Alexander Dale Oen

Alexander Dale Oen

Personal information
Nationality	Norway
Born	(1985-05-21)21 May 1985 Øygarden, Norway
Died	30 April 2012(2012-04-30) (aged 26) Flagstaff, AZ, USA
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	80 kg (180 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Breaststroke
Club	Bærumsvømmerne
College team	Auburn Tigers (USA)
Medal record Men's swimming Representing Norway 2008 Summer Olympics 2008 Beijing 100 m breaststroke World Championships (LC) 2011 Shanghai 100 m breaststroke World Championships (SC) 2006 Shanghai 100 m breaststroke European Championships (LC) 2008 Eindhoven 100 m breaststroke 2010 Budapest 100 m breaststroke 2006 Budapest 100 m breaststroke 2008 Eindhoven 200 m breaststroke 2008 Eindhoven 50 m breaststroke 2010 Budapest 200 m breaststroke European Championships (SC) 2011 Szczecin 100 m breaststroke 2006 Helsinki 100 m breaststroke 2011 Szczecin 50 m breaststroke

Alexander Dale Oen (Norwegian pronunciation: [ɑlɛk'sɑndər 'dɑ:lə 'u:ən]) (21 May 1985 – 30 April 2012) was a Norwegian swimmer. He represented the clubs Vestkantsvømmerne (1995–2010) and Bærumsvømmerne (2011–2012). Dale Oen's gold at the 2008 European Championships made him the first Norwegian male to win a medal at a major international long course championship.

Dale Oen got his international breakthrough in 2005, placing seventh in the 100-metre breaststroke during the 2005 World Aquatics Championships. During the European short-course Championships in December the same year, he swam the 100 m breaststroke in 59.05 seconds, placing fourth and setting a new Nordic Record. He became the first Norwegian to swim this distance in less than 1 minute. At the Norwegian Short Course Championships two months later, he bettered that time to 58.81, a world best mark for the year.

On 30 April 2012, at around 19:50 MST Dale Oen was found unconscious in his hotel bathroom after having suffered a heart attack, caused by chronic, undetected coronary heart disease, a rare disease for a person of his age and fitness. He was found in his bathroom by one of his teammates, and CPR was performed before Dale Oen was brought to Flagstaff Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at 21:00 MST. Dale Oen was attending a training camp with the Norwegian swimming team in Flagstaff, Arizona at the time of his death.

Competitions

At the 2006 FINA Short Course World Championships in Shanghai, Dale Oen won a bronze medal in the 100-m breaststroke, behind Oleg Lisogor and Brenton Rickard. Oen became the first Norwegian male to win a World Championships medal in swimming. Four months later, Oen followed that up with success at the 2006 European Swimming Championships, winning the silver medal in the 100-m breaststroke and setting a new Nordic record (long course), with 1:00.63.

Dale Oen won his first short-course medal at the 2006 Short Course European Championships in Helsinki, taking bronze behind two Ukrainians in the 100-m breaststroke in a new personal best of 58.70. In the 2007 World Championships, Dale Oen was second fastest in the heats (in another Nordic record, 1:00.34) and third fastest in the semifinal, but failed in the final, clocking well above 1:01.

Dale Oen repeated the feat of doing better in the semifinal than the final at the 2007 European Short Course Championships. After 58.60, a new personal best and the second-fastest time, in the semifinals, Dale Oen finished in 58.81, fifth place and 0.24 seconds behind the gold medal. However, Dale Oen dominated the 2008 European Championships. Setting a record time of 1:00.11 in the heats, and being fastest in both the heats and the semifinal, Dale Oen swam the final in a European record time of 59.76, and won the gold by 0.02 seconds ahead of Hugues Duboscq, who also swam a personal best.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Dale Oen earned Norway's first ever Olympic medal in swimming, placing second in the 100-m breaststroke final.

During the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, Dale Oen won the gold medal in the 100-m breaststroke with the time 58.71, 0.71 seconds ahead of Fabio Scozzoli. This was Norway's first gold medal at a World Championship in swimming. Dale Oen's win was highly publicized because of his emotional response at the award ceremony because of the Oslo attacks a few days earlier.

Personal bests

Long course (50 m)

Event	Time		Date	Meet	Location	Ref
50 m breaststroke	27.20	NR(†)	25 Jul 2011	World Championships	Shanghai, China
100 m breaststroke	58.71	NR	25 Jul 2011	World Championships	Shanghai, China
200 m breaststroke	2:09.74	NR	21 Mar 2008	European Championships	Eindhoven, Netherlands

Legend: WR – World record; ER – European record; NR – Norwegian record;
Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial

Short course (25 m)

Event	Time		Date	Meet	Location	Ref
50 m breaststroke	27.13	(h)	12 Apr 2008	World SC Championships	Manchester, United Kingdom
100 m breaststroke	58.14	NR	10 Apr 2008	World SC Championships	Manchester, United Kingdom
200 m breaststroke	2:08.28	NR	16 Dec 2007	European SC Championships	Debrecen, Hungary
100 m individual medley	55.34		20 Apr 2008	Norwegian SC Championships	Stavanger, Norway

Legend: WR – World record; ER – European record; NR – Norwegian record;
Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial

Tribute

On August 2, 2012, Hungarian swimmer Dániel Gyurta, who won the men's 200m breaststroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, offered a copy of his gold medal to Dale Oen's family in order to honor their friendship. Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa, who won the men's 100m breaststroke and broke the World Record dedicated the swim to Oen because Oen was one of his close friends and greatest rival.