Aliaksandra Herasimenia

Last updated

Aliaksandra Viktarauna Herasimenia
AlexandraHerasimenia-0092.jpg
Herasimenia with bronze medal won at the 4×50 mixed medley relay, 2015 European Short Course Championships, Netanya
Personal information
Born (1985-12-31) 31 December 1985 (age 38)
Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union
Height1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight55 kg (121 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle, Backstroke
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing Flag of Belarus.svg  Belarus
Olympic Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2012 London 50 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg2012 London 100 m freestyle
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2016 Rio de Janeiro 50 m freestyle
World Championships (LC)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2011 Shanghai 100 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2007 Melbourne 50 m backstroke
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2017 Budapest 50 m backstroke
World Championships (SC)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2012 Istanbul 50 m freestyle
European Championships (LC)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2010 Budapest 50 m backstroke
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2006 Budapest 50 m backstroke
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2010 Budapest 100 m freestyle
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2002 Berlin 50 m freestyle
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2002 Berlin 50 m backstroke
European Championships (SC)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2012 Chartres 50 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2002 Rijeka 50 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2002 Rijeka 4x50 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2009 Istanbul 50 m backstroke
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2012 Chartres 50 m butterfly
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2005 Trieste 50 m backstroke
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2009 Istanbul 100 m backstroke
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2012 Chartres 4×50 m freestyle
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2013 Herning 50 m freestyle
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2013 Herning 100 m freestyle
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2015 Netanya 4×50 m mixed medley
Summer Universiade
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2009 Belgrade 50 m freestyle
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2011 Shenzhen 50 m freestyle
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2013 Kazan 50 m freestyle
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2013 Kazan 100 m freestyle
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2013 Kazan 50 m butterfly
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2007 Bangkok 50 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2007 Bangkok 50 m backstroke
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2009 Belgrade 100 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2011 Shenzhen 50 m backstroke
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2013 Kazan 50 m backstroke
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2009 Belgrade 50 m backstroke
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2011 Shenzhen 100 m backstroke

Aliaksandra Viktarauna Herasimenia [lower-alpha 1] (born 31 December 1985) is a Belarusian former swimmer. [1]

Contents

After a medal-winning career, including gold at the 2012 World Championships and silver at the 2012 London Olympics, she became a critic of the Lukashenko regime in Belarus, and now lives in exile in Poland. [2]

Swimming career

Kazan 2015 Kazan 2015 - Aleksandra Gerasimenya 100m freestyle semi.JPG
Kazan 2015

She is 2 times olympic runner-up (2012 London) in the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle, Olympic bronze medalist (2016 Rio de Janeiro) in the 50-meter freestyle, World Champion (2011 Shanghai) in the 100-meter freestyle, World Champion (25m pool) (2012 Istanbul) in the 50-meter freestyle, European Champion (2010 Budapest) in the 50-meter backstroke, and 3 consecutive times Universiade Champion (2009 Belgrade, 2011 Shenzhen and 2013 Kazan) in the 50-meter freestyle.

Despite a two-year ban for a positive test for norandrosterone in 2003, [3] Herasimenia returned to win gold medals at both the European and World Championships.

At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships, she won the gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle, tied with Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark in a time of 53.45.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she won silver medals in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle events.

Belarusian political activity

During the 2020 Belarusian protests, Herasimenia was responsible for youth and sports [4] in National Anti-crisis Management , a shadow government created by the Belarusian Coordination Council for the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. [5]

Herasimenia is a founder of the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF), a group that supports athletes jailed or sidelined for their political views. In April 2021, she sold her 2012 world championship gold medal to raise funds for the foundation and for legal fees [6] after facing charges from the Belarus Government for criticising them on social media. [7]

She was one of the supporters of Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who was threatened with enforced return to Belarus from the Tokyo Olympics after criticising team coaches. Herasimenia sought assistance for Tsimanouskaya from a number of European embassies.[ citation needed ]

In March 2022 Herasimenia stated her opposition to the Belarusian government’s involvement in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: “Ukraine has never been our enemy, it is our fraternal people." [8]

On 26 December 2022, Herasimenia was sentenced in absentia by the Minsk City Court to 12 years in prison. [9]

See also

Notes

  1. Belarusian: Аляксандра Віктараўна Герасіменя Russian: Алекса́ндра Ви́кторовна Герасиме́ня; Łacinka: Aliaksandra Viktaraŭna Hierasimienia / Aleksandra Gerasimenya

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristin Otto</span> East German swimmer

Kristin Otto is a German Olympic swimming champion. She is most famous for being the first woman to win six gold medals at a single Olympic Games, doing so at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. In long course, she held the world records in the 100 meter and 200 meter freestyle events. Otto was also the first woman to swim the short course 100 meter backstroke in under a minute, doing so at an international short course meet at Indiana University in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Coughlin</span> American swimmer (born 1982)

Natalie Anne Coughlin Hall is an American former competition swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist. While attending the University of California, Berkeley, she became the first woman ever to swim the 100-meter backstroke in less than one minute—ten days before her 20th birthday in 2002. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she became the first U.S. female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympiad, and the first woman ever to win a 100-meter backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she earned a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maritza Correia</span> Puerto Rican swimmer, Olympic silver medalist, former world record-breaker

Maritza Correia, also known by her married name Maritza McClendon, is a former Olympic swimmer from Puerto Rico who swam representing the United States. When she qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in 2004, she became the first Puerto Rican of African descent to be a member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team. She was the first female African-American swimmer for the United States to win an Olympic medal. She also became the first black American swimmer to set an American and world swimming record.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yana Klochkova</span> Ukrainian swimmer

Yana Oleksandrivna Klochkova is a Ukrainian swimmer, who has won five Olympic medals in her career, with four of them being gold. She is Merited Master of Sports (1998), Hero of Ukraine (2004) and the most awarded Olympian from Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ranomi Kromowidjojo</span> Dutch swimmer

Ranomi Kromowidjojo is a retired Dutch swimmer of mixed Dutch-Javanese Surinamese origin who mainly specialises in sprint freestyle events. She is a triple Olympic champion, winning the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics, and in the 50 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle at the 2012 Olympics. Kromowidjojo holds the world record in the 50 meter freestyle short course, and as part of the Dutch team she holds the world record in the 4×50 m freestyle relay. She formerly held world records in the 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m freestyle relays. She has won a total of 39 medals in FINA World Championship events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Hardy</span> American swimmer (born 1987)

Jessica Adele Hardy Meichtry is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in breaststroke and freestyle events. Hardy earned a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle and a gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relays at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 15–17 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rūta Meilutytė</span> Lithuanian swimmer (born 1997)

Rūta Meilutytė is a Lithuanian swimmer. An Olympic gold medalist, she is a world record holder in the short course 50 metre breaststroke, 100 metre breaststroke and long course 50 metre breaststroke. She is a former world record holder in the long course 100 metre breaststroke.

The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 3–4 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre freestyle</span>

The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 1–2 August 2012 at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

Aksana Yauhenauna Dziamidava is a Belarusian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. She won a bronze medal, as a member of the Belarusian swimming team, in the women's 4×50 m freestyle at the 2012 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Chartres, France.

Yuliya Piatrouna Khitraya is a Belarusian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. She won a bronze medal, as a member of the Belarusian swimming team, in the women's 4×50 m freestyle at the 2012 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Chartres, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florent Manaudou</span> French swimmer (born 1990)

Florent Manaudou is a French competitive swimmer, an Olympic champion of the 50-meter freestyle at the 2012 London Olympics, and the younger brother of Laure Manaudou, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist in swimming. He competes for the Energy Standard Swim Club in the International Swimming League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yauhen Tsurkin</span> Belarusian swimmer

Yauhen Mikalaevich Tsurkin is a Belarusian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle and butterfly events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simone Manuel</span> American swimmer (born 1996)

Simone Ashley Manuel is an American professional swimmer specializing in freestyle events. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she won two gold and two silver medals: gold in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter medley, and silver in the 50-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In winning the 100-meter freestyle, a tie with Penny Oleksiak of Canada, Manuel became the first Black American woman to win an individual Olympic gold in swimming and set an Olympic record and an American record. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she won a bronze medal as the anchor of the American 4×100-meter freestyle relay team.

Justin Ress is an American swimmer. As a member of the USA national team Justin won the gold medal in the 50 meter backstroke at the 2022 FINA World Championships and was a member of the USA gold medal winning 4X100 free relay. He was also a key part of the USA team that defeated Australia in the resumption of the Duel in the Pool series in 2022. Ress competed as a member of the Cali Condors of the International Swimming League from 2019-2021 and looks forward to resumption of ISL in the near future. Ress was US national champion in the 100 backstroke in 2022 and 50 backstroke in 2017 after which he competed in the men's 50 meter backstroke event at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships. Ress swam collegiately for North Carolina State University where he was a 3-time NCAA champion, 21-time NCAA All-American, and 11-time ACC champion. In his first year at school he won the 2016 ACC Freshman of the Year award.

Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya is a Belarusian freestyle skier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krystsina Tsimanouskaya</span> Belarusian-born Polish sprinter (born 1996)

Krystsina Siarheyeuna Tsimanouskaya is a Belarusian-born Polish sprinter. She has won numerous medals at various events, including a silver medal in the 100 metres at the 2017 European U23 Championships, a gold medal in the 200 metres at the 2019 Summer Universiade, and a silver medal in the team event at the 2019 European Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belarus at the 2020 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Belarus competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anastasiya Shkurdai</span> Belarusian swimmer (born 2003)

Anastasiya Shkurdai is a Belarusian swimmer. She won the bronze medal in the women's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships held in Qatar. She won a gold medal at the 2019 European Short Course Swimming Championships held in Great Britain.

References

  1. "Aliaksandra Herasimenia". FINA. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  2. "Multimedalistka olimpijska skazana na 12 lat. Nie czuje się bezpiecznie w Polsce". 30 December 2022.
  3. "Gerasimenya's Ban Reduced to Two Years". Swimming World Magazine. 26 September 2003. Retrieved 17 February 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  4. "National Anti-Crisis Management". National Anti-crisis Management . 2020. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  5. "Pavel Latushko Announces Establishment Of People's Anti-Crisis Administration". Belarus Feed . 29 October 2020. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  6. Shefferd, Neil (5 April 2021). "BSSF head Herasimenia puts World Championship gold medal up for sale in response to criminal case opened against her". Inside the Games. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  7. "Olympic Medalist Aliaksandra Herasimenia Facing Criminal Charges in Belarus For Anti-Government Behavior". Swimming World. 2 April 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  8. ""Мы ехалі па сустрэчнай паласе, каб выратавацца". Аляксандра Герасіменя расказала пра сваю эвакуацыю з Украіны" ["We were driving in the oncoming lane to escape." Aliaksandra Herasimenia told about her evacuation from Ukraine]. Наша Ніва // Nasha Niva (in Belarusian). 21 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  9. "Аляксандры Герасімені і Аляксандру Апейкіну завочна прысудзілі 12 гадоў калоніі" [Aliaksandra Herasimenia and Aliaksandr Apeykin were sentenced to 12 years in prison in absentia]. Belsat (in Belarusian). Retrieved 26 December 2022.