coach birth_place birth_date article_title strokes name collegeteam
jerry champer -lrb- usa -rrb- tbilisi , georgian ssr 9 january 1979 zurab beridze
 freestyle zurab beridze western illinois leathernecks -lrb- usa -rrb-
zurab beridze

zurab beridze -lrb- ; born january 9 , 1979 in tbilisi -rrb- is a retired georgian swimmer , who specialized in sprint freestyle events .
after georgia gained its independence from the soviet union in the early 1990s , beridze became the first ever swimmer in history to represent his nation at the 2000 summer olympics .
while studying in the united states , he held the 50-yard freestyle time -lrb- 20.89 -rrb- , the second fastest in school 's record books , and also played for the western illinois university 's swimming and diving team under head coach jerry champer .
beridze competed only in the men 's 50 m freestyle at the 2000 summer olympics in sydney .
despite finishing among the top 25 swimmers from the european championships in helsinki , finland , he received a ticket from fina , under a universality program , in an entry time of 24.13 .
he challenged seven other swimmers in heat three , including two-time olympians howard hinds of the netherlands antilles and emin guliyev of azerbaijan .
racing on the outside lane , he faded down the stretch to pick up a third seed in 24.28 , a small fraction outside his entry standard .
beridze failed to advance into the semifinals , as he placed fifty-fourth overall in the prelims .
