Modern composers 21st century

Canadian swimmer (born )

Brent Matthew Hayden (born October 21, ) is a Canadian retired competitive swimmer. Representing Canada for a decade, Hayden is regarded as the fastest swimmer in Canadian history. Hayden won a bronze medal in the m freestyle at the Summer Olympics in London with a time of , and was world champion in the same event in with Filippo Magnini of Italy.

By winning the metre, Hayden became the first Canadian in 21 years to win a gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships, and was also the first Canadian to appear in the metre final at the Olympics since Dick Pound at the Summer Olympics, and the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in the metre. Hayden added a further three silver and one bronze medal to his World Championship totals.

Hayden is currently the Canadian record-holder in the metre and metre in both the short-course and long-course. He has also held the world record in the 4× metre medley relay, and the 4× metre freestyle relay. Initially retiring after the London Olympics, Hayden returned to the pool seven years later to compete at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Career

– Athens to Beijing

Hayden's first Olympics were the Summer Olympics in Athens, as part of the Canadian swimming team.^[1][2] At the time Swimming Canada had been in a steady decline and wound up with no medals in Athens.^[3] It was a disappointing first Olympic appearance for Hayden, as inexperience took its toll on the year-old.^[4] His best individual finish at the Games was thirteenth in the metre freestyle event.^[4] It was further worsened when Hayden 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.^[4][5]

In Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games, Hayden won his first major international silver medal when he finished second in the 50 m freestyle, an event he had not intended on racing.^[4] He also added three bronze medals at the same games, two from the relays and one in the metre freestyle final.

Those medals were a premonition of the success to come at the World Aquatics Championships, where he tied for the gold medal with the Italian swimmer in the m freestyle; this was the first World Championship for the Canadians since In the process of winning the gold, Hayden had also shaved down his own national record in the event down to and he also added a bronze from the Worlds in the 4×metre freestyle relay.^[4] As a result of his victory, the mayor of Mission declared "Brent Hayden Day" on May 26, 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 Summer Olympics in Beijing, he was a member of the Canadian team that finished sixth in the 4× m freestyle event and fifth in the 4× m freestyle relay 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 m freestyle.

Dr hayden kho biography He had gone into the World Championships having set the previous world's best time the last season. Brent Matthew Hayden is a former Canadian swimmer. He is the current reigning Commonwealth Games champion in both the 50m and m freestyle events. We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.

Instead, his coach decided to rest him for the 4×metre freestyle, which was held that same day (Hayden set a Canadian record in the opening leg with a time of ). He failed to qualify for the final in the m freestyle despite being the incumbent World Champion in that event. While Hayden was promoted as the best Canadian swimmer at these games with his world title, only fellow long-distance freestyle Ryan Cochrane managed to medal for the nation in the pool, while the remainder of the swim team failed to make the podium despite a general improvement over their showing.^[3]

– London Olympics and retirement

Hayden attended the World Aquatics Championships.

He failed in the defence of his world title in the m freestyle, placing fourth with a new Canadian record time of seconds and missing the podium by seconds. César Cielo was the world champion, and set a new world mark of 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 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).

Mozart biography

Hayden returned to form at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, clocking the fastest times in his respective events (50 m freestyle, and m freestyle); setting a Games record in the m freestyle during day one, in the 4× m freestyle relay final and then breaking his Games record again, in the individual final with a time of seconds— of a second 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 time Olympic medallist Michael Phelps). In the 50 m freestyle, he won gold with a Games record time of seconds. The next season brought further success for Hayden as went on to touch out for the silver on a long glide in the m freestyle final at the World Aquatics Championships.

He had gone into the World Championships having set the previous world's best time the last season.^[6] His further successes came as Hayden was working on improving his starting 50 m as he was known more as a finisher in the last

After disappointment at the previous two Olympics when he failed to qualify for the m final, he became the first Canadian to do so in swimming's glamour event since Dick Pound in ^[7] He went on to win bronze medal for Canada at the Summer Olympics in the m freestyle after a strong start placed him in medal contention at the turn.^[2] Gold and silver went to American Nathan Adrian and world champion James Magnussen of Australia, while Hayden beat out Yannick Agnel and César Cielo 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.

Franz joseph haydn biography Globe and Mail. Brent Hayden is the th most popular swimmer down from th in , the 1,th most popular biography from Canada up from 1,st in and the 7th most popular Canadian Swimmer. In Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games , Hayden won his first major international silver medal when he finished second in the 50 m freestyle , an event he had not intended on racing. He was only beaten by the new phenom James Magnussen of Australia.

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. This was one of the things that I was very fortunate as a human being to have happen to me."^[8] Hayden announced his retirement from the sport after the 4×metre 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."^[9]

Comeback

In the ensuing Olympic cycle, Swimming Canada would enjoy breakthrough success on the women's side, headlined by emerging talent Penny Oleksiak, but the men's team struggled greatly after the retirements of Hayden and Cochrane, and would earn no medals at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.^[10]

Hayden was nevertheless inspired by the direction of the program, and after seven years away from the pool he announced a comeback in September ^[11] After only 6 months of training, Hayden met the Olympic "A" Qualifying time with a in the 50m freestyle at the TYR Pro Series in Des Moines, Iowa.

The onset of the COVID pandemic resulted in the Summer Olympics being delayed by a year, which Hayden would later credit with giving him more time to return to competitive form.^[12]

In , Hayden won the 50 m freestyle at the Canadian Olympic Trials with a time of , well ahead of the FINA "A" standard of This was his fourth time representing Canada at the Olympics.^[13] He opted not to contest the m in Tokyo, as he and his coaches feared it might trigger back spasms.^[12] Hayden's return was widely credited for providing leadership to the men's program, with the most notable result being the surprise fourth-place finish in the 4x m freestyle relay where they were just seconds behind the Australians who took the bronze medal, an event where the Canadian team had not been expected to even qualify for the final.^[3][10] Hayden swam a time of in the leadoff of the relay, becoming by five years the oldest man to ever swim a time under 48 seconds.^[14] Hayden said afterward "this means that I made the right decision to come back."^[10] Hayden also competed in the 50 Metre Freestyle where he reached the semi-finals and just missed a final slot by seconds, nonetheless it was his fastest time (post bodysuit), and his best-ever time in the event, leaving him to write on social media “It is such a weird state of confusion when you are torn between the pure competitor in you who realizes you missed the finals by seconds and the human who realizes that … at 37 years of age, I came within only seconds from the Olympic final.”.^[15]

Personal life

Despite being a strong freestyle swimmer later in life, as a child he had to repeat his swimming lessons.^[4] 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.^[4] He also has a black belt in Isshin Ryu karate.^[4] After the London Games, Hayden flew to Lebanon and married Nadina Zarifeh, a singer/songwriter, on August ^[12]

Hayden appeared on CBC's television show Canada's Smartest Person as a competitor in , but he did not win the title.^[16]

He and his wife Zarifeh created their own line of athletic lifestyle apparel, Astra Athletica, a business which they currently run.^[17]

Hayden has also pursued photography as a passion and has had several exhibitions.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Hayden retired from competitive swimming for the first time immediately after the Games, as he had suffered from back spasms and depression.

He ran a swimming camp, and during one video filming session in Beirut in , he did a sprint swim at the bequest of the camp kids and realized that his time was still competitive, convincing him to make a comeback.^[22]

Other awards

• Canadian Swimmer of the Year
• BC Athlete of the Year (finalist)
• Canadian Partners of the Year
• Canadian Swimmer of the Year
• BC Athlete of the Year
• Canadian Swimmer of the Year
• BC Athlete of the Year
• Canadian Athlete of the Year
• Canadian Athlete of the Year (finalist)
• Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal Recipient
• BC Sports Hall Of Fame Induction (Class of )

See also

References

External links