Meritxell Sabaté Explained

Meritxell Sabaté
Full Name:Meritxell Sabaté González
Strokes:Freestyle, medley
Birth Date:8 September 1980
Birth Place:Andorra la Vella, Andorra
Height:1.71 m
Weight:65 kg
Show-Medals:yes

Meritxell Sabaté González (born September 8, 1980) is an Andorran former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle and individual medley events.[1] She represented Andorra in two editions of the Olympic Games (1996 and 2000), and also held numerous national records in long-distance freestyle (both 400 and 800 m) and medley double (both 200 and 400 m).

Sabaté made her first Andorran team, as a 16-year-old teen, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. She failed to reach the top 16 final in the 200 m individual medley, finishing in forty-second place at 2:37.38.[2]

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Sabate swam only in the 200 m individual medley. She established an Andorran record and a FINA B-cut of 2:23.24 from the Mare Nostrum Meet in Barcelona, Spain.[3] She participated in heat one against three other swimmers Marina Mulyayeva of Kazakhstan, Alexandra Zertsalova of Kyrgyzstan, and Fernanda Cuadra of Nicaragua. Entering the race with the fastest-seeded time, Sabaté faded down the stretch to touch the wall with a third-place time of 2:30.41, but missed a chance to lower her own national record by 7.17 seconds. Sabaté failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed thirty-fifth overall in the prelims.[4] [5]

Notes and References

  1. Meritxell Sabate . https://web.archive.org/web/20200418085006/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sa/meritxell-sabate-1.html . dead . 18 April 2020 . 23 June 2013.
  2. Web site: Atlanta 1996: Aquatics (Swimming) – Women's 200m Individual Medley Heat 1 . . . 49 . 14 June 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110523164915/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1996/1996v3p1.pdf . 23 May 2011.
  3. Web site: Swimming – Women's 200m Individual Medley Startlist (Heat 1) . . . Omega Timing . 14 June 2013.
  4. Web site: Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 200m Individual Medley Heat 1 . . . 323 . 19 April 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110819181023/http://la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/2000/Masters/sw/SWresults.pdf . 19 August 2011.
  5. News: Malchow sets Olympic record in 200 fly . https://archive.today/20130615050120/http://www.canoe.ca/2000GamesSwimming/sep18_mal.html . usurped . June 15, 2013 . . 18 September 2000 . 28 May 2013.