Alexander Dale Oen

Alexander Dale Oen
Personal information
Nationality  Norway
Born May 21, 1985 (1985-05-21) (age 26)
Bergen, Norway
Sport
Sport Swimming
Stroke(s) Breaststroke
College team Auburn Tigers (USA)

Alexander Dale Oen (born May 21, 1985 in Bergen, Norway) is a Norwegian swimmer. He represents the club Vestkantsvømmerne. Dale Oen's gold at the 2008 European Championships made him the first Norwegian male to win a medal at a major international long course championship.

Oen got his international breakthrough in 2005, placing seventh in 100 metre breaststroke during the 2005 World Aquatics Championships. During the European short course Championships in December the same year he swam the 100 m breaststroke in 59.05 seconds, placing fourth and setting a new Nordic Record. He became the first Norwegian to swim this distance in less than 1 minute. At the Norwegian Short Course Championships two months later, he bettered that time to 58.81, a world best mark for the year.

Contents

Competitions

At the 2006 FINA Short Course World Championships in Shanghai Oen won a bronze medal in 100 m breaststroke, behind Oleg Lisogor and Brenton Rickard. Oen became the first Norwegian male to win a World Championships medal in swimming. Four months later, Oen followed that up with success at the 2006 European Swimming Championships, winning the silver medal on 100 m breaststroke and setting a new Nordic record (long course), with 1:00.63.

Dale Oen won his first short course medal at the 2006 Short Course European Championships in Helsinki, taking bronze behind two Ukrainians in the 100 m breaststroke in a new personal best of 58.70. In the 2007 World Championships, Dale Oen was second fastest in the heats (in another Nordic record, 1:00.34) and third fastest in the semifinal, but failed in the final, clocking well above 1:01.

Dale Oen repeated the feat of doing better in the semifinal than the final at the 2007 European Short Course Championships. After 58.60, a new personal best and the second-fastest time, in the semifinals, Dale Oen finished in 58.81, fifth place and 0.24 seconds behind the gold medal. However, Dale Oen dominated the 2008 European Championships. Setting a record time of 1:00.11 in the heats, and being fastest in both the heats and the semifinal, Dale Oen swam the final in a European record time of 59.76, and won the gold by 0.02 seconds ahead of Hugues Duboscq, who also swam a personal best.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Dale Oen earned Norway's first ever Olympic medal in swimming, placing second in the 100 m breaststroke final.

During the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, Dale Oen won the gold medal on 100 m breaststroke with the time 58.71, 0.71 seconds ahead of Fabio Scozzoli. This was Norway's first gold medal at a World Championship in swimming.

Personal bests

Long course (50 m)

Event Time Date Meet Location Ref
50 m breaststroke  27.20  NR(†)
 02011-07-25 25 July 2011 World Championships Shanghai, China
100 m breaststroke  58.71  NR
 02011-07-25 25 July 2011 World Championships Shanghai, China
200 m breaststroke  2:09.74  NR
 02008-03-21 21 March 2008 European Championships Eindhoven, Netherlands

Legend: WR – World record; ER – European record; NR – Norwegian 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

Short course (25 m)

Event Time Date Meet Location Ref
50 m breaststroke  27.13  (h)
 02008-04-12 12 April 2008 World SC Championships Manchester, United Kingdom
100 m breaststroke  58.14  NR
 02008-04-10 10 April 2008 World SC Championships Manchester, United Kingdom
200 m breaststroke  2:08.28  NR
 02007-12-16 16 December 2007 European SC Championships Debrecen, Hungary
100 m individual medley  55.34  02008-04-20 20 April 2008 Norwegian SC Championships Stavanger, Norway

Legend: WR – World record; ER – European record; NR – Norwegian 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

References

  1. ^ "Dale Oen takes Silver in 100 metre breaststroke". http://www.aftenposten.no/english/sports/article2586630.ece. Retrieved 2007-08-21. 
  2. ^ "Shanghai 2006 results". http://www.fina.org/events/SW/SWC(25m)/Shanghai_2006/results/index.php. Retrieved 2007-07-24. 
Awards
Preceded by
Camille Lacourt		 European Swimmer of the Year
2011		 Succeeded by
Incumbent