Alex Baumann

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Olympic medal record
Men’s swimming
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	200 m individual medley
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	400 m individual medley

Alexander ("Alex") Baumann (born April 21, 1964) is a Canadian athlete, who won two gold medals and set two world records in swimming at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early Life 1.2 Olympic Career 1.3 Coaching 1.4 Head of Canada's Summer Olympic Program 2 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early Life

Born in Prague, (former Czechoslovakia), Baumann was raised in Canada after his family moved there in 1973 following the Prague Spring. The family settled in Sudbury, Ontario, where, at the age of nine, Baumann became involved in competitive swimming, training at Laurentian University.

[edit] Olympic Career

By the time he was seventeen, Baumann held 38 Canadian swimming records. Internationally, he won gold in both 200 and 400-meter individual medley events and the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the 400-meter championship in the 1983 World University Games.

Prior to the 1984 Olympics, Baumann's father died of cancer and his brother, Roman, committed suicide. Baumann persevered through these tragedies, as well as lingering tendonitis and shoulder injuries, to enter the Olympics as one of Canada's best Olympic hopes.

At the 1984 Olympics, Baumann was selected as Canada's flagbearer for the opening ceremonies. He then won gold medals in the 400-metre individual medley, setting a world record time of 4:17.41, and the 200-metre race, setting a world record of 2:01.42. The 400-metre gold was Canada's first in swimming since 1912.

He was named Canada's male athlete of the year for 1984 and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was also named as the Male World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine in the same year. In 1988, he was awarded the Order of Ontario.

Baumann continued his swimming career with gold medals in the 1986 Commonwealth Games.

Baumann shared a close bond with his coach of 14 years, Dr. Jeno Tihanyi. After the 1984 Olympics, the two authored a book titled Swimming with Alex Baumann: A Program for Competitive and Recreational Swimmers.

[edit] Coaching

Subsequent to the 1986 World Championships, Baumann retired from competitive swimming, initially working with Canadian broadcaster CBC for the 1988 Olympics, and also returning to Sudbury as a coach until 1992. Some speculated that Baumann was unable to find a coaching position after he criticized the Canadian Olympic Committee for dismissing Don Talbot and replacing him with Dave Johnson, as it was widely alleged that Talbot was fired for refusing to put the daughter of a Committee on the national team.

Baumann moved to Australia to enter graduate studies at the University of Queensland before becoming manager of sport programs with the Queensland Academy of Sport between 1996 and 1997. He then held various positions with the Queensland Government before becoming CEO of Queensland Swimming in 1999.

After a poor showing by Canada at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Baumann felt he had more to offer Canadian sport, and expressed interest in taking on the vacant leadership positions of either Swimming Canada or the Canadian Olympic Association; however, neither organization felt he had the business background to handle the job. Ultimately, Baumann was not offered the Swimming Canada position and was excluded from the COA's shortlist of candidates. This caused some controversy and criticism in Canada as many Canadian athletes and citizens felt he was the best choice for either job.[1] A number of foreign sports organizations felt the same way, and he was courted heavily by the English Institute of Sport and the Queensland Academy of Sport, ultimately accepting the position of executive director for the Queensland Academy of Sport in 2002.

In 2004, after a dismal showing by Canada at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, in which they failed to medal and their best finish was sixth place, head coach Dave Johnson was fired. The COA offered Baumann the CEO or head coaching position of Swimming Canada (Karen Spierkel had resigned as CEO on May 3, 2003 and there was no replacement) but he turned both down, saying that he would remain with the Queensland Academy. Several commentators panned Baumann as hypocritical as he was publicly critical the Canadian swim program for several years from 2000 to 2004, right up to the Athens Olympics. In response, Baumann toned down his criticism.

[edit] Head of Canada's Summer Olympic Program

On September 27, 2006, the Canadian Olympic Committee announced that Baumann was hired to take over Canada's Road to Excellence initiative beginning in January 2007. Canada had achieved mediocre results at the 2004 Athens Olympics with a tally of only 12 medals which resulted in an overall 21st place national showing. These poor results prompted much criticism from Canadians. Baumann has currently announced a modest goal for himself: a top 16th finish for Canada in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a top 12th finish at the 2012 London Games.[2]

[edit] External links

• Order of Canada Citation
• Baumann returns to rebuild Canada's Olympic Program

Olympic champions in men's 200 m individual medley
1968: Charles Hickcox | 1972: Gunnar Larsson | 1984: Alex Baumann | 1988: Tamás Darnyi | 1992: Tamás Darnyi | 1996: Attila Czene | 2000: Massimiliano Rosolino | 2004: Michael Phelps

Olympic champions in men's 400 m individual medley
1964: Richard Roth | 1968: Charles Hickcox | 1972: Gunnar Larsson | 1976: Rod Strachan | 1980: Aleksandr Sidorenko | 1984: Alex Baumann | 1988: Tamás Darnyi | 1992: Tamás Darnyi | 1996: Tom Dolan | 2000: Tom Dolan | 2004: Michael Phelps

Preceded by Rowdy Gaines	World Swimmer of the Year 1981	Succeeded by Vladimir Salnikov
Preceded by Rick Carey	World Swimmer of the Year 1984	Succeeded by Michael Gross