Matthew Sates was born on 28 July 2003 and is a South African swimmer.
28 Facts About Matthew Sates
1.
2.
Matthew Sates is the African record holder in the short course 200 metre freestyle, 400 metre freestyle, and 200 metre individual medley as well as the South African record holder in the 400 metre individual medley.
3.
Matthew Sates is the 2022 World Short Course champion in the 200 metre individual medley and bronze medalist in the 400 metre individual medley.
4.
Matthew Sates reportedly became a swimmer at a young age when he followed his older brother Tim into swimming.
5.
At the 2021 South African Grand Prix in Durban in May 2021, Matthew Sates achieved Olympic Games cuts for the 200 metre individual medley, 1:57.60 in the prelims heats, and 100 metre butterfly, 51.83 seconds in a time trial.
6.
Matthew Sates competed in two events at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
7.
At the 2020 Olympic Games, Matthew Sates finished 14th in the 200 metre individual medley, just two places behind Chase Kalisz of the United States, and 32nd in the 100 metre butterfly.
8.
Matthew Sates earned the most medals amongst all competitors, male or female, with a total of eighteen medals, which included thirteen gold medals, four silver medals, and one bronze medal.
9.
Matthew Sates's swim moved him to the eighth fastest swimmer in the event in history, just two spots and 31-hundredths of a second behind Caeleb Dressel of the United States.
10.
The next day, Matthew Sates set his second world junior record of the World Cup circuit with a time of 1:40.65 in the 200 metre freestyle, where he won the gold medal and finished less than two-tenths of a second ahead of the silver medalist in the event Kyle Chalmers of Australia.
11.
Matthew Sates winning multiple medals, setting multiple world junior records, and winning the overall male title was ranked as the number one moment from the 2021 Swimming World Cup by FINA.
12.
Matthew Sates entered to compete in five individual events, the 200 metre freestyle, 400 metre freestyle, 100 metre individual medley, 200 metre individual medley, and 400 metre individual medley, for the 2021 World Short Course Championships at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
13.
Two days before the start of the competition, Matthew Sates was announced as withdrawing from the championships due to travel restrictions making it hard for him to leave the country of South Africa due to a surge in a new variant of COVID-19.
14.
On 21 January 2022, Matthew Sates arrived in Athens, Georgia in the United States to start competing collegiately as part of the Georgia Bulldogs at the University of Georgia with his first competition appearance scheduled for 29 January 2022.
15.
Matthew Sates qualified ranking first for the final of the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:32.59 in the prelims heats on day three.
16.
On Day four of competition, Matthew Sates ranked third in the prelims heat of the 200 yard butterfly, qualifying for the final with a time of 1:41.91, which was 1.83 seconds behind first-ranked Luca Urlando.
17.
Matthew Sates had entered to swim the 400 metre individual medley and 200 metre butterfly; however, due to wear on his shoulders from swimming butterfly, he chose to withdraw and not compete in those events.
18.
Matthew Sates tied Katsuhiro Matsumoto of Japan for twelfth-place in the semifinals with a time of 1:46.63.
19.
Matthew Sates placed seventh in the final with a time of 3:50.07.
20.
Matthew Sates lowered his time to 1:47.75 in the evening final of the 200 metre freestyle, placing sixth.
21.
Matthew Sates won his first gold medal of the 2022 FINA Swimming World Cup circuit at the first stop, in Berlin, Germany, in the 400 metre freestyle with an African record, South African record, and personal best time of 3:36.30, finishing 0.97 seconds ahead of Kieran Smith of the United States.
22.
Matthew Sates followed his gold medal up with a silver medal in the 100 metre individual medley, finishing one-tenth of a second behind gold medalist Thomas Ceccon with a personal best time of 51.62 seconds.
23.
Matthew Sates ranked as the highest-scoring male competitor across all of his events in Berlin.
24.
On day one at the next stop, in Toronto, Canada, Matthew Sates collected an additional two medals, the first in the 400 metre freestyle with a 3:37.52 and the second in the 100 metre individual medley with a 51.87.
25.
Matthew Sates finished up on day three with a gold medal in the 400 metre individual medley with a time of 4:02.65 and a tie for fourth place in the 200 metre freestyle with a 1:42.46.
26.
At the 2023 South Africa National Championships, held in April in Gqeberha and conducted in long course metres, Matthew Sates won the gold medal and national title in the 200 metre freestyle on day one with a time of 1:47.92.
27.
Matthew Sates followed up with another national title in an individual event the following day, winning the gold medal in the 200 metre individual medley with a time of 1:59.95.
28.
Matthew Sates won the gold medal and national title in the 400 metre freestyle on the fifth and final day with a time of 3:55.48.