Milorad "Milo" Čavić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милорад "Мило" Чавић, Serbian pronunciation:[mîloraːdtʃǎːʋitɕ]; born May 31, 1984) is a Serbian former professional swimmer. He won a silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2008 Summer Olympics in a historic race with American swimmer Michael Phelps. Čavić also was World and European champion, as well as world record holder. He is one of five swimmers who broke 50 seconds in the 100m butterfly.
On December 14, 2006 Čavić defended his European championship in the 100 m butterfly in Helsinki, finishing at 50.63 seconds. On December 14, 2007, the sprinter defended his European championship again in the 100 m butterfly in Debrecen, finishing at 50.53 seconds.
In 2008, Čavić won the European championship in the 50 m butterfly, setting the new European record (23.11) in Eindhoven, Holland – a result briefly[citation needed] quashed when the European Swimming Federation (LEN) immediately disqualified the swimmer for wearing a T-shirt at the medals ceremony that read "Kosovo is Serbia".[4] However, his disqualification was removed and his record was recognized.[5][6][7]
At the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, Čavić won gold in the 50 m butterfly [8] and broke the 100 m butterfly world record in the semifinals finishing in 50.01 seconds.[9] In the finals Čavić won silver with time of 49.95. In that final, Both Cavic and winner Phelps became the first two swimmers to swim the 100 fly under 50 seconds.
He missed competitions in 2010 due to spinal surgery.[10]
In 2012 (May 26, 2012), he won the gold medal at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, in the 100 meters butterfly, setting the best time in the world in 2012 and a new championship record – 51.45 seconds.
Čavić was leading in a semifinal of the 100 metre butterfly, but right after the turn at the halfway point of the race, his suit opened at the neck and sucked in water, causing Čavić to finish last. In the heats of the 100 metre freestyle, Čavić finished 19th missing the semi-finals by 0.02 seconds.
Čavić trained at The Race Club, a swimming club founded by Olympic swimmers Gary Hall, Jr. and his father, Gary Hall, Sr. The Race Club, originally known as "The World Team," was designed to serve as a training group for elite swimmers across the world in preparation for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. To be able to train with the Race Club, one must either have been ranked in the top 20 in the world the past 3 calendar years or top 3 in their nation in the past year. The Race Club included such well known swimmers as Roland Mark Schoeman, Mark Foster, Ryk Neethling, Ricky Busquet and Therese Alshammar.[13] The Race Club offers various swimming camps, swim clinics, and swimming technique video recording year round for young swimmers at their Islamorada, Florida based training center.[14]
On August 14, 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, Čavić broke the 100 meter butterfly Olympic Record during the preliminary heats, finishing ahead of Michael Phelps and also recorded the fastest time in the semi-finals. Čavić came in second to Phelps by one hundredth of a second in the final, and became Serbia's inaugural Olympiad medalist. It was Phelps' seventh gold medal of the Olympiad. The Serbian team initially challenged the result but FINA later confirmed the finish. It was later confirmed by the FINA and Omega timekeeping officials that Čavić indeed arrived first but it was Phelps who, in the milliseconds after touching the wall, applied more force to trigger an electronic touchpad first.[15] Čavić later wrote in his blog: "People, this is the greatest moment of my life. If you ask me, it should be accepted and we should move on. I’ve accepted defeat, and there’s nothing wrong with losing to the greatest swimmer there has ever been".[16]
Legend: ER – European record;NR – Serbian record; Records not set in finals: h – heat;sf – semifinal;r – relay 1st leg;rh – relay heat 1st leg;b – B final;† – en route to final mark;tt – time trial
Legend: ER – European record;NR – Serbian record; Records not set in finals: h – heat;sf – semifinal;r – relay 1st leg;rh – relay heat 1st leg;b – B final;† – en route to final mark;tt – time trial
^"Kazna Čaviću bruka Evrope" [Cavic's sentence, shame for Europe]. Blic (in Serbian). March 22, 2008. Archived from the original on January 14, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
