Rostyslav Svanidze

Rostyslav Svanidze
Personal information
Full name	Rostyslav Albertovych Svanidze
National team	Ukraine
Born	5 November 1971; Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
Died	14 October 2002 (aged 30); Zaporizhia, Ukraine
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	85 kg (187 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Club	Ukraïna Zaporizhzhia
Coach	Ivan Proskura
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing Ukraine
Summer Universiade

Rostyslav Albertovych Svanidze (Ukrainian: Ростислав Альбертович Сванідзе; November 5, 1971 – October 14, 2002) was a Ukrainian swimmer of Georgian descent, who specialized in middle-distance freestyle events.^[2] He was a two-time Olympian (1996 and 2000), and a top 16 finalist in the 100 m freestyle at his Olympic debut in Atlanta (1996). As a member of Ukraine's senior national team, Svanidze had won a total of 37 swimming titles in middle-distance freestyle (100 and 200 m), and in freestyle relays (400 and 800 m). Although he never received a single medal in any international tournament, Svanidze was regarded as one of Ukraine's top swimmers in the post-independence era since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Before his untimely death in 2002, he worked as a senior lecturer under the faculty of physical education in Zaporizhia State Medical University.

Swimming career

Early years

Svanidze, a native in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, started his sporting career at the age of nine. He later became a pupil and a member of the swimming team for Ukraïna Zaporizhzhia, one of Ukraine's top sports clubs, under his longtime coach and mentor Ivan Proskura.^[1]

In 1995, Svanidze made his worldwide breakthrough at the FINA Short Course World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he placed fifth in a freestyle double (100 and 200 m). He also established a new Ukrainian record of 1:48.73 in the 200 m freestyle.^[3]

Svanidze became one of the first ever swimmers to attend Ukraine's historic debut at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta since the post-Soviet era. In the 100 m freestyle, he powered home with a fourteenth-place effort in the B-Final at 50.43, edging out Canada's Stephen Clarke in a close finish by two-hundredths of a second (0.02).^[4]^[5]

2000 Summer Olympics

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Svanidze competed in three swimming events, including two freestyle relays. He posted a FINA B-standard entry time of 1:52.34 (200 m freestyle) from the European Championships in Helsinki, Finland.^[6]^[7] On the first day of the Games, Svanidze teamed up with Vyacheslav Shyrshov, Pavlo Khnykin, and Artem Honcharenko in the 4×100 m freestyle relay. Svanidze swam the second leg in heat three and recorded a split of 51.69, but the Ukrainians finished the race in fourth place and twelfth overall with a final time of 3:21.48.^[8]^[9] In the 200 m freestyle, Svanidze placed twenty-fourth on the morning prelims. Swimming in heat four, he picked up a second spot by almost a third of a second (0.33) behind winner Arūnas Savickas of Lithuania, in a time of 1:52.35.^[10] Two days later, Svanidze, along with Goncharenko, Ihor Snitko, and Serhiy Fesenko, placed fourteenth in the 4×200 m freestyle relay with a time of 7:32.16.^[11]^[12]

Shortly after his second Olympics, Svanidze announced his retirement from swimming. He worked as a full-time senior lecturer under the faculty of physical education, social pedagogy, and psychology at the Zaporizhia State Medical University in Zaporizhia.^[1]

Death

On October 14, 2002, at age 30, Svanidze was found unconscious inside the gymnasium at Zaporizhia State Medical University after having suffered a cardiac arrest. He started to become ill while conducting an evening training session for students. He responded to them: "I have a headache; train? probably not; Go to class time, my fellow students". While proceeding to the university's gymnasium, Svanidze felt bad, and eventually collapsed.^[13] He was found unconscious by one of his students, before being brought to the University's hospital. Eleven minutes later, he was pronounced dead. Doctors discovered that Svanidze had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, caused by a traumatic aortic rupture, at the time of his death.^[14]

Svanidze's untimely death shocked the nation's entire swimming field. Olympic medalist Denys Sylantyev recalled his emotion for a posthumous swimmer: "It feels like Rostislav just left. Somewhere far away. He and I have never competed, but we were very good friends. In matters of sport, I did not consult with him, because it is impossible to swim in different distances. None of us sought advice in real-life situations, but there is no request that he had not fulfilled. If you cannot do something, It is no longer a promise. We spent a lot of time in training camp, and more often, made fun of each other."^[1]