Everything about Lenny Krayzelburg totally explained
}}
Lenny Krayzelburg (
Hebrew and
Yiddish לעני קרײַזלבורג, ) is an American backstroke swimmer.
Early years
Krayzelburg was born to
Jewish parents in
Odessa (formerly in the
Soviet Union, now in
Ukraine), on
September 28,
1975.
He and his family left the Soviet Union in
1989, to look for new opportunities in the United States. They settled in
Los Angeles.
Here Krayzelburg's family suffered from financial difficulties. He had to commute by bus and foot 45 minutes each way to swimming practice, and didn't get home before 9:30 in the evening. In addition, Lenny had to cope with language problems, and to study English rapidly in order to understand his coaches' instructions. Thankfully he was aided by the extensive
Russian community in
Los Angeles, and managed to adapt quickly.
College
Lenny first attended
Santa Monica College where he won both the 100 and 200 yard backstroke junior college titles. His coach at Santa Monica recognized his talent and recommended him to Mark Schubert at USC. Lenny transferred to the
University of Southern California. In
1995, he became a
naturalized citizen of the
United States. Four years later, he became the first swimmer since
1986 to sweep the backstroke events, 100 m & 200 m, in the world championships. Later that month Krayzelburg broke both the 100 and the 200 m world records respectively, setting the clock on 53.60 and 1:55.87. He was then recognized as the top backstroke swimmer in the world and one of the best in the history of this swimming style. He continued to dominate at the
Sydney 2000 Olympics backstroke, shattering the Olympic record and nearing his own
1999 world record with 53.72 in the 100 m, while making another Olympic record in the 200 m with 1:56.76. He also played an important role in helping the American team win a gold medal in the 4x100 m relay with a new world record of 3:33.73.
Maccabiah Games
After the Olympics Krayzelburg decided to skip the 2001 World Championships that took place in
Fukuoka,
Japan, in order to focus on the
2001 Maccabiah Games in
Israel. Being
Jewish, Krayzelburg wanted to take this once-in-a-lifetime chance to compete with other top
Jewish athletes. In addition, he wanted to fulfill a childhood dream by visiting the holy land, and lifting the American delegate flag during the games' opening ceremony. He was selected to carry in the flag for the United States at the opening ceremonies.
(External Link
) He then earned gold and set a new Maccabiah record in the 100-meter
backstroke. He also won a gold medal in the 4 x 100 m medley relay.
Difficulties, perseverance
A couple of months later he'd to undergo surgery on his left knee, following a fall while running on a treadmill, after which he'd to take a year off swimming.
In September
2003, Krazelburg split from his coach
Mark Schubert, to start training under
Dave Salo, who also coached
Aaron Peirsol. Peirsol was considered by many to be Krayzelburg's successor. Working with Salo, Krayzelburg changed the style of his stroke, particularly due to his shoulder injuries.
Success
This turn in Krayzelburg's career proved to be successful. He finished second in the American trials for the 100 meters event to secure a place in the
2004 Athens Olympics, alongside training partner,
Aaron Peirsol. His good shape enabled him to reach the finals. He came into this final knowing this might be his career's last, but missed out on a medal by just 2/100 of a second, with a qualitative result of 54.38, whereas Peirsol won gold with 54.06. Krayzelburg made up for the upset by helping the American team to win yet another Olympic gold in the 4 x 100 m relay, despite not swimming in the final of this event (he swam in the preliminary round, while Peirsol took his spot in the final).
Krayzelburg is known as one of the physically strongest swimmers around, and for his powerful arm strokes, a product of his training regimen and bodybuilder-esque physique. He is 1.88 m tall and weighs just above 85 kg.
Lenny owes lots of his career achievements to his father Oleg, who has been a significant part of his success by repeatedly urging and pushing him to go on, even when Lenny wanted to quit at the age of 14. He enjoys reading as well as working with computers. Additionally, he was voted as
1999's USA swimmer of the year.
He owns a condominium in the
Brighton Beach neighborhood of
Brooklyn, New York.
In July 2005 Lenny opened two swim schools operating out of the JCC (Jewish Community Center) system. His main school is located in the Mid-city area of Los Angeles at the Westside Jewish Community Center while another operates out of the Milken Jewish Community Center in the West Hills area of the San Fernando Valley. Both schools teach the Smartfish Method and are flourishing.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Lenny Krayzelburg'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://lenny_krayzelburg.totallyexplained.com">Lenny Krayzelburg Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
