Vadim Alexeev is a retired world-class Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

/Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i Olympic breaststroke

Breaststroke

The breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on his or her chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to its stability and the ability to keep the head out of the water a large portion of the time. In most swimming classes, beginners learn...

 swimmer

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

. Alexeev was born in Almaty

Almaty

Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...

, Kazakh SSR

Kazakh SSR

The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Kazakh SSR for short, was one of republics that made up the Soviet Union.At in area, it was the second largest constituent republic in the USSR, after the Russian SFSR. Its capital was Alma-Ata . Today it is the independent state of...

, Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. He is Jewish, and emigrated to Israel in 1992. He speaks Russian.

Career

Alexeev set a world record while swimming in the Soviet Union. He held Soviet and Israeli records in the 1990s.

He won the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke races at the 1986 European Junior Championships.

At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, he took sixth in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:16.7. In 1989 he set the Soviet record in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:02.11); it was the third-fastest time in the world that year. That year he was one of the two fastest swimmers in Europe. In 1990, he won a silver medal at the Goodwill Games

Goodwill Games

The Goodwill Games was an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...

 in the 100-meter breastroke.

Alexeev swam for the post-Soviet Unified Team at the Olympics in 1992. At the 1994 World Championship, he set the Israeli record in the 200-meter breaststroke (2:15.47). In 1995, he set the Israeli record in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:02.52).

At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, he swam for Israel. There, he swam the four-man 4x100 meter medley with Yoav Bruck

Yoav Bruck

Yoav Bruck is a former swimmer from Israel, who competed in three Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1992....

, Eitan Urbach, and Dan Kutler

Dan Kutler

Dan Kutler is a former butterfly swimmer, who was born in the United States, and swam for Israel in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. He lived in Santa Clara, California, and immigrated to Israel in 1994...

. The team reached the final, taking eighth place. He retired after the Olympics.

At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Tom Be'eri

Tom Be'eri

Tom Beeri is an Israeli swimmer who represented Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics.-Biography:He is Jewish.He competed on behalf of Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.-References:...

beat Alexeev's prior Israeli record in the men's 100-meter butterfly by one-tenth of a second (at 1:02.42).

External links

• Swim Rankings profile
• Jews in Sports
• Profile