Greek Olympian Dimitrios Dimitriou Verbally Commits to UNC

Dimitrios Dimitriou of Athens, Greece, has given a verbal commitment to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the fall of 2017.

“I chose UNC because it is one of the most outstanding universities and it has one of the best swimming teams. I strongly believe that studying at UNC can help me develop myself academically and as an athlete. I can’t wait to join the team. Go Heels!!!!”

Dimitriou swims under coach Dimitris Athimaritis at the club team ANOA, in Argyroupoli, a suburb of Athens, Greece. He specializes in mid-distance freestyle. Dimitriou qualified in the 400m freestyle for the 2016 LEN European Aquatics Championships in London, and because he was only 0.37 seconds over the FINA Rio 2016 A cut in the event, he received an invitation from FINA to participate in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Dimitriou placed second in the 400m free and 7th in 200m free at the 2015 European Junior Championships in Baku. He then went on to place 9th in the 200m free at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Singapore.

His best LCM times are (with SCY conversions using our Speedo Time Converter):

  • 100 free – 52.24 (45.62)
  • 200 free – 1:49.80 (1:36.03)
  • 400 free – 3:50.81 (4:18.61)

Dimitriou will join the Tar Heels with fellow class of 2021 verbal commits Alvin Jiang, Christopher Thames, and Tyler Hill.

If you have a commitment to report, please send an email to [email protected].

 

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baker 0023
7 years ago

When you have a coaching staff 30 minutes down the road that can elevate your game and a head coach that used to swim there, it makes it hard for someone with DeSelm’s personality to succeed. It’s really hard to get fast swimmers to come to UNC for 2 reasons, first – they haven’t done anything since the late 90’s, and second – it’s a hard school to get into (unless you play football or basketball of course). Their female recruiting class this year looks fine, but the men’s class has been weak for a number of years – and they can’t get any quality swimmers to stay in state and swim with them. Makes no sense. Maybe their academic… Read more »

Porkchop2244
Reply to  baker 0023
7 years ago

Well they can’t get swimmers when they don’t get results. When’s the last time the men even had a relay top 8 at ncaas? They haven’t won ACCs in 20 years. Bernadino gets canned, like 20 guys transfer, the door is wide open and NC state goes from last in ACC to most dominant.

Has nothing to do with academic standards. Can’t get top recruits without results. That being said, all these international recruits is new. Did academic standards change it is it just desperation? I mean their two best swimmers right now came in with one year of eligibility

WHKirch
Reply to  baker 0023
7 years ago

Just curious on what the problem with DeSelm’s personality? Not critiquing, just wondering why UNC has fallen off so much.

Porkchop2244
7 years ago

UNC continues to go international….new game for them. Last year and this year best recruits are international. They used to have hardly any international swimmers. What’s changed?

NCSwimFan
Reply to  Porkchop2244
7 years ago

NC State’s been taking a lot of talent internationally and turning it into success. Maybe UNC is trying to build off of this on their own.

swimfan
Reply to  NCSwimFan
7 years ago

International recruiting is important but DEVELOPING local swimmers also important.

North Carolina swimmers at NC STATE:
Adam linker – All American
Justin Ress – All American
Joe Bonk – All American
Scott Johnson – ACC Finalist
*Austin Snyder – ACC Finalist/ Trials finalist

Other ‘local’ swimmers that they developed:
Ryan Held – Olympic Gold medal
Hennessey Stuart – All American
Derek Hren – All American
*Christian McCurdy – All American

Not many of us heard who these kids were before they got to NC State. UNC will start getting top talents once they start ‘developing’ swimmers like NC State does. I don’t think it’s so much about Rich’s personality.

swimfan
Reply to  swimfan
7 years ago

Henry Campbell is arguably the fastest 500 free recruit coming out of high school at the ACC with 4:19. He should be destroying the ACC….. Instead he is behind Ipsen and Linker at the moment.

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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