Yoav Gath
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Yoav Gath (born November 8, 1980 in Haifa) is a backstroke swimmer from Israel, who represented his native country at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. There he competed in the 200m backstroke, advancing to the semifinals after posting the 13th fastest time in the preliminaries (2:00.80). In his semifinal heat, he finished in 2:03.80, and did not advance to the finals; Gath finished in 16th place overall.
On the advice of his father, Gath took up swimming to cure his asthma. A backstroke specialist, he quickly became one of Israel's top young swimmers. In 1995, at the age of fifteen, Gath won the gold medal in the 200m backstroke at the Euro Youth Olympic Days. The following year, he won the silver medal in the same event (2:04.74) at the European Junior Championships.
In 1997, he continued his rise among Israeli swimmers by winning the gold medal, and breaking the meet record, in the 200m backstroke at the Maccabiah Games. He was the Israeli national champion in the event in 1998. In 1998–"99, Gath arrived in the United States to compete for the University of Georgia. That year, he finished 10th in the 100yard backstroke and 13th in the 200yard backstroke at the SEC Championships; as a team, Georgia finished in third place.
At the NCAA Championships, he set the Georgia record in the 200yard backstroke in the preliminaries with a time of 1:42.71. In the final, Gath finished fifth in the 200-yard backstroke clocking 1:42.95. His fifth place showing earned him All-America honors, and he was also named NCAA Academic All-America. During the 1999-"00 season, he broke the Georgia record in the 200m backstroke with a time of 1:56.02.
Gath has also continued to compete on the international level. At the European LC Championships 1999, he finished in fourth place in the 200m backstroke (2:00.72). At the European LC Championships 2000 in Helsinki, Finland the following year, Gath won the bronze medal in the 200m backstroke, setting the Israeli national record (2:00.02) in the process. On July 26, 2001, at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Gath broke his own national record in the same event when he raced to a time of 1:59.39 in the semifinals. The following day, he swam in the final of the 200m back and finished eighth with a time of 2:00.09.
