Paul Kingsman

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Olympic medal record
Men’s Swimming
Bronze	1988 Seoul	200 m Backstroke

Paul Kingsman (born June 15, 1967 in Auckland) is a former international top swimmer from New Zealand, who won the bronze medal in the 200 metres backstroke at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

The 21-year-old went into the 1988 Olympic Games only the 20th fastest in the world over 200m. He scraped into the final and was in lane one, far away from the expected action in the middle of the pool. But Kingsman swam the race of his life and powered home to grab a medal in the final few strokes.

It was the highpoint of an international career that spanned nine seasons and brought him not only that Olympic medal, but four Commonwealth Games medals and twelve national senior titles.

Kingsman, trained almost his entire career by Hilton Brown, was a brilliant backstroker. When he was just fifteen and a novice in the sport, he forced his way into the 1982 Commonwealth Games team, making the 200m final at Brisbane, Queensland.

At 17 he and Gary Hurring swam in the backstroke for New Zealand at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Kingsman finished tenth in the 100m. By the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Kingsman had become one of the world’s best and he chased home two Canadians to take silver medals in the 100m and 200m backstroke.

He earned a scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley, where his swimming developed a sharply competitive edge under the tutelage of coach Nort Thornton. Kingsman showed his class by finishing second in the NCAA championships.

Kingsman closed his career by taking a bronze and a silver in the 1990 Commonwealth Games in his home town. He was always an exceedingly popular competitor, and his farewell at those Games in Auckland was an emotional occasion.

On retiring from swimming, Kingsman took up a position as national sales and marketing manager for Speedo sportswear. He then set up and ran his own swim school in Auckland. In 2001 he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Kingsman worked in the financial services industry and is now a professional motivational speaker.