Ziv Kalontarov
Israeli swimmer (born 1997)
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Ziv Kalontarov (also "Kalontorov", "Kaluntarov", and "Kalntrov"; Hebrew: זיו קלונטרוב; born 15 January 1997) is an Israeli Olympic swimmer and the reigning European Games champion in the 50 m freestyle.[2]
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Native name | זיו קלונטרוב | ||||||||||||||
Nickname | Zu | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Israeli | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 15 January 1997 Rishon LeZion, Israel | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 70 kg (154 lb)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||
| Strokes | 50 m and 100 m freestyle | ||||||||||||||
| Coach | Gary Kalontarov | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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In April 2015, Kalontarov won the International School Sport Federation (ISF) Swimming World Schools Championship in both the 50 m freestyle (in 22.39) and the 100 m freestyle (in 50.49) in Poznań, Poland. At the age of 18 representing Israel at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, he won a gold medal with a European Games record time of 22.16 in the 50 m freestyle and thereby won the European Junior Swimming Championships, on 27 June 2015. His time in the final established a new senior Israeli national swimming record in the 50 m freestyle. It qualified him to represent Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Biography
Kalontarov was born in Rishon LeZion, Israel, to parents Gary and Tatyana.[1][3] He attended Makif Omer High School, and his nickname is "Zu".[1]
Swimming career
When Kalontarov was young, his mother Tatyana trained him, and his father Gary is now his coach.[4][5][6] He trains about 21 hours per week.[4]
In July 2014, he came in sixth in the European Junior Championships Men's 50 m freestyle, and 8th in the Men's 100 m freestyle.[7]
Kalontarov won the 2015 International School Sport Federation (ISF) Swimming World Schools Championship in both the 50 m freestyle (in 22.39) and the 100 m freestyle (in 50.49) in Poznań, Poland, on 19 April 2015.[4]
At the age of 18, Kalontarov represented Israel at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.[8][9] He won a gold medal with a European Games record time of 22.16 in the 50 m freestyle and thereby won the European Junior Swimming Championships, on 27 June 2015, after also having the fastest times in both the heat and semi-final of the event.[8][9][10][11] His time in the final established a new senior Israeli national swimming record in the 50 m freestyle, breaking the old record of 22.54 that he himself had set two months earlier, as well as a new personal record for Kalontarov and .16 of a second off the youth world record.[9][12][13][14][15] He also came in sixth in the 100 m freestyle final.[7] He was selected to carry the Israeli flag at the closing ceremony.[14]
The race result placed him in the top 20 in the world.[8][16] It also qualified Kalontarov to represent Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which he did.[9][12]
