Jon Sieben

Jon Sieben

Medal record
Men's swimming
Competitor for  Australia
Olympic Games
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	200 m butterfly
Bronze	1984 Los Angeles	4x100 m medley
Commonwealth Games
Gold	1982 Brisbane	4x100 m medley
Bronze	1982 Brisbane	200 m butterfly
Summer Universiade
Gold	1985 Kobe	100 m butterfly
Pan Pacific Games
Silver	1985 Tokyo	100 m butterfly
Silver	1985 Tokyo	4x100 m medley
Silver	1987 Brisbane	100 m butterfly
Bronze	1987 Brisbane	4x100m medley

Jonathan ("Jon") Scott Sieben, OAM^[1] (born 24 August 1966) is an Australian former butterfly swimmer active in the 1980s, who won gold in the 200 m butterfly at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Hailing from Brisbane, Queensland, Sieben was coached by Laurie Lawrence, and made his debut at the young age of 15 at the Brisbane 1982 Commonwealth Games, where he captured a bronze in the 200 m butterfly, as well as gold in the medley relay. Sieben and Lawrence continued their preparation for Los Angeles, but were given little chance. Sieben was known to his friends as The Shrimp, as he stood just 173 cm, in contrast to the dominant swimmer of the time, West Germany's Michael Groß, the world record holder, known as The albatross with his 200 cm frame and 225 cm wingspan. He also faced the 100 m butterfly world record holder, the United States' Pablo Morales. Sieben swam in the wake of Groß and Morales in the first 150 m, before storming home in the last 50 m to claim the gold medal in a world record time of 1 m 57.04 s, more than four seconds faster than he had ever swum before. He also collected a bronze medal after swimming in the preliminaries of the medley relay. He was named the Young Australian of the Year in 1984.^[2]

By the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Sieben's ability had waned, and the selectors did not choose him for the 200 m butterfly. He finished fourth in the 100 m butterfly. He continued onto the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, but failed to reach the final of the 100m butterfly individual event. He formed part of Australia's 4X100m medley relay team that finished 7th in the final, in a national record time of 3:42.65.

Sieben was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.^[3]

References

• Andrews, Malcolm (2000). Australia at the Olympic Games. Sydney, New South Wales: ABC Books. p. 397. ISBN 0-7333-0884-8. 
• Howell, Max (1986). Aussie Gold. Albion, Queensland: Brooks Waterloo. pp. 257–261. ISBN 0-86440-680-0. 

Records
Preceded by Michael Groß	Men's 200 metre butterfly world record holder (long course) 3 August 1984 – 29 June 1985	Succeeded by Michael Groß