Nicholas Sprenger
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Sprenger is an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n middle distance freestyle swimmer, who won a silver medal in the 4x200 m freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

.

Coming from Brisbane, Queensland, Sprenger who is coached by Michael Bohl spent the beginning of his career as the understudy of fellow Australians Ian Thorpe
Ian Thorpe
Ian James Thorpe OAM , nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most...

 and Grant Hackett
Grant Hackett
Grant Hackett OAM is an Australian former swimmer most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him to be regarded as one of the greatest distance swimmers in history...

. After finishing third in the 200 m freestyle at the 2003 Australian Championships, Sprenger was selected to make his debut at the age of 18 at the 2003 FINA World Championships in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, where he was a part of the 4x200 m freestyle relay team which won gold ahead of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The following year, he was again third behind Thorpe and Hackett, and was a part of the team alongside Thorpe, Hackett and Michael Klim
Michael Klim
Michael Klim OAM is a Polish-born Australian swimmer. He was born in Gdynia. He was educated at the University High School, Melbourne and Wesley College, Melbourne where he is currently employed as the College's elite Head Coach of swimming...

 which was defeated by the Americans in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 in the 4x200 m freestyle relay, ending Australia's six-year reign in the event.

In 2005, with Thorpe taking a year off, Sprenger assumed the number 2 middle distance swimmer role behind Hackett. Despite being involved in a mild car accident in late May, and being prevented from performing the complete training repertoire until one week before the event, Sprenger went on to set gallant personal bests in both the 200 m and 400 m events at the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in July, placing fifth in the 200 m event in a time of 1 min 47.09 s. He also collected a bronze medal as part of the 4x200 m freestyle relay.

In 2006, with Australian captain Hackett sidelined with by a shoulder operation, Sprenger appeared likely to have another opportunity to establish himself as a world-class swimmer. However, he was plagued by a virus and was unable to compete. His cousin Christian Sprenger
Christian Sprenger
Christian David Sprenger is an Australian breaststroke swimmer. He trains at the Commercial Swimming Club under Stephan Widmar.-Swimming career:...

 is a breaststroker who broke the world record in the men's 200 metre breaststroke at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships
2009 World Aquatics Championships
The 2009 World Aquatics Championships or the XIII FINA World Championships were celebrated in Rome, Italy in 2009 from July 17 to August 2. The 2009 Championships featured competition in all 5 aquatics disciplines: diving, swimming, open water swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo.Rome won...

 in Rome.

At the trials for the Olympic Games 2008 Sprenger came third in the 200m freestyle only 0.07 seconds behind Kenrick Monk
Kenrick Monk
Kenrick John Monk is an Australian swimmer.He attended Quakers Hill High School for his high school education.-Career:...

. However, the winner Grant Hackett
Grant Hackett
Grant Hackett OAM is an Australian former swimmer most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him to be regarded as one of the greatest distance swimmers in history...

was not seeking an individual berth in the event, so Sprenger will compete as Australia's second qualifier in the event at Beijing. He is also a member of the Australian 4x200m freestyle team, trying to beat the Americans. However, at the Olympics, Sprenger was eliminated in the semifinals and was then dropped from the relay team, competing in neither the heats nor finals. His colleagues captured the bronze medal in his absence.
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