1. Mireia Belmonte is the former world record holder in the short course 200 metre butterfly, 400 metre individual medley, 400 metre freestyle, 800 metre freestyle, and 1500 metre freestyle.
43 Facts About Mireia Belmonte
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Mireia Belmonte was the first Spanish woman to win a gold medal in swimming at an Olympic Games and is widely considered to be the greatest Spanish swimmer of all time.
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Mireia Belmonte previously competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where she debuted at 17 years old, and at 2012 London, where she won two silver medals, one in the 200 metre butterfly with a time of 2:05.25 and one in the 800-metre freestyle with a time of 8:18.76.
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Mireia Belmonte was advised to swim at the age of 5 by her doctor.
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Mireia Belmonte's coach was Jordi Murio when she was signed by Club Natacio L'Hospitalet.
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Mireia Belmonte continued training at the CAR with her new coach, Carles Subirana.
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On 21 March, at the 2008 European Long Course Championships held in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Belmonte won the 200-metre individual medley breaking the Championships record with her time of 2:11.16.
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At the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, China in August 2008, Mireia Belmonte competed in three individual events and one relay representing Spain in swimming.
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Mireia Belmonte competed in the 200-metre breaststroke finishing in 24th place in the prelims heats with a time of 2:29.46.
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December 2008 at the 2008 European Swimming Championships held in Rijeka, Croatia, Mireia Belmonte competed in multiple events.
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Mireia Belmonte reached a record in the 200-metre butterfly with 2:06:25, obtaining the minimum marks for the World Championships in Shanghai at three different distances.
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Mireia Belmonte's second medal was a silver medal, this time in the 800-metre freestyle behind 15-year-old Katie Ledecky and ahead of world record holder Rebecca Adlington.
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Mireia Belmonte became the first Spanish swimmer to win two Olympic medals.
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Mireia Belmonte competed in four events in addition to the two she medaled in.
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That year, at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships held in Barcelona, Mireia Belmonte competes in six events during the eight days of competition.
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At the 2013 FINA Swimming World Cup held in Berlin, Germany in August 2013 and conducted in short course metres, Mireia Belmonte set two world records in distance freestyle events.
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On 12 December, at the 2013 European Short Course Swimming Championships held in Herning, Mireia Belmonte won the gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly, beating the continental record in at time of 2:01.52.19.
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Mireia Belmonte defeated the local heroine Lotte Friis in that final.
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On 3 December 2014 at the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships in Doha, Qatar, Mireia Belmonte won two gold medals.
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Mireia Belmonte lowered the world record by 1.17 seconds and finished ahead of second place finisher Katinka Hosszu by more than 1.5 seconds.
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Mireia Belmonte's time of 8:03.41 in the final was a new Championship Record and a few seconds off her world record of 7:59.34 in the event.
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On 12 December, at the 2014 Spanish Championships conducted in short course metres, Mireia Belmonte broke the world record in the 1500-metre freestyle, setting a new world record of 15:19.71, which lowered the record over seven full seconds from the former mark of 15:26.95 by Lauren Boyle of New Zealand.
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Mireia Belmonte said that her goal was to prepare for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, although she had tried to be at the World Championships until the very last moment.
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In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the 2016 Summer Olympics Mireia Belmonte won a bronze medal in the 400-metre individual medley on 6 August.
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Mireia Belmonte was the first Spanish female swimmer to become an Olympic champion.
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Mireia Belmonte was one medal shy of tying the most decorated Olympic Games athlete of Spain at the time, canoeist David Cal, who won a total of five medals.
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At the 2017 World Aquatics Championships held in Budapest, Hungary in July 2017 and conducted in long course metres, Mireia Belmonte won a total of three medals in individual events.
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Mireia Belmonte's time of 15:50.89 was a new Spanish record for the women's long course 1500-metre freestyle.
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Mireia Belmonte was highlighted by FINA as shining on day five of the swimming competitions for her win.
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At the 2017 FINA Swimming World Cup held in the Netherlands in August 2017, Mireia Belmonte broke the world record in the short course 400-metre individual medley with her time of 4:18.94.
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Mireia Belmonte lowered the former world record set by Katinka Hosszu in 2015 by more than half a second.
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Mireia Belmonte competed in multiple individual events, earning four medals for Spain, in June 2018 at the Mediterranean Games in Tarragona.
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Mireia Belmonte won a gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly and a gold medal in the 200-metre individual medley.
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Mireia Belmonte competed in the 400-metre individual medley, finishing seventh in the final.
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In May 2021 Mireia Belmonte was officially confirmed by the Spanish Olympic Committee as one of two flag bearers for Spain at the Opening Ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan on 23 July 2021.
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On 14 July, FINA released that Mireia Belmonte was entered in three individual events for the 2020 Olympics: 1500-metre freestyle, 800-metre freestyle, and 400-metre individual medley.
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At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Opening Ceremony on 23 July, Mireia Belmonte was one of 86 swimmers serving as a flag bearer for their nation, contributing to the sport of swimming being the most represented sport in terms of number of flag bearers at the ceremony.
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Mireia Belmonte finished in fourth place in the final, behind American Hali Flickinger and ahead of Hungarian Katinka Hosszu.
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Mireia Belmonte decided not to take part in the draft process to compete in the 2021 International Swimming League, spanning August to December 2021, in part due to health issues.
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On 5 August, Mireia Belmonte was announced to the official Spain roster for the 2022 European Aquatics Championships.
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Mireia Belmonte placed seventh in semifinal heat two, fourteenth overall in the semifinals, with a time of 2:15.47.
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Mireia Belmonte followed up with a 2:14.01 in the semifinals, ranking eleventh and not advancing to the final.
43.
Later in the year, on 22 October 2022 at the year's Swimming World Cup stop in Berlin, Germany, Mireia Belmonte placed fifth in the 400-metre individual medley on day two with a time of 4:35.63.