Abrahm DeVine
American swimmer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abrahm David DeVine (born September 3, 1996)[1] is an American former competitive swimmer from Seattle. He currently represents the LA Current, which is part of the International Swimming League.[7] His first international competition was in the men's 200 metre Individual Medley (IM) event at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships held in Budapest.[9][10] As of June 2019, DeVine has been with International Swimming League's DC Trident.[7][11] In 2018, he came out as gay, making him one of "very few openly gay swimmers competing on the elite level."
Devine (left) in 2018 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 3, 1996 (age 29)[1] Seattle, Washington, U.S.[2] |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (188.0 cm) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Individual Medley (IM),[3] freestyle,[3] backstroke,[3] butterfly stroke[4] |
| Club |
|
| College team | Stanford University Cardinal[8] |
Early life and education
Abrahm DeVine was born in Seattle to Rene Folk and Jim DeVine.[4] He grew up in Seattle and was introduced to swimming by his mother when he was an infant.[3][12] In the 1970s, Folk lived in Anamosa, Iowa, where she worked at the swimming pool teaching kids how to swim and coaching the swim team.[12] Abrahm joined a summer league when he was five and a year-round team, Cascade Swim Club, when he was six years old.[3][5] There, he met his “core group” which he had through Lakeside High School. He remained on the team for twelve years.[3]
By his sophomore and junior years in high school, he made junior nationals and nationals.[3] He was an All-American in 2013, 2014, and 2015.[4] In 2014, he made the Junior National Team.[5] His main event was the 400 Individual Medley (IM).[3] He was a state champion in 2013 and a double state champion in 2014 and 2015.[4]
DeVine earned a scholarship to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, where he obtained a degree in a computer science while swimming on the Stanford Cardinal team.[3][12][5] In June 2016, he was in the U.S. Olympic Trials for swimming in Omaha, Nebraska, and he placed fifth in the 200 IM.[12] He was a finalist in the 400 IM at the 2016 FINA World Swimming Championships in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.[5]
Career
DeVine's first international competition was in the men's 200 metre Individual Medley (IM) event at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships held in Budapest.[13][14] In 2017, he finished tenth in the 200 IM as a member of the U.S. FINA World Championships team.[7] In his junior season at Stanford, he became a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion in the 400 IM, and he was named the Pac-12 Conference Swimmer of the Year.[7][3] In 2018, DeVine placed second in the 200 IM at U.S. Summer Nationals, which qualified him for the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Tokyo, where he finished fifth.[7] In his senior year at Stanford he again was NCAA champion in the 400 IM, he was also named a member of Team USA for the 2018–19 season.[7][3] In 2019, he placed eighth in the IM at the FINA World Championships held in Gwangju, South Korea.[7] As of April 2019, he is a fifteen-time All-American.[3] He holds several Stanford swimming records: the 400 IM (3:35.29) by four seconds; top three times in the 200 freestyle (1:32.77); top three times in 200 backstroke (1:39.22); and top three times in 200 IM (1:40.35).[3] In May 2019, Swimming World listed him as twelfth in its ranking of NCAA Division I men's swimmers.[15]
In June 2019, DeVine was added as a member to the International Swimming League's DC Trident.[7][16] In July 2019, DeVine signed with Arena, a sportswear company specializing in swimwear.[7][17] As of August 2019, he swims with Team Elite in San Diego.[7] In September 2019, DeVine says he was dropped from the Stanford team due to homophobia which team coaches denied in a statement.[8]
In 2018 when asked about his post-swimming career interests, DeVine cited being intrigued by startup culture, and the environmental movement.[2]
