Rostislav Vítek

Rostislav Vítek
Personal information
Nationality  Czech Republic
Born 6 January 1976
Příbram, Czechoslovakia
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Weight 78 kg (172 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Open water
Club Kometa Brno
Coach Zdenek Tobiás

Rostislav Vítek (born January 6, 1976 in Příbram) is a Czech swimmer, who specialized in open water marathon.[1] In 2009, Vitek successfully swam the English Channel at 7 hours, 16 minutes, and 25 seconds, which eventually became the fourth fastest solo single-crossing of all time.[2] Because of his outstanding achievement and full commitment to the sport, he was nominated as 2009 World Open Water Swimming Performer of the Year.[3]

Vitek qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, after winning the bronze medal in the 10 km Marathon Swimming Olympic test event at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, with a time of 1:59:35.5.[4][5] He swam in the first-ever men's 10 km open water marathon, against a field of 24 other competitors, including former pool swimmers Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria and Thomas Lurz of Germany. Vitek finished the race in seventeenth place, with a time of 1:52:41.8, approximately fifty seconds behind winner Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Rostislav Vítek". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  2. ↑ "The English Channel World Record Still Standing At 6:57". Daily News of Open Water Swimming. 16 May 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "2009 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year Nominees". Open Water Source. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "Open Water Test Event: Petar Stoychev Wins Men's 10K, Qualifies for Olympics". Swimming World Magazine. 1 June 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  5. ↑ Munatones, Steven (1 June 2008). "Open Water Test Event: Olympic 10K Marathon Swim Fields Set". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  6. ↑ "Men's Marathon 10km". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Retrieved 13 January 2013.

External links