Conrad Francis
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Conrad Anthony Francis |
| National team |
 Sri Lanka |
| Born |
8 August 1981 Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 63 kg (139 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Butterfly |
| Club | Nunawading Swim Club (AUS) |
| Coach | Leigh Nugent (AUS) |
Conrad Anthony Francis (born August 8, 1981) is a Sri Lankan former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly events.[1] He is a two-time Olympian (2000 and 2004), a three-time swimmer at the Commonwealth Games (2002, 2006, 2010), and a double gold medalist in the 50 and 100 m butterfly at the Asian Age Group Championships. Francis also became the first Sri Lankan to swim the same stroke under 56 seconds, when he competed at the 2004 FINA World Short Course Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana.[2]
Francis made his first Sri Lankan team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he competed in the men's 100 m butterfly. Swimming in heat one, he picked up a fifth seed and fifty-eighth overall by 0.81 of a second behind Latvia's Artūrs Jakovļevs in 57.44.[3]
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Francis qualified again for the 100 m butterfly, by receiving a Universality place from FINA, in an invitation time of 56.36.[4] He challenged seven other swimmers on the second heat, including fellow two-time Olympians Daniel O'Keeffe and Nicholas Rees of the Bahamas. He raced again to fifth place by a 1.93-second margin behind winner Michal Rubáček of the Czech Republic in 56.80. Francis failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed fifty-second overall in the preliminaries.[5][6]
Francis previously resided in Melbourne, Australia, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in sports development, management, and recreation at Swinburne University of Technology.[2] He also competed for Nunawading Swim Club under head coach Leigh Nugent, who led his Australian swimming team at two Olympic Games before his resignation in 2013.[7]
References
- ↑ "Conrad Francis". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- 1 2 "Conrad Francis' Olympics Odyssey". Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka). 20 May 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ↑ "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Men's 100m Butterfly Heat 1" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 206. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
- ↑ "Swimming – Men's 100m Butterfly Startlist (Heat 2)" (PDF). Athens 2004. Omega Timing. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ↑ "Men's 100m Butterfly Heat 2". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
- ↑ Thomas, Stephen (19 August 2004). "Men’s 100 Butterfly, Day 6 Prelims: Crocker Blasts Back into Form as Fastest Qualifier; Serdinov and Phelps Right on his Tail". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
- ↑ Rhys, Paul (6 October 2010). "Sri Lanka's big fish in the pool". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 27 April 2013.