Andrew Bree

Andrew Bree
Personal information
Full name Andrew Patrick Bree
Nationality  Ireland/ Northern Ireland
Born (1981-03-16) 16 March 1981
Helen's Bay, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK
Height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight 95 kg (209 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Breaststroke
Club Ards/Tennessee

Andrew Patrick Bree (born 16 March 1981) is a breaststroke swimmer from Helen's Bay, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK. He is a 2-time Olympian, having swum at the 2000 and 2008 Olympics.He represented Northern Ireland four times at the Commonwealths and placed fifth twice in the 200m breaststroke.

He became the first Irish person to win a medal at the European Short Course Swimming Championships when he finished second in the 200 m breaststroke at the 2003 Championships at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin, Ireland.[1] His home club is Ards, but as of 2008 he trains in the United States at the University of Tennessee.

After swimming at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney;[2] He failed to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.[3] However, he qualified for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, where he equaled the 200 m LC breaststroke record and placed fifth.[4]

In the months leading up to the 2008 Olympics he tested positive at a drug test. Bree claimed that he had used a nasal spray and did not know it contained banned substances. The results of the drug test were later overturned and he was allowed swim at the Beijing Olympics.[5]

Beijing 2008 Olympics

Bree qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics at the 2008 US National Swimming Championships in Indiana by swimming a new personal best time and then-Irish record of 2:13.14 in the 200 m breaststroke. At the British Swimming Championships in June 2008 he swam the 100 m breaststroke in a time of 1:01.83 which allowed him to swim the 100 m breaststroke at the Olympics also. He was also entered in the heats of the 200 metres individual medley but scratched from the heats.[6]

In the 200 m breaststroke heats he won his heat in a time of 2.10.91, breaking his own Irish record by over 2 seconds, and then lowering it again in semi-finals to 2:10.16.[6] He is also Irish record holder in the 100 m breaststroke (1:01.78) and the 200 m individual medley (2:04.43). In 2012, Bree was an analyst on the 2012 Olympics swimming coverage on RTÉ Sport.

References

  1. ↑ Bree wins European silver at National Aquatic Centre Archived 2 November 2004 at the Wayback Machine., RTÉ Sport, published 14 December 2003; retrieved 1 June 2009.
  2. ↑ Olympics: Bree sets PB for 200m Breaststroke Archived 17 May 2001 at the Wayback Machine., RTÉ Sport; published 19 September 2000; retrieved 1 June 2009.
  3. ↑ Bree fails in Olympic bid Archived 5 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine., RTÉ Sport, published 27 June 2004; retrieved 1 June 2009.
  4. ↑ 2006 Commonwealth Games Results: Swimming: 100 breaststroke, bbc.co.uk; published 18 March 2006.
  5. ↑ Andrew Bree interview with RTÉ Radio 1; original airdate 1 June 2008; retrieved 14 March 2015.
  6. 1 2 Bree breaks Irish record in 200m, RTÉ Sport, published 13 August 2008; retrieved 1 June 2009.
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