Daniel Kowalski

Daniel Steven Kowalski OAM OLY (born 2 July 1975) is an Australian former middle- and long-distance swimmer specialising in freestyle events. He competed in the Olympic Games in 200-, 400- and 1,500-metre individual freestyle events and in the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, he was the first man in 92 years to earn medals in all of the 200-, 400- and 1500-metre freestyle events. Kowalski, alongside Livinia Nixon, hosted the short-lived TV show Plucka's Place in 1997. Kowalski is perhaps best known for having been a perpetual runner-up to fellow Australians Kieren Perkins and Grant Hackett, who were, respectively, the world's best 1500-metre freestyle competitors during the earlier and later parts of Kowalski's career. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.[1] Daniel's coaches included Denis Cotterell and Bill Nelson.

Daniel Kowalski
OLY
Personal information
Full nameDaniel Steven Kowalski
National team Australia
Born (1975-07-02) 2 July 1975
Singapore
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight76 kg (168 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing Australia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2000 Sydney 4 × 200 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 1996 Atlanta 1500 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 1996 Atlanta 200 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 1996 Atlanta 400 m freestyle
World Championships (LC)
Gold medal – first place 1998 Perth 4 × 200 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 1994 Rome 1500 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Perth 1500 m freestyle
World Championships (SC)
Gold medal – first place 1993 Palma 400 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 1993 Palma 1500 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 1995 Rio 400 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 1995 Rio 1500 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 1995 Rio 4 × 200 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 1999 Hong Kong 1500 m freestyle
Pan Pacific Championships
Gold medal – first place 1995 Atlanta 4 × 200 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 1995 Atlanta 400 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 1995 Atlanta 800 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 1993 Kobe 400 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 1993 Kobe 800 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 1993 Kobe 1500 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 1995 Atlanta 200 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 1995 Atlanta 1500 m freestyle
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 1994 Victoria 4 × 200 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 1998 Kuala Lumpur 4 × 200 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 1994 Victoria 1500 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 1994 Victoria 400 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Kuala Lumpur 200 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Kuala Lumpur 400 m freestyle

Olympic medals
  • 2000 Summer Olympics: gold medal in the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay (Kowalski was replaced in the final by Ian Thorpe but as a swimmer in the qualifying heat, he shares the gold medal)
  • 1996 Summer Olympics: silver medal in the 1500-metre freestyle, bronze medal in the 400 m freestyle, and bronze medal in the 200-metre freestyle

World championship results

World records

Kowalski was part of the world record-setting Australian gold medal 4 × 200-metre relay team at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Kowalski also holds 400-metre freestyle long-course masters world record in the 30-to-34 age group which he set on 2 May 2009 in a time of 3:58.42.

Retirement

Kowalski announced his retirement from competitive swimming on 8 May 2002. He studied sports marketing at Bond University, graduating in 2003. He was named as an assistant swimming coach at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2007, and also won the 2007 Pier to Pub 1.2 km open-water swim held annually in Lorne, Australia.[2]

In February 2004, he was the host of an overnight program on SEN 1116 with former South East Melbourne Magic basketballer Andrew Parkinson. In May 2007, Kowalski appeared as one of the celebrity performers on the celebrity reality singing competition It Takes Two.

In April 2010, Kowalski announced that he is gay.[3] Kowalski says he was inspired to come out by Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas, who announced the previous December that he was gay. He said "I felt really compelled to do it because it's very tough to live a closeted existence". In 2010, Kowalski was selected by readers of samesame.com.au as one of the 25 most influential gay Australians.[4]

See also

References
  1. AIS at the Olympics Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  2. College Swimming (2008). Wisconsin Names Kowalski Assistant. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
  3. Bradley, Seamus (18 April 2010). "Out and proud: Olympian Kowalski breaks silence". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  4. "Samesame 25". samesame. Archived from the original on 2 April 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
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