Alain Bernard
 |
|
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |
 France
|
| Born |
1 May 1983 Aubagne, France |
| Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) |
| Weight | 90 kg (200 lb; 14 st) |
| Website | AlainBernard-lesite |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Freestyle |
| Club | CN Antibes |
|
Medal record
|
|
Alain Bernard (French pronunciation: [alɛ̃ bɛʁnaʁ]; born 1 May 1983) is a former French swimmer from Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône.
Bernard won a total of four medals (two golds, one silver and one bronze) at two Olympic Games (2008 and 2012). He also won numerous medals at the World Championships (short course and long course) and European Championships (short course and long course).
Bernard formerly held the world record for the 50 metres freestyle (long course) and the 100 metres freesyle (long course and short course).
Bernard has a shark tattoo on his right hip.
Bernard won the European (Long Course) Championships 2008 100 m freestyle final in a new world record time of 47.50 seconds on 22 March 2008. He had already beaten the world record the previous day, finishing in 47.60 seconds in the semi-finals. On 23 March 2008 Bernard broke Eamon Sullivan's 50 m freestyle world record in the semi-finals of the same championships, setting a new world record of 21.50 seconds. Bernard would go on to win the 50m freesyle final in 21.66 seconds. But Bernard's 21.50-second world record only stood for four days; it was reclaimed by Eamon Sullivan.
At the French national championships, Bernard qualified for the Olympic Games in Beijing in the 50 m freestyle (with a time of 21.69 s) and 100 m freestyle (47.82 s).
Before the 4×100 m freestyle relay, Bernard taunted the American swim team. Bernard claimed to a newspaper that he and his French teammates, favorite to win the relay, "were going to smash the American team. That's what we came here for". But the French team ended up in second place behind the American team by .08 seconds. Bernard, who had a lead going into the final leg of slightly less than a body length, was caught in the final strokes by Jason Lezak, whose final leg of 46.06 seconds was the fastest relay leg in history.
...
Wikipedia