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Ben Wildman-Tobriner

(1984 - )

Benjamin Wildman-Tobriner is a Jewish American swimmer and an Olympic gold medalist.

Wildman-Tobriner (born September 21, 1984) was born in San Francisco, California, and began his career swimming for a local recreational team in the Marin Swim League until the age of 12. Even at that age, he managed to set several team, pool and league records and become recognized for his talents. Around the age of 12, he joined the Fog City Hammerheads Swim Team under the instruction of the notable coach, Matthew “Berto” Roberto.

He attended Lick-Wilmerding High School where he was a four-year varsity swimmer, and three-time MVP. While in high school he received numerous All-American awards for swimming excellence, as well as setting the California North Coast Sectional record in the 50-yard freestyle and achieving the second fastest time for a 17-18 year-old male in the 50-meter freestyle in the United States. After graduating Lick-Wilmerding, Ben attended Stanford where, as well as swimming all four years, he graduated in 2007 as a Biomechanical Engineer.

In the spring on 2007, Wildman-Tobriner competed in the World Championships where he won the 50-meter freestyle in a time of 21.88 seconds. He also set the American Record in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 18.87 seconds.

In July 2008, Wildman-Tobriner qualified for the Olympic relay team as the second alternate in the 4x100m freestyle relay. At the Olympics, he became a member of the World Record 4x100m freestyle relay (3:12.23) by swimming the third leg in a time of 48.03. The next day, Wildman-Tobriner earned a gold medal (but lost the world record) when Jason Lezak swam down Alain Bernard in the final leg of the relay's final in world record time.


Sources: Wikipedia