Aug. 14, 2008
BEIJING – Georgia Tech senior Gal Nevo advanced to the semifinals and placed 13th with a time of 2:00.43 in the 200 IM last night at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Earlier in the day, Nevo, a transfer from Arizona State University, won his heat as he shattered the Israeli National Team record.
Nevo won his heat with a time of 1:59.66, surpassing his own Israeli National Team record by three seconds. He topped the next best swimmer in his heat, Mihail Alexandrov, of Bulgaria by more than a second.
2008 Tech graduate Onur Uras clocked a 54.79 today in the 100-fly to register a seventh-place finish in his heat. Uras, a member of the Turkish National Team, was making his second straight Olympic appearance after placing 49th in the 2004 Athens Games. Uras, who finished 58th today, was more than a second and a half faster than he was in Athens four years ago.
Earlier in the Olympics, Nevo swam the 400-IM for Israel and clocked in at 4:14.03, good for fourth place in his heat and 11th overall. The top eight advanced to the finals which were won by Phelps in a world-record time of 4:03.84.
Nevo qualified for the Beijing Games by finishing in the top 12 of the recent European Championships. It was there that he broke the Israeli record in the 200 IM by finishing in 2:02.43.
Uras set a new Turkish National Team record in the 100-fly (53.97) on his way to qualifying for his second Olympic Games. Uras needed to clock in a 54.66 in order to make the Turkey National Team and topped that by nearly three-quarters of a second