Two American Officials Were Selected for the 2013 World Championships

Thirty six individuals representing twenty six countries were chosen to officiate at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona. Spain, the host country, has the largest number of officials. They have eight judges and one starter. The United States and Japan both have two officials.

Eguchi Kazumi of Japan and Vincens Sole of Spain will be the two starters.

Michael Poropat of the United States will be the meet announcer. Poropat is the voice of USA Swimming and has been for several years. He was the announcer at the 2013 World Championship Trails in Indianapolis, IN.

The other American official is Jay Thomas. A recipient of the Glen S. Hummer award, Thomas has officiated at FINA World Swimming Championships, national open water championships, local open water, and local pool events. He has served on the USA Swimming Rules Committee and the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Board as well as develops, trains and certifies open water swimming officials.

COUNTRY NAME POSITION
Japan Eguchi Kazumi Starter
Spain Vincens Sole Starter
USA Michael Poropat Announcer
Argentina Patricio Ramallo Judge
Australia Jann Fathers Judge
Belarus Siarhei Hriharau Judge
Brazil Marcelo Falcao Judge
Canada Dave Shewfelt Judge
China Yuan Haoran Judge
Denmark Poul Stougaard Judge
France Claude Pouliquen Judge
Hungary Katalin Sass Judge
Honduras Douglas Laitano Judge
India Ramakrishna Mekala Judge
Isreal Arie Silberman Judge
Japan Katsuyoski Fujimori Judge
Nigeria Martins Adeojo Judge
New Zealand Matt Meehan Judge
Papau New Guinea Pini Sarenah Judge
Portugal Graca Fernandes Judge
Puerto Rico José de Jesus Judge
South Africa Brenda Smit Judge
Russia Evgeny Sadovy Judge
Switzerland Andreas Tschanz Judge
Sweden Hakan Westrin Judge
Uganda Peter S. Mugisha Judge
USA Jay Thomas Judge
Uzbekistan Natalya Obukhova Judge
Spain Paz Belenguer National Judge
Spain Rosario Lopez National Judge
Spain Begona Villares National Judge
Spain Marta Sole National Judge
Spain Elena Sanchez National Judge
Spain Alfonso Wucherpfennig National Judge
Spain Marta Beneito National Judge
Spain Manuel Real National Judge

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Jerry Bandy
10 years ago

Congratulations Jay.

Sam Kendricks
10 years ago

Congrats to Jay and Michael. Always enjoy working with both of these true professionals! Well deserved.

KeithM
10 years ago

So that’s what Evgeny Sadovy has been up to.

aswimfan
Reply to  KeithM
10 years ago

I didn’t realize there’s a sadovyi until you mentioned it.

So, more than 20 years later he’s returning to the place where he claimed his glory, and beating Perkins by a mere 0.16 secs in the 400 free, both under the old WR

jean Michel
10 years ago

Congrats to woth ! happy to hear that voice as announcer …..

EmilyR
Reply to  jean Michel
10 years ago

wonder if Michael Poropat will have to motivate and get the crowd in Barcelona going like he tried so hard @ Indy lol

aswimfan
Reply to  EmilyR
10 years ago

lol that was so painful.

I don’t think the crowd in Barcelona will need any more encouragement.

10 years ago

Yay for Poropat! Columbia swimming represent!

Admin
10 years ago

Congrats to Michael Poropat and Jay Thomas!!!!

About Tony Carroll

Tony Carroll

The writer formerly known as "Troy Gennaro", better known as Tony Carroll, has been working with SwimSwam since April of 2013. Tony grew up in northern Indiana and started swimming in 2003 when his dad forced him to join the local swim team. Reluctantly, he joined on the condition that …

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