Serghei Mariniuc

Serghei Mariniuc
Personal information
Full name Serghei Mariniuc
National team  Moldova
Born (1969-02-14) 14 February 1969
Chişinău, Moldavian SSR,
Soviet Union
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 64 kg (141 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle, medley
Club Moldova Swim Team
Santa Clara Swim Club (U.S.)[1]
Coach Luba Pohilenco[1]

Serghei Mariniuc (born February 14, 1969) is a Moldovan former swimmer, who specialized in individual medley events.[2] He represented the Unified Team and the Republic of Moldova in all three editions of the Olympic Games since 1992, and later became a top eight finalist in two individual medleys throughout his Olympic career, emerging him as the nation's most prominent swimmer. He also captured a silver medal in the 400 m individual medley at the 1993 FINA Short Course World Championships in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. When he moved to the United States in 1993, Mariniuc trained professionally for the Santa Clara Swim Club in California until he announced his official retirement in late 2000.

Career

Early years

Mariniuc, a native of Chişinău, Moldavian SSR, started his sporting career at the age of eight under a strict Soviet swimming system. He shortly became a member of the Moldova Swim Club under his coach Luba Pohilenco, and then officially played for the Soviet Union's senior national team before its complete extinction in 1991.[1]

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Mariniuc emerged as Moldova's swimming sensation at every level of the competition. He made his official debut for the Unified Team, also known as the Commonwealth of Independent States, at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. While he did not win a single medal, Mariniuc successfully made the final, and finished seventh in the 400 m individual medley (4:22.93).[3] He also posted a tenth-place time of 2:03.72 in the 200 m individual medley, trailing Spain's overwhelming favorite Martin López-Zubero, the winner of the B-final, by 0.38 seconds.[4]

Returning home from the Games, Mariniuc viewed his nation as "forsaken" and "hopeless", discovering that some of the swimming pools did not have a water; others were filled with chemicals or locked.[1] Giving up his sport to support the nation's financial scarcity, Mariniuc worked as a part-time taxi driver riding around Chişinău's urban suburbs to earn sufficient rubles, Moldova's main currency, for a living.[5]

Journey to United States

In 1993, Mariniuc left his homeland Moldova with a thousand-dollar air fare for Santa Clara, California, where he trained and worked as an assistant club coach for the Santa Clara Swim Club.[6] Recovering from a physical condition back in his homeland, Mariniuc pulled away from the rest of the field to claim the 800-yard freestyle title (8:19.29) at the Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo, California.[5]

On that same year, Mariniuc added another coveted title in the pool to his collection at the U.S. Nationals in Austin, Texas, and later earned a silver medal for his native Moldova in the 400 m individual medley (4:11.96) at the 1993 FINA Short Course World Championships in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, finishing behind Canada's Curtis Myden by 1.56 seconds.

International career

Three years since he moved to the United States, Mariniuc reached his worldwide breakthrough at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, representing the Republic of Moldova. Nearly a month before the Games, he earned three pool titles each in the 200 m IM (2:05.03), 400 m IM (4:23.74), and 800 m freestyle (8:10.60) at the Santa Clara International Meet, representing his host swim club.[7][8][9]

At the 1996 Summer Olympics, Mariniuc failed again to collect a single medal in any of his events, finishing eighth in the 400 m individual medley (4:21.15), and twelfth in the 200 m individual medley (2:04.11).[10][11]

Two years later, at the 1998 FINA World Championships in Perth, Australia, Mariniuc pulled off a twelfth-place effort in the 200 m individual medley with a sterling time of 2:04.58.[12] Adding open water swimming to his program, he also placed eleventh in the 5 km (59:06.5), and twenty-first in the 25 km (5:52:28.7).[13]

Mariniuc swam only in the men's 400 m individual medley, as a 31-year-old, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He achieved a FINA B-standard of 4:24.17 from the U.S. National Championships in Federal Way, Washington.[14] He challenged seven other swimmers in heat three, including Russia's 19-year-old Alexey Kovrigin and Colombia's three-time Olympian Alejandro Bermúdez. Entering the race with a top-seeded time, Mariniuc enjoyed a powerful lead in the halfway mark, but fell short on the freestyle leg to register a third-place time and a lifetime best of 4:23.57, a 1.36-second deficit from winner Kovrigin. Unlike his previous Olympics, Mariniuc failed to reach the top 8 final, as he placed twenty-second overall in the morning prelims.[15][16] Shortly after the Games, Mariniuc announced his official retirement from the sport.[1]

Life after swimming

Since he came to the United States in 1993, Mariniuc became an expert in network and systems administration, database management, website development, and security. In 1999, Mariniuc was appointed to be the pioneer and IT director of ReadyGo Inc., a leader in e-learning authoring tools, where he programmed numerous features to implement a customer support process that resulted in the company winning a prestigious Excellence in eLearning Gold Award. A versatile computer and software expert, Mariniuc is currently the vice-president of FastLane Tek, a technology services company based in Sunnyvale, California, where among other support projects, he assist teams to generate and manage timing systems applied in national and worldwide swimming competitions.[1]

Mariniuc currently resides in Santa Clara, California, along with his wife and former swimmer Eve Walton, and two children.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Owens, Cynthia. "Out of the Blue : Sharing insights and positive perspectives about the sport of swimming from those that have lived the experience" (PDF). Santa Clara Swim Club. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "Serghei Mariniuc". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "Barcelona 1992: Aquatics (Swimming) – Men's 400m Individual Medley Final" (PDF). Barcelona 1992. LA84 Foundation. p. 368. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  4. ↑ "Barcelona 1992: Aquatics (Swimming) – Men's 200m Individual Medley Final B" (PDF). Barcelona 1992. LA84 Foundation. p. 367. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  5. 1 2 Munoz, Theresa (18 June 1993). "Swimming: Mariniuk Fast, Not Worried". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  6. ↑ Rockel, Bobby (17 December 1995). "Mariniuk Does It All for Moldova". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "Teuscher, Mariniuk Win 800 Freestyles". Los Angeles Times. 28 June 1996. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  8. ↑ "Jenny Thompson dominates Santa Clara International Swim Meet". Associated Press. 28 June 1996. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  9. ↑ "Stanford's Thompson fully in swim of things". San Francisco Chronicle. 1 July 1996. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  10. ↑ "Atlanta 1996: Aquatics (Swimming) – Men's 200m Individual Medley Final B" (PDF). Atlanta 1996. LA84 Foundation. p. 48. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  11. ↑ "Atlanta 1996: Aquatics (Swimming) – Men's 400m Individual Medley Final" (PDF). Atlanta 1996. LA84 Foundation. p. 50. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  12. ↑ "1998 FINA World Championships (Perth, Australia): Men's 200m Individual Medley Final B" (PDF). USA Swimming. p. 46. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  13. ↑ "Unusual Triple". Swimming World Magazine. 26 April 1998. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  14. ↑ "Swimming – Men's 400m Individual Medley Startlist (Heat 3)" (PDF). Sydney 2000. Omega Timing. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  15. ↑ "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Men's 400m Individual Medley Heat 3" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 317. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  16. ↑ "Dolan breaks own world mark in 400 IM". Canoe.ca. 17 September 2000. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
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