Craig Stevens (swimmer)
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| Full name | Craig Julian Stevens | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team |  Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 23 July 1980 Sydney, New South Wales | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 82 kg (181 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Sutherland Leisure Aquadot | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Craig Julian Stevens (born 23 July 1980) is an Australian former freestyle swimmer specialising in the 400-, 800- and 1500-metre freestyle events. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.[3]
Stevens was the bronze medallist in the 1500-metre freestyle event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games,[4] but he narrowly missed out on a medal in the 400-metre freestyle, finishing 4th.
In 2004, Stevens made his Olympic Games debut at Athens. There, he won silver as part of the Australian 4×200-metre relay team and also made the final in the 1500-metre. He relinquished his place in the 400-metre freestyle for world record holder Ian Thorpe, who was disqualified in the event at the Australian trials.
Stevens was initially left out of the Australian team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in his home country. However, Ian Thorpe had to withdraw from the games due to illness, which allowed Stevens to take Thorpe's place in the team. After qualifying as the fastest heat swimmer, he again came 4th in the 400-metre freestyle final. He also contested the 1500-metre freestyle final and finished in 6th place.
In March 2007, Stevens won his first World Championship medal after finishing 3rd in the 800-metre freestyle final with a personal best time of 7:48.67. After the disqualification of Oussama Mellouli, Stevens was elevated to 2nd. At the same meet, he also broke the 15-minute barrier in the 1500-metre freestyle for the first time, finishing 6th in the final with a time of 14:59.11.
Stevens qualified for the Australian Olympic swimming team for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics on 29 March 2008 at the Australian Olympic Qualifiers at Homebush in Sydney. He qualified for both the 400-metre and 1500-metre freestyle events. He finished 2nd behind Grant Hackett in the 1500-metre with a personal best of 14:53.18 making him the third fastest performer by an Australian in history.
Stevens failed to qualify for the finals of the 400-metre freestyle at the Olympics as he was comprehensively out-swum, finishing in 8th place in heat three, 7 seconds behind the winner. In the 1500-metre freestyle, Stevens again failed to make the finals finishing 5th in heat four, some 17 seconds behind the winner and 8 seconds outside of his personal best.
Post-retirement life[]
Stevens retired from competitive swimming in 2008. After retiring from swimming, he worked first as a bank teller and then for Toyota. He is now head swimming coach at Sans Souci Leisure Centre in Sans Souci, New South Wales.[5][6]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ "2004 Olympic Games swimming results". CNN. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
- ^ "2002 World Championships - Short Course Swim Rankings results". Archived from the original on 8 September 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2007.
- ^ AIS at the Olympics Archived 9 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "BBC Sport Commonwealth Games 2002 Statistics". BBC News. Retrieved 29 August 2007.
- ^ https://www.theleader.com.au/story/2992945/olympic-swimmer-craig-stevens-turns-to-coaching-at-sans-souci-leisure-centre/
- ^ https://www.smh.com.au/sport/swimming/craig-stevens-act-of-mateship-for-ian-thorpe-still-a-pleasure-20140215-32sjj.html[bare URL]
- 1980 births
- Living people
- Sportsmen from New South Wales
- Swimmers from Sydney
- Australian male freestyle swimmers
- Olympic swimmers of Australia
- Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medalists for Australia
- Australian Institute of Sport swimmers
- World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
- Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia
- Olympic silver medalists in swimming
- Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
- Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming
- People educated at Endeavour Sports High School
- Goodwill Games medalists in swimming
- Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games