Not so Holmertz

Anders Holmertz in 2009

Anders Sören Holmertz (born December 1, 1968 in Motala ) is a former Swedish swimmer who won five Olympic medals.

Career

Anders Holmertz started swimming at the age of four. At the age of 15 he took part in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles for the first time and reached sixth place in the Swedish 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay, and on the 200 meter freestyle course he took twelfth place. At the European Swimming Championships in Sofia in 1985 , he won the silver medal in the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay behind the West German quartet, together with Per Johansson , Michael Söderlund and Tommy Werner . Two years later, Holmertz won the European Swimming Championships in Strasbourg in 1987 on the 200-meter freestyle course in front of the Italian Giorgio Lamberti and the German Michael Groß , with the Swedish 4-by-200-meter freshness relay, he received the bronze medal behind the two German squadrons. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul , Holmertz won the silver medal behind Australian Duncan Armstrong in the 200-meter freestyle distance , and he finished eighth over 400 meters. With the 200-meter relay, Holmertz swam in sixth place in Seoul.

At the European Swimming Championships in Bonn in 1989 , Holmertz reached third place in the 200 meter freestyle behind Giorgio Lamberti and Artur Wojdat from Poland . While the Swedish 200-meter relay missed the medal ranks, Holmertz managed to win the bronze medal with the 4-by-100-meter freestyle relay. Two years later, at the European Swimming Championships in Athens in 1991 , Holmertz again won bronze with the 100-meter freestyle relay. At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona Holmertz reached four finals. He finished fifth with the 100-meter freestyle relay and with the 200-meter freestyle relay , he received the silver medal behind the Commonwealth of Independent States team , but before the US relay. Hoilmertz also won two individual medals in Barcelona: Yevgeny Sadowy from the CIS team won the 200 meters freestyle, Holmertz won silver over 200 meters ahead of Antti Kasvio from Finland , and the bronze medal over 400 meters behind Australian Kieren Perkins . Holmertz also won three medals at the 1993 European Swimming Championships in Sheffield: In addition to silver with the 100-meter freestyle relay, he received bronze medals over 200 and 400 meters freestyle. In Sheffield, Antti Kasvio, who also won the 200-meter freestyle championship at the 1994 Rome Swimming Championships, won the two freestyle courses, behind Kasvio Holmertz won the silver medal. The Swedish 200-meter freestyle relay with Christer Wallin , Tommy Werner , Lars Frölander and Anders Holmertz won the title in Rome ahead of the Russian and German relay. At the European Swimming Championships in Vienna in 1995, Holmertz again swam four medals: In addition to silver with the 200-meter freestyle relay and bronze with the 100-meter freestyle relay, he also received bronze in the 400-meter freestyle. On the 200-meter freestyle course, Holmertz won the silver medal, although he was able to beat Antti Kasvio, but beat Jani Sievinen behind the second Finn .

At his fourth start at the Olympic Games, in Atlanta in 1996 , Holmertz achieved fifth place on both individual routes. With the 100-meter freestyle relay Holmertz swam to seventh place, with the 200-meter freestyle relay he received the silver medal behind the US relay. At the end of his career, Holmertz won silver in both freestyle relays at the 1997 World Short Course Championships in Gothenburg .

The 1.85 m tall Holmertz swam at the beginning of his career for the club Motala SS , later he belonged to the Stockholm club Spårvägens SF . Holmertz won 86 Swedish championship titles, 46 on the long course and 40 on the short course. His brother Mikael Holmertz was also a successful swimmer.

Web links

• Anders Holmertz in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Swimming world championships
• European Swimming Championships Freestyle