Jorge Oliver

Jorge Oliver
Personal information
Full nameJorge Manuel Oliver
National team Puerto Rico
Born (1981-01-23) 23 January 1981 (age 43)
Miami, Florida
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11+12 in)
Weight77 kg (170 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesIndividual medley
College teamGeorgia Institute of Technology
(U.S.)

Jorge Manuel Oliver (born January 23, 1981) is a Puerto Rican former swimmer, who specialized in individual medley events.[1] As a first-born American, Oliver holds a dual citizenship, which made him eligible to compete for Puerto Rico at the Olympics.

Oliver attended Episcopal School of Jacksonville, where he earned state and district championship titles in the 100 m freestyle (1997 and 1998).[2] While playing for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in his college years, he made six top-10 lists in the school's swimming records. In 2003, Oliver graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering.[3]

As a member of the Puerto Rican team, Oliver qualified for the men's 200 m individual medley at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, by clearing a FINA B-standard entry time of 2:08.23 from the Counsilman Classic in Indianapolis, Indiana.[4] He posted a time of 2:08.84 to lead the first heat against Cyprus' Georgios Diamantidis and Kazakhstan's Yevgeniy Ryzhkov, who was disqualified for a false start. Oliver failed to advance into the semifinals, as he shared a forty-fifth place tie with Turkey's Orel Oral in the preliminaries.[5][6][7]

Shortly after his only Olympic appearance, Oliver worked as a volunteer assistant coach for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and eventually, for his alma mater Episcopal School of Jacksonville.

  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Jorge Oliver". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  2. ^ "Olympic Games: Episcopalian to swim for Puerto Rico". Episcopal News Service. 10 August 2004. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  3. ^ Woods, Mark (19 August 2004). "Swimming: UGa swimmer reaches finals". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Swimming – Men's 200m Individual Medley Startlist (Heat 1)" (PDF). Athens 2004. Omega Timing. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Men's 200m Individual Medley Heat 2". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 14 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  6. ^ Thomas, Stephen (18 August 2004). "Men's 200 Individual Medley, Day 5 Prelims: Laszlo Cseh Clocks Swift 1:59.50, Leads Michael Phelps into Semis". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  7. ^ "Tech's Oliver Ends 45th in 200 IM at Athens Olympics". GT Ramblin' Wrecks Athletics. 18 August 2004. Retrieved 5 May 2013.