Helge Meeuw

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Helge Meeuw swim
Personal information
Surname: Helge Meeuw
Nation: GermanyGermany Germany
Swimming style (s) : move
Society: SC Magdeburg
Birthday: August 29, 1984
Place of birth: Wiesbaden
Size: 1.77 m
Weight: 73 kg
Medal table
Medals

Helge Meeuw (born August 29, 1984 in Wiesbaden ) is a former German swimmer .

Career

Meeuw's parents Folkert Meeuw and Jutta Weber were also swimming athletes who, among other things, were part of the German team at the Olympic Games in 1968 and 1972, respectively . After growing up in Windhoek ( Namibia ) from 1985 to 1989 , he graduated from high school in Wiesbaden at the Orange School in 2004 . Since November 2011 Meeuw has been married to the former swimmer Antje Buschschulte , with whom he has three daughters. After studying human medicine at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg , he now works as a doctor . He lives with his family in Magdeburg .

Helge Meeuw competed internationally for the first time at the 2003 World Swimming Championships in Barcelona in the 200 meter back and 200 meter butterfly disciplines and reached the semi-finals there.

His special disciplines were then the 100 and 200 meter butterfly and the 50, 100 and 200 meter back. Over 200 meters butterfly he was German champion 2004 , over 100 meters butterfly German champion 2005 . At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens he started for Germany on these routes, but was eliminated in each of the semifinals.

At the 2005 World Championships in Montreal he was able to reach a final for the first time. Over 200 meters butterfly he was seventh in 1: 57.07 min. In the same year Meeuw was able to assert himself internationally for the first time at the European Short Course Championships in Trieste and won the silver medal over 200 meters butterfly in 1: 52.49 minutes behind the almost world record swimming world champion Paweł Korzeniowski from Poland.

The 2006 World Short Course Championships in Shanghai turned out to be his most successful world championship to date. There he won bronze in the 50 and 100 meter backs and came sixth in the 200 meter butterfly.

At the German Championships in Berlin in 2006 , he was champion over 50 meters back, 200 meters butterfly, 100 meters back, 100 meters butterfly and 200 meters back. No swimmer had achieved five German championship titles in one year before, which earned Meeuw the nickname “five-star general”. In the final over 200 meters back he set a new European record with a time of 1: 56.34 minutes; In addition, he achieved a new European record over 100 meters back as the starting swimmer of the 4 x 100 meter individual medley of his club with 53.46 seconds. That time would have been enough to win the 100-meter back final of the 2004 Olympic Games by six tenths of a second.

At the European Championships in Budapest in 2006 , Meeuw won his first major title with the gold medal over 50 meters back. Over 100 and 200 meters back he started as the European record holder and co-favorite, but disappointed in these races in seventh and fifth respectively. After all, Meeuw won the gold medal over 50 meters, the only medal for the German men in Budapest. At the European Short Course Championships in Helsinki Meeuw won a total of four medals: gold over 50 m backstroke and with the 4 x 50 m individual relay, which set a new world record in 1: 34.06 min; also silver over 100 and 200 meters back behind the Russian Arkady Vyatchanin .

In 2007 the Frankfurt resident was able to secure two student world championship titles. At the Universiade in Bangkok he won gold in both the 50 and 100 meter backs. At the German Short Course Championships in Essen that same year, he also swam two titles, over 100 and 200 meters back. The European Short Course Championships in Debrecen were also successful for Helge Meeuw. Over 50 meters back he won silver, over 100 meters back he won the bronze medal.

At the German championship and Olympic qualification in 2008 he set an annual world best time over 100 meters back and improved his own European record over this distance to 53.10 s. When hoping for a medal for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, Meeuw failed to meet expectations. Over 100 meters back he was eliminated in the preliminary run. Over 200 meters he reached eighth place in the semifinals, but at the same time as his "old friend" Arkady Vyatchanin. Meeuw lost the additional swim-out that was then scheduled and was eliminated.

At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Meeuw managed to win the silver medal behind the Japanese Jun'ya Koga over 100 meters back . Together with Hendrik Feldwehr , Benjamin Starke and Paul Biedermann , Meeuw set a European record (3: 28.58 min) with the 4 x 100 meter relay in Rome, which is behind the world record (3: 27.28 min) US quartet around Michael Phelps meant winning the silver medal. As a starting swimmer, Meeuw also set a new European record in 52.27 s over 100 meters back.

After a break in 2010 with a focus on the first state examination in medicine, Meeuw tried again to prepare for the Olympics. At the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai he reached the finals over 100 meters back and swam in seventh place in 53.28 s. In the same line-up as two years earlier in Rome, the 4-by-100-meter layer relay swam the bronze medal with Meeuw.

The 2012 Olympic season was not without breakdowns and failures. Meeuw missed a total of twelve weeks training absence and a total of 199 hours of training. He only managed to qualify for the Olympics at the European Championships in Debrecen, where he was able to undercut the norm with 53.80 seconds and the silver medals behind the Greek Aristeidis Grigoriadis over 100 meters back and with the layer relay made up of Helge Meeuw, Christian vom Lehn , Steffen Deibler , Marco di Carli was able to secure. At the Games in London, Meeuw was able to convince for the first time at the Olympic competitions with sixth places over 100 meters back in 53.48 s and with the layer relay together with Christian vom Lehn, Steffen and Markus Deibler .

Meeuw ended his career in February 2013.

Records

European records (2)
100 m back 52.27 s August 2, 2009 Rome
4 × 100 m layers (with field service , strong and honest man ) 3: 28.58 min August 2, 2009 Rome
German Records (3)
200 m back 1: 56.34 min May 24, 2006 Berlin
100 m back (short course) 50.26 s December 20, 2008 St. Petersburg
200 m back (short course) 1: 51.51 min November 24, 2007 eat

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "The GDR was not only successful because of doping". In: www.tagesspiegel.de. November 7, 2019, accessed November 30, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Helge Meeuw ends his career . In: FAZ.net , February 25, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Meeuw, Helge
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German swimmer
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesbaden