |
4:11.42 | United States (USA) |
4:11.97 | South Africa (RSA) |
4:15.54 |
