26 Facts About Brent Hayden

Brent Matthew Hayden was born on October 21,1983 and is a Canadian retired competitive swimmer.

Brent Hayden won a bronze medal in the 100 m freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London with a time of 47.80, and was world champion in the same event in 2007 with Filippo Magnini of Italy.

Brent Hayden added a further three silver and one bronze medal to his World Championship totals.

Brent Hayden is currently the Canadian record-holder in the 200 metre and 100 metre in both the short-course and long-course.

In Melbourne for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Brent Hayden won his first major international silver medal when he finished second in the 50 m freestyle, an event he had not intended on racing.

Brent Hayden added three bronze medals at the same games, two from the relays and one in the 200-metre freestyle final.

Brent Hayden failed to qualify for the final in the 100 m freestyle despite being the incumbent World Champion in that event.

Brent Hayden failed in the defence of his world title in the 100 m freestyle, placing fourth with a new Canadian record time of 47.27 seconds and missing the podium by 0.02 seconds.

Brent Hayden was the only swimmer in the final to choose not to wear one of the newest "super suits".

Brent Hayden chose to wear the Speedo LZR, which was the suit worn by most swimmers at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, whereas every other swimmer in that final was wearing either the new Arena X-Glide or Jaked.

Brent Hayden held the number one ranking in the world at the time in this event.

The next season brought further success for Brent Hayden as went on to touch out for the silver on a long glide in the 100 m freestyle final at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships.

Brent Hayden had gone into the World Championships having set the previous world's best time the last season.

Brent Hayden went on to win bronze medal for Canada at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 100 m freestyle after a strong start placed him in medal contention at the turn.

Brent Hayden was nevertheless inspired by the direction of the program, and after seven years away from the pool he announced a comeback in September 2019.

In 2021, Brent Hayden won the 50 m freestyle at the Canadian Olympic Trials with a time of 21.82, well ahead of the FINA "A" standard of 22.01.

Brent Hayden opted not to contest the 100 m in Tokyo, as he and his coaches feared it might trigger back spasms.

Brent Hayden's return was widely credited for providing leadership to the men's program, with the most notable result being the surprise fourth-place finish in the 4x100 m freestyle relay where they were just 0.3 seconds behind the Australians who took the bronze medal, an event where the Canadian team had not been expected to even qualify for the final.

Brent Hayden is known as "Soup" to his friends due to the superman tattoo he has on his chest.

Brent Hayden was born and raised in Mission, but resides in Vancouver.

Brent Hayden attended the University of British Columbia where he studied.

Brent Hayden has a black belt in Isshin Ryu karate.

Brent Hayden appeared on CBC's television show Canada's Smartest Person as a competitor in 2014, but he did not win the title.

Brent Hayden has pursued photography as a passion and has had several exhibitions.

Brent Hayden retired from competitive swimming for the first time immediately after the 2012 Games, as he had suffered from back spasms and depression.

Brent Hayden ran a swimming camp, and during one video filming session in Beirut in 2020, he did a sprint swim at the bequest of the camp kids and realized that his time was still competitive, convincing him to make a comeback.