Poleska Takes Olympic Bronze in 200m Breaststroke
8/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
University of Alabama swimmer Anne Poleska became the first Crimson Tide athlete of the 2004 Olympic Games to win an individual medal when she took bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke on day six of the Athens Games.
Poleska, who will be a senior this coming season, posted a time of 2:25.82 to hold off Japan's Masami Tanaka who finished with a 2:25.87. The United State's Amanda Beard took the gold with an Olympic Record 2:23.37 while Australia's Leisel Jones was second with a 2:23.60.
The Krefeld, Germany native was tied for fifth at 150 mark with Mirna Jukic. Poleska left Jukic behind and surged past Agnes Kovacs of Hungary and Hui Qi of China to move into third at the final wall.
After finishing second at the 2003 NCAA Championships in the 200 breaststroke, Poleska, the Southeastern Conference record holder in the 200, took last year off from collegiate competition to focus on these Olympics. She was second after prelims and fourth coming out of the semi-finals.
Poleska is the first Tide swimmer to earn a medal since Jon Olsen won two relay golds in 1996 and the first Alabama swimmer to earn an individual medal at the Olympic Games since Jon Sieben, Cam Henning and Justin Lemberg all medaled in 1984.
Poleska is the third Alabama swimmer to final at these Olympics, joining Vlad Polyakov who finished fifth in both the 100 and 200m breaststrokes and Stefan Gherghel who took fifth in the 200m butterfly.
