Agnese Ozoliņa

Agnese Ozoliņa (born 12 November 1979) is a Latvian former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events.[2] She is a three-time Olympian (1996, 2000, and 2004), a multiple-time Latvian and Baltic record holder, and a seven-time All-North Coast Atlantic Conference swimmer. She is also a varsity swimmer for the Kenyon Ladies, and an economics graduate at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.[1][3]

Agnese Ozoliņa
Personal information
Nickname(s)Grandma[1]
National team Latvia
Born (1979-11-12) 12 November 1979
Jelgava, Latvian SSR,
Soviet Union
Height1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight69 kg (152 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
ClubJSPS Jelgava
College teamKenyon College (U.S.)

Ozolina made her first Latvian team, as a 16-year-old teen, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where she competed in the women's 50 m freestyle. Swimming in heat two, she edged out three-time Olympian Akiko Thomson of the Philippines (1988, 1992, and 1996) to take a seventh spot and forty-seventh overall by less than 0.16 of a second in 27.65.[4]

On her second Olympic appearance in Sydney 2000, Ozolina failed to reach the top 16 in any of her individual events, finishing forty-fifth in the 50 m freestyle (27.28), and forty-fourth in the 100 m freestyle (59.28).[5][6]

Eight years after competing in her first Olympics, Ozolina qualified for her third Latvian team, as a 24-year-old, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She set a Latvian record, and eclipsed a FINA B-cut of 58.04 (100 m freestyle) from the USA Swimming Grand Prix in Indianapolis, Indiana.[7] In the 100 m freestyle, Ozolina challenged seven other swimmers on the same heat as Sydney, including Kazakhstan's Yelena Skalinskaya (Maryland Terrapins) and Trinidad and Tobago's Linda McEachrane (Tulane Green Wave). Ozolina raced to fourth place by 0.11 of a second behind McEachrane in 59.03. Ozolina failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed forty-third overall in the preliminaries.[8][9]

References
  1. Brooks, Phil. "Latvian Lightnin'". Kenyon College. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Agnese Ozoliņa". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  3. Carpenter, Amanda (29 November 2006). "Latvian Olympian Ozolina shares experience in US". Kenyon College. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  4. "Atlanta 1996: Aquatics (Swimming) – Women's 50m Freestyle Heat 2" (PDF). Atlanta 1996. LA84 Foundation. p. 35. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  5. "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 100m Freestyle Heat 2" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 174. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  6. "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 50m Freestyle Heat 5" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 165. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  7. "Swimming – Women's 100m Freestyle Startlist (Heat 2)" (PDF). Athens 2004. Omega Timing. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  8. "Women's 100m Freestyle Heat 2". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 18 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  9. Thomas, Stephen (18 August 2004). "Women's 100 Freestyle Prelims, Day 5: Inky Leads the Pack with a Swift 54.43". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
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