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Aug. 10, 2000
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – University of Virginia rising third-year Ed Moses (Burke, Va./Lake Braddock) earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team by winning the 100-meter breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials Thursday evening (August 10) with an American record time of 1:00.44. Moses shattered the former American record of 1:00.77, set by Jeremy Linn in 1996, by 33 hundredths of a second. Moses’ time also established a new U.S. Olympic Trials record and was just eight hundredths of a second off the world record of 1:00.36 set by Russia’s Roman Sludnov this past June.
Moses went out in world record pace at 28.24 in the first 50 meters before settling for the American record. Pat Calhoun finished second in a time of 1:01.09, more than half a second behind Moses. Moses continually lowered his time in the 100 breast during the trials, which are being held at the Indiana University Natatorium. In the preliminaries on August 9, he clocked a time of 1:01.19 to set a U.S. Olympic Trials record. Then in the semis that evening, Moses lowered his Olympic Trials record to 1:00.99, before turning in an American record time of 1:00.44 in the finals this evening.
Moses becomes the fourth swimmer with Virginia ties to earn a trip to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The four swimmers will represent four different countries. In addition to Moses, two current Cavalier swimmers, rising second-years Mirjana Bosevska (Skopje, Macedonia/Trinity Prep) and Guy Yimsomruay (Bangkok, Thailand/Germantown), have earned spots on Olympic teams for other countries, while Shamek Pietucha (Edmonton, Alberta/Louis St. Laurent), a 1999 graduate of the University of Virginia, has also earned an Olympic berth.
Bosevska will represent Macedonia at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Bosevska, the 2000 ACC Women’s Rookie of the Year, also represented her native Macedonia in the 1996 Olympics. She will compete in the 400 and 800-meter freestyle, as well as the 400-meter individual medley. Yimsomruay is a member of the Thai Olympic team and will swim the 200-meter individual medley. Pietucha will swim for his native Canada in the 100 and 200-meter butterfly. Pietucha won the 200-meter butterfly at the 2000 Maritime Life Olympic Swimming Trials in Montreal on May 31 after setting the Canadian national record in the semifinals with a time of 1:58.08. He finished second in the finals of the 100-meter butterfly to earn an Olympic berth in that event as well.
Moses competes in the preliminaries of the 200-meter breaststroke on Saturday morning, August 12, with the semifinals taking place Saturday evening. The finals of the 200 breast will be held Sunday evening, August 13.