Craig Stevens (swimmer)

Craig Stevens (born July 23, 1980 in Sydney , New South Wales ) is an Australian swimmer . He specializes in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle .

Stevens won his first international medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester , when he finished third in the 1500m freestyle. He finished fourth in the 400 m race. In the same year he won gold with the Australian 4 × 200 m relay at the Short Course World Championships in Moscow, but he did not start in the final, but only in the run-up.

In the run-up to the 2004 Olympic Games, Stevens became known to the general public when he gave up his 400m start in favor of his friend Ian Thorpe . Thorpe had caused a false start at the Australian trials and was therefore disqualified. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , he won silver with the Australian 4 × 200 m relay.

At the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006 , Stevens was nominated for the Australian team because Thorpe had to cancel due to illness. After Stevens had won the 400 m heat as the fastest swimmer, he only achieved fourth place in the final. He also reached the final over 1500 m and was sixth.

At the Swimming World Championships in 2007 Stevens won his first world championship medal when he first finished third in the 800 m freestyle in a personal best of 7: 48.67 minutes. However, the winner of this race Oussama Mellouli ( Tunisia ) was later convicted of doping and so Stevens won the silver medal. In the 1,500 m final, Stevens broke the 15-minute limit for the first time and finished sixth in a personal best of 14: 59.11.

Characteristics

• Club: SLC AQUADOT
• Height: 188 cm
• Weight: 80 kg
• Trainer: Tracey Menzies

Web links

• Profile at Swimming Australia (.pdf)