To see all of the 2014 Swammy Award winners, presented by TYR, click here.
2014 HONOREE: Etiene Medeiros, Brazil
Etiene Medeiros was an obvious choice for this award. Medeiros surprised many winning the 50 backstroke and breaking the world record at the World Short Course Championships in Doha. She went into the championships with a lifetime best of 26.41 and dropped close to a second posting a 25.67 taking down Sanja Jovanovic’s record of 25.70 which she put up in 2009.
In Doha she also set new South American records in the 50 freestyle, 100 backstroke and the 4 x 50 mixed medley relay. In addition to the South American records she was part of the women’s 4 x 50 medley relay which set a new Brazilian record.
At the Brazilian Championships in Rio de Janeiro Medeiros set new South American records in the 50 freestyle, 50 backstroke and the 4 x 100 medley relay.
Earlier in the year she was also part of a mixed 4 x 100 medley relay which set a new South American record in the long course pool.
She ends the year as the top women in the world rankings in the 50 backstroke both short course and long course.
Her improvement over the last year has been impressive:
Life time best times January 1, 2014
- 50 freestyle – SCM – 25.14 LCM – 25.55
- 50 backstroke – SCM – 26.61 LCM – 27.83
- 100 backstroke – SCM – 58.72 LCM – 1:01.00
As of December 22, 2014
- 50 freestyle – SCM – 24.15 LCM – 24.74
- 50 backstroke – SCM – 25.67 LCM – 27.37
- 100 backstroke – SCM – 57.13 LCM – 1:00.77
Honourable Mentions (in no particular order)
- Brazilian Larissa Oliveira had a great December first breaking the South American 100 freestyle record in Doha at the World Short Championships. Oliveira then added the women’s 4 x 50, 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 freestyle relay along with the 4 x 50 mixed medley relay South American marks. She returned to Brazil to put up a South American record at the Brazilian Championships in the 100 freestyle.
- Andreina Pinto of Venezuela came away from the South American Games with gold in the 200m, 400m, and 800m freestyle events, as well as the 200m butterfly and 400m IM. Later in the year, Pinto would do similar damage at the Central American and Caribbean Games, where she swam those same 5 events, but also added a sixth gold in the 200m IM.
