Brent Hayden

Brent Hayden

Personal information
Full name	Brent Matthew Hayden
Nickname(s)	Soup[1]
Nationality	Canada
Born	(1983-10-21) October 21, 1983 Mission, British Columbia, Canada.
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93m)
Weight	190 lb (86kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Stroke(s)	Freestyle
Medal record Men's swimming Competitor for the  Canada Olympic Games Bronze 2012 London 100 m freestyle World Championships (LC) Gold 2007 Melbourne 100 m freestyle Silver 2005 Montreal[2] 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2005 Montreal 4×200 m freestyle Silver 2011 Shanghai 100 m freestyle Bronze 2007 Melbourne[3] 4×200 m freestyle Commonwealth Games Gold 2010 Delhi 50 m freestyle Gold 2010 Delhi 100 m freestyle Silver 2006 Melbourne[4] 50 m freestyle Bronze 2002 Manchester[5] 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2002 Manchester 4×100 m medley Bronze 2006 Melbourne 200 m freestyle Bronze 2006 Melbourne 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2006 Melbourne 4×100 m medley Pan Pacific Championships Gold 2006 Victoria 100 m freestyle Silver 2006 Victoria 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2006 Victoria 4×200 m freestyle Silver 2010 Irvine 100 m freestyle Bronze 2002 Yokohama 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2002 Yokohama 4×100 m medley Bronze 2006 Victoria 50 m freestyle Bronze 2010 Irvine 50 m freestyle

Brent Matthew Hayden (born October 21, 1983) is a former Canadian swimmer. Hayden was a bronze medal winner in the 100 m freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He was co-World Champion in the same event in 2007 with Filippo Magnini of Italy. By winning the 100 m, Hayden became the first Canadian in 21 years to win a gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships, he was also the first Canadian to appear in the 100 m final at the Olympics since Dick Pound at the 1960 Summer Olympics and the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in the 100 m. Hayden adds a further three silver and one bronze medal to his World Championship totals. He is the current reigning Commonwealth Games champion in both the 50 m and 100 m freestyle events. In addition, Hayden is currently the Canadian record holder in the 200 m, 100 m and 50 m freestyle in both the short-course and long-course. He has also held the world record in the 4×100 m medley relay, and the 4×200 m freestyle relay.

Career

Athens was the location of Hayden's first Olympics when he took part in the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the Canadian swimming team.^[6][1] It was a disappointing first Olympic appearance for Hayden, as inexperience took its toll on the 20-year-old.^[7] It was further worsened when Brent was mistaken for a protester and beaten up and arrested by the riot police because he was "tall and wearing a dark shirt" the night before the Closing Ceremonies, a week after his competition ended. The injuries sustained left him unable to compete at the World Short Course Championships which were being held a month later.^[7][8] His best individual finish in Athens was 13th in the 200 m freestyle event.^[7]

In Melbourne for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Hayden won his first major international silver medal when he finished second in the 50 m, an event he had not intended on racing.^[7] He also added three bronze medals at the same games, two from the relays and one in the 200 m freestyle final. Those medals were a premonition of the success to come for Hayden at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships. There he tied for the gold medal with the Italian swimmer in the 100 m freestyle; this was the first World Championship for the Canadians since 1986. In the process of winning the gold, Hayden had also shaved down his own national record in the event down to 48.43 and he also added a bronze from the World's in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay.^[7] As a result of his victory, the mayor of Mission declared "Brent Hayden Day" on May 26, 2007. As well, the Mission Marlins renamed their swim meet to the "Brent Hayden Invitational" and a large mural, painted on the wall of the Mission Leisure Center, by artist Pascal A. Pelletier, was unveiled.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, he was a member of the Canadian team that finished sixth in the 4×100 m freestyle event and fifth in the 4×200 m event. Although he qualified third fastest out of sixteen swimmers, one place ahead of Michael Phelps, he did not compete in the semi-finals of the 200 m freestyle. Instead, his coach decided to rest him for the 4×100 m freestyle, which was held that same day (Hayden set a Canadian record in the opening leg with a time of 47.56). He finished out of the finals in the 100 m freestyle, again suffering disappointment at the Olympics. He was promoted as the best Canadian swimmer at these games, but only fellow long-distance freestyle Ryan Cochrane managed to medal for the nation in the pool.

Perseverance and redemption in London

Hayden with his London 2012 bronze medal at the Olympic Heroes Parade in Toronto (September 2012)

Hayden attended the 2009 World Aquatics Championships. He failed in the defence of his world title, placing fourth with a new Canadian record time of 47.27 seconds and missing the podium by 0.02 seconds. César Cielo Filho was the world champion, and set a new world mark of 46.91 seconds. Hayden was the only swimmer in the final to choose not to wear one of the newest "super suits". He chose to wear the Speedo LZR, which was the suit worn by most swimmers at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, whereas every other swimmer in that final was wearing either the new Arena X-Glide or Jaked (both of these suits are completely covered in polyurethane).

Hayden showed strong character in bouncing back in the pool at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, clocking the fastest times in his respective events (50 m, and 100 m freestyle); setting a Games record in the 100 m freestyle during day one, in the 4×100 m freestyle relay final and then breaking his Games record again, in the individual final with a time of 47.98 seconds—0.56 seconds ahead of the silver medallist, Simon Burnett. Hayden held the number one ranking in the world at the time in this event (also being ahead of 22-time Olympic medallist Michael Phelps). In the 50 m freestyle, he won gold with a Games record time of 22.01 seconds. The next season brought further success for Hayden as went on to touch out for the silver on a long glide in the 100 m freestyle final at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships. He had gone into the World Championships having set the previous world's best time the last season.^[9] His further successes came as Hayden was working on improving his starting 50 m as was known more as a finisher in the last 50.

After disappointment struck at the previous two Olympic games for Hayden where he failed to qualify for the 100 m finals, he became the first Canadian to do so in swimming's glamour event since Dick Pound did so in 1960.^[10] He went on to win bronze medal for Canada at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 100 metre men's freestyle after a strong start placed him in medal contention at the turn.^[6] Gold and silver went to USA's Nathan Adrian and world champion James Magnussen of Australia, while Hayden beat out Cesar Cielo and Yannick Agnel for third; the medals were also presented by Dick Pound. Though only a bronze, the medal was a redemption for Hayden,who was visibly ecstatic at winning an Olympic medal at long last. With his Olympic medal finally in his possession, he said that “There are so many times when you can dream of something but a million out of a million and one times it won’t come true.^[11] This was one of the things that I was very fortunate as a human being to have happen to me."^[11] Hayden announced his retirement from the sport after the men's 4 × 100 m medley relay at the Olympics but said he believed in the Canadian swim team to thrive in the future, saying that "I think in the grand scheme of things, with the people we have, we’ve done an amazing job … As long as we keep that momentum building, I think we’re going to see more success come from more diverse events."^[12]

Personal

Despite being a strong freestyle swimmer later in life, as a child he had to repeat his swimming lessons.^[7] He is known as "Soup" to his friends due to the superman tattoo he has on his chest.^[1] Hayden was born and raised in Mission, but resides in Vancouver.^[1] He attended the University of British Columbia where he studied.^[7] He also has a black belt in Isshin Ryu karate.^[7] After the London 2012 Games, Brent flew to Lebanon and married his wife Nadina on August 19. His wife is a singer/songwriter signed with Nettwerk Records. Her album "In The Now" was released on November 13 2012.

Other awards

2005 Canadian Swimmer of the Year

2005 BC Athlete of the Year (Finalist)

2005 Canadian Partners of the Year

2006 Canadian Swimmer of the Year

2006 BC Athlete of the Year

2007 Canadian Swimmer of the Year

2007 BC Athlete of the Year

2007 Canadian Athlete of the Year

2012 Canadian Athlete of the Year (Finalist)

2012 Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal Recipient

2013 BC Sports Hall Of Fame Induction (Class of 2013)

References

External links

• Official Photography Website
• Link to his wife Nadina's webpage