2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Swimming: August 6-13
- Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
- Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
- SwimSwam previews
- Rio Schedule & Results
- Live Stream (NBC)
On day 5 of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin made history for his country. Balandin won Kazakhstan’s first ever swimming Olympic medal, and he did it in winning fashion by taking gold in the men’s 200 breast with a 2:07.46. Kazakhstan won 7 golds at the last Olympics in London, and has a long weightlifting tradition. Today, however, Balandin brings his country’s flag to the forefront of the medal ceremony at the pool.
Balandin has been building his success in the breaststroke events over the last couple of years. He was a triple Asian champion in 2014, and followed that up with a gold in the 100 breast at the 2015 World University Games.
To win the race, Balandin ran down Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki, who led through the first 150 of the race, outsplitting him 33.31 to 34.06. He also held off hard charges from Team USA’s Josh Prenot and Russia’s Anton Chupkov, getting his hand on the wall first by hundredths.
Prenot wound up with Silver, posting a 2:07.53 to come within a tenth of the gold. Close behind was bronze medalist Chupkov, who swam a 2:07.70 to grab the first individual medal for the Russian on the men’s side.
Balandin’s Splits:
| Swimmer | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 |
| Dmitriy Balandin | 29.43 | 1:01.39 | 1:34.15 | 2:07.46 |
Balandin’s Splits By 50:
| Swimmer | 1st 50 | 2nd 50 | 3rd 50 | 4th 50 | Time |
| Dmitriy Balandin | 29.43 | 31.96 | 32.76 | 33.31 | 2:07.46 |
King of the Castle
Love seeing a new face on top of the podium.
Question. Does this make him the first Olympic champion to come from an outside lane? I vaguely remember the commentators from the 400 IM final from London stating Phelps could have been the first Olympic Champion to come from an outside lane. Has this not happened yet?
Camelia Potec 200m Free in 2004 Olympic champion from lane 2!
There were a few, Attila Czene (Lane 1, 200 IM) and Kieran Perkins (Lane 8, 1500m free) both in Atlanta, come to my mind.. sure there were others too.
1500m winner from Perkins I believe from lane 8 in 1996 games
Kieran Perkins Atlanta ’96 1500, pretty sure he won from an outside lane
Extremely happy for him! This was one of the funnest races of the meet.