Vered Borochovsky

(1984 - )

Vered Borochovsky was born in Ashkelon on Aug. 27, 1984. In Israel Borochovsky is considered something of an ice-queen. This has always infuriated her and she claims that "without my passion I would never have made it to the top."

She finished in second place in the 100-meter butterfly (101.08), and third in the 50-meter butterfly (27.9) at the 1999 European Junior Championships. In 2000, she swam even better, placing eighth in the 100-meter butterfly, and sixth in the 200-meter individual medley at the European Championships. At that competition, Borochovsky broke the Israeli record in the 100-meter butterfly (1:00.44), and still holds the record.

A member of the Israeli swimming team at the 2000 Sydney Games, the 16-year old Borochovsky placed 19th in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:00.34, and finished in 21st place in the 200-meter individual medley (2:18.99). She was a no-show in the 200-meter butterfly preliminaries.

In 2001, Vered qualified for the World Championships, reaching the final in the 100-meter butterfly and finishing seventh (it was the best finish for any Israeli at the competition). She also swam in the 50-meter butterfly, qualifying for the semifinals and finishing 12th overall with a time of 27.18, although she failed to make the finals. In the 200-meter butterfly, she finished 17th in the preliminaries and just missed the semifinals with a time of 2:14.24.

At the 2002 World Championships, Borochovsky had an outstanding competition, achieving an Israeli record and winning a bronze medal. In the 50-meter butterfly, she finished with a time of 26.38, breaking her own national record. In the 100-meter butterfly, Vered finished in sixth place overall.

At the 2003 World Championships, Vered competed in the 50-meter butterfly and finished sixth with a time of 26.98. In the 100-meter butterfly, she finished ninth overall (59.41), missing the final by only .13 seconds. Vered was also scheduled to compete in the 200-meter butterfly, but pulled out of the event.

Vered was on top form in the 2004 European Championship, particularly in the 50-meter butterfly event. She came in fifth with on 27.27 second performance in that event while a 1:00.63 time in the 100-meter butterfly saw her qualify for the 2004 Athens Games. In the National Championship Borochovsky won the 50-meter butterfly in 27.58.

Vered suffered a disappointing 100-meter Butterfly performance in the 2004 Athens Olympics. She swam in the 100-meter Butterfly third heat, on August 14th. Borochovsky was eighth in her heat with a time of 1:00.69. The swimmer finished 26 out of 38 contestants, while only the top 16 qualified for the semi-finals. Borochovsky also competed in the 200-meter medley event. On August 16, the Israeli swam in heat 1 of the event. Vered won her heat with a time of 2:20.69. Unfortunately the result placed he 24th out of 30 swimmers and she failed to make the semifinals.

Sources: Jews In Sports