Brendan Hansen: American breast-stroke champion
Brendan Hansen is one of the most incredible American breast-stroke swimmers. With his magnificent breast-stroke skills, Hansen has reached to the top of the podium at all international swimming events.
The 29-year-old American swimmer has the honour to represent his country at the World Long Course Championships, Olympic Games, Pan Pacific Championships and the World Short Course Championships during his eight years of international swimming. The US national
swimmer won 17 gold medals, four silver medals and two bronze medals during his career of competitive swimming.
The Haverford Township based, Hansen, made his international swimming debut in 2001, where he represented USA at the Fukuoka World Long Course Championships. The American champion competed in the Men’s 200m breast-stroke event and astonished the arena with
his outstanding effort at his first international meet. Brendan won the gold medal in the 200m event, by clocking a time of 2 minutes and 10.69 seconds.
His breath-taking performance at the first international meet brought him in the spotlight in the eyes of USA swimming fans.
Next year, Brendan participated at the 2002 Yokohama Pan Pacific Championships. At these championships, he participated in the swims of 200m breast-stroke, 4*100m medley relay and the 100m breast-stroke and won two gold medals in the 200m and 4*100m medley
relay, alongside a silver medal in 100m breast-stroke category.
The following year, the breast-stroke superstar defended his titles at the Long Course World Championships in Barcelona. He took part in the 100m and 200m breast-stroke swims alongside the 4*100m medley relay. Hansen made the world record in the medley relay
along with the help of Aaron Peirsol, Jason Lezak and Ian Crocker. He completed his 100m breast-stroke in 59.61 seconds to set the new world mark of 3:31.54 minutes. He also won a silver medal in the 100m breast-stroke and a bronze medal in the 200m breast-stroke
at these championships.
His fantastic performances at the world stage qualified him for the USA swimming team to compete at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Hansen defended his titles at the World’s biggest stage of sports with great audacity, lowering his world record of 3:31.54
minutes to 3:30.68 minutes at these Games. He sustained his spots in the individual breast-stroke swims, as he finished second in the 100m breast-stroke event and won a bronze in the 200m event.
After a few months, he participated at the 2004 Indianapolis World Short Course Championships, where he extended his participation to the 50m breast-stroke event along with his main events. Hansen won the hearts of Indianapolis arena, when he captured four
gold medals in the swims of 100m breast-stroke, 50m breast-stroke, 200m breast-stroke and the 4*100m medley relay.
In 2005, he participated at the World Long Course Championships, where he won three gold medals for the first time at any Long Course meet. This time, Hansen showered his gold winning performances in his main events, excluding the 50m breast-stroke.
Subsequently, he appeared at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria, where he once again obtained the titles of his main events. In 2007, he occupied the gold medal in the 100m breast-stroke and a silver medal in the 50m breast-stroke.
Then, the American breast-stroke legend appeared on the Olympic stage of 2008 Beijing, where he assisted the US medley relay team in grabbing a gold medal in a world record time of 3:29.34 minutes.
Now, the American champion has expressed his desire to qualify in the US team to the 2011 Shanghai World Championships, this July.
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