Milorad Čavić

Milorad Čavić
Милорад Чавић

Milorad Čavić at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Milorad Čavić
Nickname(s)	Mike, Čavke, Čava, Majkula
Nationality	Yugoslavia (2000–2003)  Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2006)  Serbia (2006–present)
Born	May 31, 1984 (1984-05-31) (age 27) Anaheim, California, United States
Height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight	215 pounds (98 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Stroke(s)	Butterfly, freestyle
Club	Plivački Klub Partizan
College team	California
Medal record Men's swimming Competitor for  Serbia and Montenegro and  Serbia Olympic Games Silver 2008 Beijing 100 m butterfly World Championships (LC) Gold 2009 Rome 50 m butterfly Silver 2009 Rome 100 m butterfly European Championships (LC) Gold 2008 Eindhoven 50 m butterfly European Championships (SC) Gold 2003 Dublin 100 m butterfly Silver 2003 Dublin 50 m freestyle Gold 2006 Helsinki 100 m butterfly Silver 2006 Helsinki 50 m freestyle Gold 2007 Debrecen 50 m butterfly Gold 2007 Debrecen 100 m butterfly Gold 2008 Rijeka 100 m butterfly Silver 2008 Rijeka 50 m butterfly

Milorad Čavić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милорад Чавић; born on May 31, 1984 in Anaheim, California) is an American-born Serbian swimmer.

Swimming career

A citizen of both the Serbia and the United States, he attended Tustin High School in California, where he set four CIF records and a national high school mark in the 50 yd freestyle.^[1] While swimming for the University of California, Berkeley and training with Mike Bottom, Čavić set a new school and Pac-10 record in the 100 yd butterfly (45.44 s).

Representing Serbia at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Dublin 2003, Čavić won the gold medal in 100 m butterfly and set a new world record. He also won a silver medal in 50 m freestyle. Čavić defended his European 100 m title on subsequent short-course championships in Helsinki 2006 (finishing 50.63), Debrecen 2007 (finishing at 50.53) and Rijeka 2008 (finishing at 49.19 and setting a new European record).^[2] He also took silver on 50 m butterfly in Rijeka.^[3]

On December 14, 2007 Čavić defended his European championship in the 100 m butterfly in Helsinki, finishing at 50.63 seconds. On December 14, 2007, the sprinter defended his European championship again in the 100 m butterfly in Debrecen, finishing at 50.53 seconds.

In 2008, Čavić won the European championship in the 50 m butterfly, setting the new European record (23.11) in Eindhoven, Holland – a result briefly quashed when the European Swimming Federation (LEN) immediately disqualified the swimmer for wearing a T-shirt at the medals ceremony that read “Kosovo is Serbia”.^[4]

At the end of the year, he was declared for the best Serbian athlete

At the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, Čavić won gold in the 50 m butterfly ^[5] and broke the 100 m butterfly world record in the semifinals finishing in 50.01 seconds.^[6] In the finals Čavić won silver with time of 49.95.

He missed competitions in 2010 due spinal surgery.^[7]

Olympic Committee of Serbia (and Montenegro) proclaimed him sportsman of the year three times, 2003, 2008 and 2009.^[8]

Olympic career

2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Games

See also: Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2000 Summer Olympics

At the age of 16, Čavić represented Yugoslavia at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia in the 100 m butterfly but was disqualified.

Event	Results	Time
100 m butterfly	DSQ

2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games

See also: Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics

Čavić represented Serbia and Montenegro at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece in the 100 m butterfly, 50 m freestyle and the 100 m freestyle.

Event	Results	Time
100 m butterfly	Semifinal ranking – 16th	53.12
50 m freestyle	Heats ranking – 31st	23.05
100 m freestyle	Heats ranking – 19th	49.74

Čavić was leading in a semifinal of the 100 metre butterfly, but right after the turn at the halfway point of the race, his suit opened at the neck and sucked in water, causing Čavić to finish last. In the heats of the 100 metre freestyle, Čavić finished 19th missing the semi-finals by .02 seconds.

2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games

See also: Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Olympic medal record
2008 Beijing – Men's swimming
Competitor for  Serbia
Silver	100 m butterfly	50.59 s

Čavić represented Serbia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China in two swimming events. Even though he qualified for the 100 metre freestyle semi-final Čavić withdrew in order to prepare for the 100 metre butterfly.

On August 14, 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, Čavić broke the 100 meter butterfly Olympic Record during the preliminary heats, finishing ahead of Michael Phelps and also recorded the fastest time in the semi-finals. Čavić came in second to Phelps by 1/100 of a second in the final, which was also the first medal for Serbia. It was Phelps' seventh gold medal of the Games. The Serbian team initially challenged the result but FINA later confirmed the finish. Čavić later wrote in his blog: "People, this is the greatest moment of my life. If you ask me, it should be accepted and we should move on. I’ve accepted defeat, and there’s nothing wrong with losing to the greatest swimmer there has ever been".^[9] Omega states that Čavić reached the wall before Phelps but did not touch with sufficient pressure to register on the sensor.^[10]

See also

List of swimmers

Notes

1. ^ Scott M. Reid, 'Controversial O.C. Serb could spoil Phelps' gold rush'. The Orange County Register. August 14, 2008}
2. ^ "Čavić wins gold, sets new record". http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=12&dd=13&nav_id=55707. 
3. ^ "Čavić takes another medal in Croatia". http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=12&dd=15&nav_id=55741. 
4. ^ "Kazna Čaviću bruka Evrope [Cavic's sentence, shame for Europe]" (in Serbian). Blic. March 22, 2008. http://www.blic.co.rs/temadana.php?id=34952. Retrieved October 2, 2009. 
5. ^ Andrew Dampf (July 27, 2009). "Cavic wins 50 fly and warns Phelps for 100". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2009-07-27-3683354933_x.htm. Retrieved July 28, 2009. 
6. ^ "Swimming: Phelps sees another record go". CNN. July 31, 2009. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/07/31/swimming.worlds.phelps.cavic.records/. Retrieved July 31, 2009. 
7. ^ http://www.swimutopia.com/useruploads/MrUtopia/articles/2010/06/10/Milorad-Cavic-May-Withdraw-From-European-Championships.php
8. ^ http://www.oks.org.rs/?page_id=462&lang=sr-latn
9. ^ Christopher Clarey, 'Cavic Finds a Personal Triumph in the Narrowest of Defeats'. New York Times. August 16, 2008
10. ^ "Omega releases official photos of 100-meter butterfly finish". http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/swimming/news/story?id=3550164. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 

Gallery

• 

  Čavić on the front cover of Serbian magazine Tempo.

External links

• Official site
• Fun site
• Website for Milorad Cavic's Marketing Agent Arluck Promotions
• Olympic games 2008
• Milorad Cavic profile
• Swim Rankings profile
• Biography by The Orange County Register

Awards
Preceded by Novak Djokovic	The Best Athlete of Serbia 2008	Succeeded by Nađa Higl
Records
Preceded by Michael Phelps	Men's 100 metre butterfly world record holder (long course) July 31, 2009 – August 1, 2009	Succeeded by Michael Phelps
Preceded by Rafael Muñoz Pérez	Men's 100 metre butterfly European record holder (long course) July 31, 2009 –	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Yevgeny Korotyshkin	Men's 100 metre butterfly European record holder (short course) December 12, 2008 –	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Thomas Rupprath	Men's 100 metre butterfly world record holder (short course) December 12, 2003 – March 26, 2004	Succeeded by Ian Crocker
Preceded by Sergiy Breus	Men's 50 metre butterfly European record holder (long course) March 19, 2008 – April 5, 2009	Succeeded by Rafael Muñoz Pérez

Persondata
Name	Cavic, Milorad
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 31, 1984
Place of birth	Anaheim, California, United States
Date of death
Place of death