Switzerland at the 2012 Summer Olympics explained

Noc:	SUI
Nocname:	Swiss Olympic Association
Games:	Summer Olympics
Year:	2012
Website:
Location:	London
Competitors:	103
Sports:	18
Flagbearer:	Stanislas Wawrinka (opening) Nicola Spirig (closing)
Rank:	33
Gold:	2
Silver:	2
Bronze:	0
Appearances:	auto
See also:	1906 Intercalated Games

Switzerland competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. Swiss athletes have competed at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except when they boycotted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne in protest of the Soviet invasion of Hungary. The Swiss Olympic Association sent a total of 103 athletes to the 2012 Games, 72 men and 31 women, to compete in 18 sports.

Switzerland left London with a total of four Olympic medals (two gold and two silver), their lowest in Summer Olympic history since 1992. This was in stark contrast with the zero medal tally of the neighbouring Austria, a nation of roughly comparable size. Most of these medals were awarded to the athletes in cycling, tennis, equestrian, and triathlon.

Among the nation's medalists were mountain biker Nino Schurter, who won his second Olympic medal after winning the silver in men's cross-country race. Equestrian rider Steve Guerdat won Switzerland's first ever gold medal in the individual show jumping. Meanwhile, Nicola Spirig became the second Swiss athlete to claim an Olympic title in women's triathlon since its official debut as a full-medal sport in 2000. World number-one male tennis player Roger Federer won the coveted silver medal in the men's singles, after he was defeated by Great Britain's Andy Murray. Several Swiss athletes missed out of the medal standings. Defending Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara finished seventh in the men's individual time trial, following the collarbone injury he received in the road race.^[1]

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
		Equestrian	Jumping
		Triathlon
		Tennis	Men's singles
		Cycling	Men's cross-country

Delegation

The Swiss Olympic Association selected a team of 103 athletes, 72 men and 31 women, to compete in 18 sports, their largest delegation ever surpassing the record set in Sydney by a single athlete. Men's football was the only team-based sport in which Switzerland were represented in these Olympic Games. There was only a single competitor in badminton, BMX cycling and Greco-Roman wrestling. Athletics was the largest team in the individual sports, with a total of 15 competitors.

The Swiss team featured three defending champions from Beijing: road cyclist Fabian Cancellara, and tennis doubles players Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka. Federer was offered the honour of carrying the Swiss flag for the third time after he won the Wimbledon Championships, and reached the top of the men's world tennis rankings. However, he nominated his compatriot and close friend Wawrinka to perform the duty at the opening ceremony instead.^[2] Along with Federer, three other Swiss athletes made their fourth Olympic appearance: marathon runner Viktor Röthlin, Star sailor Flavio Marazzi, and quadruple sculls rower André Vonarburg. Equestrian show jumper Pius Schwizer, at age 49, was the oldest athlete of the team, while all-around gymnast Giulia Steingruber was the youngest at age 18.

Other notable Swiss athletes featured mountain biker and bronze medalist Nino Schurter, freestyle swimmer and six-time national record holder Dominik Meichtry, triathletes Sven Riederer and Nicola Spirig, and equestrian show jumper Steve Guerdat, who led his team by winning the bronze medal in Beijing.

| width=78% align=left valign=top |The following is the list of number of competitors participating in the Games. Note that reserves in fencing, field hockey, football, and handball are not counted as athletes:

width=180	Sport	width=55	Men	width=55	Women	width=55	Total
Archery	1	1	2
Athletics	4	11	15
Badminton	0	1	1
Canoeing	1	1	2
Cycling	9	2	11
Equestrian	4	0	4
Fencing	2	1	3
Football	18	0	18
Gymnastics	1	1	2
Judo	1	1	2
Rowing	8	0	8
Sailing	5	1	6
Shooting	5	2	7
Swimming	4	3	7
Tennis	2	0	2
Triathlon	2	2	4
Volleyball	4	4	8
Wrestling	1	0	1
Total	72	31	103

Archery

See main article: article and Archery at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Switzerland qualified two archers in men's and women's individual events.

Athlete	Event	Ranking round		Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final /
Athlete	Event	Score	Seed	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Axel Müller	Men's individual	633	62	(3) L 3–7	Did not advance
Nathalie Dielen	Women's individual	528	62	(3) L 4–6	Did not advance

Athletics

See main article: article and Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics. 14 Swiss athletes qualified for the athletics events.^[3]

Key

Note – Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
Q = Qualified for the next round
q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
NR = National record
PB = Personal best
N/A = Round not applicable for the event
Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Kariem Hussein	400 m hurdles			Did not advance
Viktor Röthlin	Marathon	2:12:48	11
Reto Schenkel	align=left rowspan=2	200 m	20.98	7	Did not advance
Alex Wilson	20.57	4 q	20.85	7	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Maja Neuenschwander	Marathon	2:34:50	53
Léa Sprunger	200 m	23.27	4	Did not advance
Noemi Zbären	100 m hurdles	13.33	6	Did not advance
Michelle Cueni Mujinga Kambundji Ellen Sprunger Léa Sprunger	4 × 100 m relay	43.54 PB	7	Did not advance

*4 × 100 m relay reserves: Jacqueline Gasser and Clélia Reuse

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
Athlete	Event	Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Nicole Büchler	Pole vault	4.25	25	Did not advance
Irene Pusterla	Long jump	6.20	25	Did not advance

Combined events – Heptathlon

Athlete	Event				200 m			800 m	Final	Rank
Ellen Sprunger	Result	13.35	1.71	12.62	23.59	5.88	45.63	2:17.54	6107	19
Points	1072	867	702	1020	813	776	857		6107	19

Badminton

See main article: article and Badminton at the 2012 Summer Olympics. On 11 May 2012, Sabrina Jaquet qualified to compete in the Olympic Badminton Women's singles.^[4]

Canoeing

See main article: article and Canoeing at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Slalom

Switzerland has so far qualified boats for the following events:

Athlete	Event	Preliminary						Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Run 1	Rank	Run 2	Rank	Best	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Michael Kurt	Men's K-1	88.14	3	88.48	5	88.14	6 Q	147.35	13	Did not advance
Elise Chabbey	Women's K-1	162.92	17	126.46	18	126.46	20	Did not advance – Report

Cycling

See main article: article and Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Road

Fabian Cancellara was the defending Olympic champion in the men's time trial event and the 2008 Olympic silver medallist in the road race event. In the road race on 28 July, he fell and bruised his collarbone when he hit the safety bars with 15 kilometres to go. He finished in 106th place. Because of his pain, he changed his positioning on the bike and was able to take part in the time-trial event,^[1] but was unable to retain his title and finished in seventh place.^[5]

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
align=left rowspan=2	Michael Albasini	Men's road race	5:46:47	96
Men's time trial	56:38.38	30
align=left rowspan=2	Fabian Cancellara	Men's road race	5:51:40	106
Men's time trial	52:53.71	7
Martin Elmiger	align=left rowspan=3	Men's road race	5:46:37	37
Grégory Rast	5:46:05	8
Michael Schär	5:46:37	87

Mountain biking

In September 2011, Nino Schurter qualified for the Olympic Mountain Bike event.^[6] Ralf Näf and Florian Vogel were qualified on 25 May 2012. Fabian Giger was also named first reserve in case of a withdrawal.^[7] On 25 May 2012 Katrin Leumann and Esther Süss qualified for the Olympic Mountain Bike event.^[7]

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Ralf Näf	align=left rowspan=3	Men's cross-country	1:32:58	18
Nino Schurter	1:29:08
Florian Vogel	1:34:36	25
Katrin Leumann	align=left rowspan=2	Women's cross-country	1:38:23	19
Esther Süss	1:32:46	5

BMX

Equestrian

See main article: article and Equestrian at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Jumping

Switzerland has qualified a team in the jumping event because they were one of the three best non-qualified teams in the team event of the 2011 European Show Jumping Championship.

Athlete	Horse	Event	Qualification								Final					Total
			Round 1		Round 2			Round 3			Round A		Round B
			Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Rank	Penalties	Total	Rank	Penalties	Rank
Paul Estermann	Castlefield Eclipse	align=left rowspan=4	Individual	0	=1 Q	0	0	=1 Q	8	8	=11 Q	5	=20 Q	5	10	=17	10	=17
Steve Guerdat	Nino des Buissonnets	0	=1 Q	4	4	=17 Q	4	8	=11 Q	0	=1 Q	0	0	=1	0
Werner Muff	Kiamon	0	=1 Q	4 #	4	=17 Q	8 #	12	33*	Did not advance					12	33
Pius Schwizer	Carlina	8	=60 Q	0	8	=31 Q	0	8	=11 Q	1	=7 Q	8	9	=12	9	=12
Paul Estermann Steve Guerdat Werner Muff Pius Schwizer	See above	Team	4	=2	12	16	4	16	4

* A maximum of three riders from a single country can advance to the individual final. Therefore, Werner Muff did not advance, as Switzerland had three riders with fewer penalty points.

Fencing

See main article: article and Fencing at the 2012 Summer Olympics. On 11 May 2012, Fabian Kauter and Max Heinzer qualified for the men's individual épée and Tiffany Geroudet (18) qualified for the women's individual épée.^[4] Both Fabian Kauter and Max Heinzer lost in the round of 16 to Yannick Borel (21) and Rubén Limardo (13), respectively.^[8] Tiffany Geroudet lost in the round of 16 to the eventual 2012 bronze medallist Sun Yujie (1).^[9]

Men

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final /
Athlete	Event	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Max Heinzer	align=left rowspan=2	Individual épée	W 15–2	L 11–15	Did not advance
Fabian Kauter		L 11–15	Did not advance

Women

Football

See main article: article and Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Switzerland men's football team qualified for the event by reaching the final of the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.^[10]

Men's team event – 1 team of 18 players

Men's tournament

See main article: article and Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament.

Squad

Group play--------

Gymnastics

See main article: article and Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Artistic

Men

Women

Judo

See main article: article and Judo at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Switzerland has qualified 2 judokas.

Athlete	Event	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage	Final /
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Ludovic Chammartin	Men's −60 kg		L 0000–0001	Did not advance
Juliane Robra	Women's −70 kg		L 0002–0011	Did not advance

Rowing

See main article: article and Rowing at the 2012 Summer Olympics. On 11 May 2012, Augustin Maillefer, Nico Stahlberg, Florian Stofer and André Vonarburg qualified for the Olympic Rowing quadruple sculls and Mario Gyr, Simon Niepmann, Simon Schürch and Lucas Tramèr qualified for the Olympic Rowing lightweight four.^[4]

Men

Athlete	Event	Heats		Repechage		Semifinals		Finals
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Augustin Maillefer Nico Stahlberg Florian Stofer André Vonarburg	Quadruple sculls	5:45.13	4 R	5:44.90	3 SA/B	6:19.64	6 FB	6:04.37	12
Mario Gyr Simon Niepmann Simon Schürch Lucas Tramèr	Lightweight four	5:53.56	1 SA/B	6:00.97	2 FA	6:09.30	5

Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); FC=Final C (non-medal); FD=Final D (non-medal); FE=Final E (non-medal); FF=Final F (non-medal); SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage

Sailing

See main article: article and Sailing at the 2012 Summer Olympics. On 5 June 2012, Yannick Brauchli, Romuald Hausser, Flavio Marazzi, Enrico De Maria and Richard Stauffacher qualified to compete in the Olympic Sailing Men's events and Nathalie Brugger qualified to compete in the Olympic Sailing Women's event.^[11]

Men

Athlete	Event	Race											Net points	Final rank
Athlete	Event	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	M*	Net points	Final rank
Richard Stauffacher	RS:X	10	21	14	15	6	18	20	8	10	12	14	127	10
Yannick Brauchli Romuald Hausser	470	11	16	18	22	14	12	12	7	23	7	EL	119	16
Flavio Marazzi Enrico De Maria	Star	13	8	11	9	15	7	10	13	15	16	EL	102	13

Women

M = Medal races; BFD = Black flag disqualification; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race;

Shooting

See main article: article and Shooting at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Switzerland has earned seven quota places.

Men

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
align=left rowspan=2	Simon Beyeler	50 m rifle 3 positions	1164	19	Did not advance
10 m air rifle	588	39	Did not advance
align=left rowspan=2	Marcel Bürge	50 m rifle 3 positions	1168	11	Did not advance
50 m rifle prone	594	14	Did not advance
align=left rowspan=2	Pascal Loretan	50 m rifle prone	591	31	Did not advance
10 m air rifle	589	37	Did not advance
Fabio Ramella	Skeet	109	34	Did not advance
Patrick Scheuber	10 m air pistol	569	32	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
align=left rowspan=2	Heidi Diethelm	25 m pistol	575	29	Did not advance
10 m air pistol	375	35	Did not advance
align=left rowspan=2	Annik Marguet	50 m rifle 3 positions	570	40	Did not advance
10 m air rifle	392	38	Did not advance

Swimming

See main article: article and Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Swiss swimmers have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of two swimmers in each event at the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), and one at the Olympic Selection Time (OST):^[12]

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
David Karasek	200 m individual medley	2:01.35 NR	28	Did not advance
Yannick Käser	200 m breaststroke	2:13.49	24	Did not advance
Alexandre Liess	200 m butterfly	2:00.13	33	Did not advance
align=left rowspan=4	Dominik Meichtry	100 m freestyle	49.95	29	Did not advance
200 m freestyle	1:47.97	16 Q	1:48.25	15	Did not advance
400 m freestyle	3:51.34	19	Did not advance
100 m butterfly	53.40	32	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Swann Oberson	10 km open water	2:01:38.0	19
Martina van Berkel	200 m butterfly	2:12.25	25	Did not advance
align=left rowspan=2	Danielle Villars	200 m freestyle	2:03.55	31	Did not advance
100 m butterfly	59.42 NR	=26	Did not advance

Synchronized swimming

See main article: article and Synchronized swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Switzerland has qualified 2 quota places in synchronized swimming.

Tennis

See main article: article and Tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Athlete	Event	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final /
Athlete	Event	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Roger Federer	align=left rowspan=2	Men's singles	W 6–3, 5–7, 6–3	W 6–2, 6–2	W 7–5, 6–3	W 6–4, 7–6^(7–5)	W 3–6, 7–6^(7–5), 19–17	L 2–6, 1–6, 4–6
Stanislas Wawrinka	L 3–6, 3–6	Did not advance
Roger Federer Stanislas Wawrinka	Men's doubles		W 6–7^(5–7), 6–4, 6–4	L 6–1, 6–7^(5–7), 3–6	Did not advance

Triathlon

See main article: article and Triathlon at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Switzerland has qualified four athletes.

Athlete	Event	Swim (1.5 km)	Trans 1	Bike (40 km)	Trans 2	Run (10 km)	Total Time	Rank
Sven Riederer	align=left rowspan=2	Men's	17:22	0:39	58:52	0:30	30:23	1:47:46	8
Ruedi Wild	18:28	0:42	59:17	0:28	32:15	1:51:10	39
Daniela Ryf	align=left rowspan=2	Women's	19:49	0:51	1:08:28	0:31	36:58	2:06:37	40
Nicola Spirig	19:24	0:40	1:05:33	0:30	33:41	1:59:48

Volleyball

See main article: article and Volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Beach

Athlete	Event	Preliminary round	Standing	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final /
Athlete	Event	Opposition Score	Standing	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Jefferson Bellaguarda Patrick Heuscher	align=left rowspan=2	Men's	Pool A L 0–2 (19–21, 18–21) L 0–2 (18–21, 17–21) W 2–0 (24–22, 21–12)	2 Q	L 0–2 (20–22, 15–21)	Did not advance			9
Sébastien Chevallier Sascha Heyer	Pool C W 2–1 (18–21, 21–16, 15–12) W 2–1 (28–26, 18–21, 15–13) L 0–2 (14–21, 16–21)	2 Q	L 0–2 (18–21, 17–21)	Did not advance			9
Simone Kuhn Nadine Zumkehr	Women's	Pool B W 2–0 (21–13, 21–19) L 1–2 (18–21, 21–16, 8–15) L 1–2 (17–21, 21–19, 9–15)	3 Q	L 0–2 (15–21, 19–21)	Did not advance			9

Wrestling

See main article: article and Wrestling at the 2012 Summer Olympics. On 11 May 2012, Pascal Strebel qualified to compete in the Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling.^[4]

Key

– Victory by Fall.
– Decision by Points – the loser with technical points.
– Decision by Points – the loser without technical points.

Men's Greco-Roman

Notes and References

News: Fabian Cancellara's time trial defence in the balance. The Guardian. UK. 30 July 2012. 1 August 2012.
News: Federer passes up the chance to be Swiss flag bearer. The Northern Echo. 27 July 2012. 15 September 2012.
Web site: iaaf.org – Top Lists. IAAF. 4 June 2011.
Web site: Swiss Olympic selektioniert 13 weitere Athleten für London 2012 (German). Swiss Olympic. 8 June 2012. 20 June 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120620153920/http://www.swissolympic.ch/de/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-4207/5333_read-41577/. dead.
http://www.london2012.com/cycling-road/event/men-time-trial/phase=crm011100/doc=results.html Men's time-trial results
Web site: swiss olympic – Swiss Olympic selektioniert Nino Schurter für London 2012 (German) – Top Lists. Swiss Olympic. 27 September 2011. 20 July 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120720215018/http://www.swissolympic.ch/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-4207/5333_read-39190/. dead.
Web site: swiss olympic – Swiss Olympic selektioniert vier weitere Mountainbiker für London 2012 (German) – Top Lists. Swiss Olympic. 8 June 2012. 19 July 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120719083731/http://www.swissolympic.ch/de/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-4207/5333_read-41701/. dead.
http://www.london2012.com/fencing/event/men-epee/index.html Men's Individual Epee results
http://www.london2012.com/fencing/event/women-epee/index.html Women's Individual Epee results
Web site: Spain and Switzerland London bound. https://web.archive.org/web/20110626120949/http://www.fifa.com/mensolympic/news/newsid=1458224/index.html. dead. June 26, 2011. FIFA. 22 June 2011.
Web site: Swiss Olympic selektioniert fünf Segler und einen Windsurfer für London 2012 (German). Swiss Olympic. 8 June 2012. 6 June 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120606000825/http://www.swissolympic.ch/de/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-4207/5333_read-41754/. dead.
Web site: Swimming World Rankings. FINA. 6 September 2011.