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Jon Sieben

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Jon Sieben
Personal information
Full nameJonathan Scott Sieben
Nickname"Jon"
National teamAustralia
Born (1966-08-24) 24 August 1966 (age 58)
Brisbane, Queensland
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesButterfly
College teamUniversity of Alabama
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing Australia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1984 Los Angeles 200 m butterfly
Bronze medal – third place 1984 Los Angeles 4×100 m medley
Pan Pacific Games
Silver medal – second place 1985 Tokyo 100 m butterfly
Silver medal – second place 1985 Tokyo 4×100 m medley
Silver medal – second place 1987 Brisbane 100 m butterfly
Bronze medal – third place 1987 Brisbane 4×100m medley
Bronze medal – third place 1991 Edmonton 4×100m medley
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 1982 Brisbane 4×100 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 1982 Brisbane 200 m butterfly
Summer Universiade
Gold medal – first place 1985 Kobe 100 m butterfly

Jonathan Scott Sieben, OAM[1] (born 24 August 1966) is an Australian former butterfly swimmer of the 1980s, who won gold in the 200-metre butterfly at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles Olympics.[2]

Early years

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Sieben was born in Brisbane, Queensland. He attended Brisbane State High School.

Career

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Sieben was coached by Laurie Lawrence, and made his debut at the young age of 15 at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, where he captured a bronze in the 200-metre butterfly, as well as gold in the medley relay. Sieben and Lawrence continued their preparation for Los Angeles, but were given little chance. Sieben was known to his friends as The Shrimp, as he stood just 173 cm, in contrast to the dominant swimmer of the time, West Germany's Michael Gross, the world record holder, known as The Albatross with his 200 cm frame and 225 cm wingspan. He also faced the 100-metre butterfly world record holder, the United States' Pablo Morales. Sieben swam in the wake of Gross and Morales in the first 150 metres, before storming home in the last 50 metres to claim the gold medal in a world record time of 1 m 57.04 s, more than four seconds faster than he had ever swum before. He also collected a bronze medal after swimming in the preliminaries of the medley relay. He was named the Young Australian of the Year in 1984.[3]

By the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Sieben's ability had waned, and the selectors did not choose him for the 200 m butterfly. He finished fourth in the 100-metre butterfly. He continued onto the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, but failed to reach the final of the 100-metre butterfly individual event. He formed part of Australia's 4x100-metre medley relay team that finished 7th in the final, in a national record time of 3:42.65.

Sieben was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.[4]

In 2020 Sieben was involved in the construction of the North Queensland Cowboys' Community, Training and High Performance Centre commissioning the pools for Chris Williams and Hutchinson Builders.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Sieben, Jonathan Scott". It's an Honour. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  2. ^ "Sports Reference profile". Sports Reference. 2014. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  3. ^ "Australian of the Year Awards – Jon Sieben". Australia Day Council. Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  4. ^ "Jon Sieben". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 25 September 2020.

Bibliography

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Records
Preceded by Men's 200 metre butterfly
world record holder (long course)

3 August 1984 – 29 June 1985
Succeeded by