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Martin López-Zubero

Martin López-Zubero
Personal information
Full name Martín López-Zubero Purcell
National team  Spain
Born (1969-04-23) April 23, 1969 (age 47)
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 78 kg (172 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Backstroke
Club Club Natació Sabadell
College team University of Florida (U.S.)

Martín López-Zubero Purcell (born April 23, 1969), also known as Martin Zubero, is a former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. López-Zubero was born in the United States, swam in international competition for Spain, and holds dual Spanish-American citizenship.

López-Zubero was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969. His father Jose was born in Zaragoza, Spain, but came to the United States to study medicine. López-Zubero grew up as a member of a swimming family. His older brother, David López-Zubero, won the bronze medal in the 100-meter butterfly swimming for Spain at the 1980 Summer Olympics.

López-Zubero attended The Bolles School, a preparatory school in Jacksonville, and trained under coach Gregg Troy while swimming for the Bolles Bulldogs high school swim team. He graduated from the Bolles School in 1987.

His older brother David and sister Julia swam for the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and Lopez-Zubero accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the university, where he swam for coach Randy Reese and coach Skip Foster's Florida Gators swimming and diving teams from 1988 to 1991. While swimming for the Gators, he won four NCAA championships—the 200-meter individual medley, the 400-meter medley relay, and twice in the 200-meter backstroke—and received fifteen All-American honors. After his college swimming career, he trained under coach Ron Ballatore as a member of the Florida Aquatic Swim Team (FAST), and his older brother David served as his personal trainer and coach.

López-Zubero swam in three Summer Olympics—1988, 1992 and 1996. He placed eleventh in the 200-meter backstroke at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, and returned four years later in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain to win the gold medal in the same event while also placing fourth in the 100-meter backstroke and seventh in the 100-meter butterfly. Four years afterward, López-Zubero finished fourth in the 100-meter backstroke and sixth in the 200-meter backstroke at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.


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