Brent Hayden

After swimming to a bronze medal in his third Olympic appearance, Brent Hayden announced his official retirement from swimming. The Maple Ridge BC native swam to a third place finish in the 100m Freestyle at the 2012 London Games. He was also a member of the eighth-place finishing 4X100m medley relay team and swam in semifinal action in both the 50m and 4X100m freestyle events.

Hayden had a sucessful 2011 season with a silver at the World Championships in Shanghai in the men’s 100m freestyle. That performance followed an impressive 2010 in which he was a double gold medallist at Commonwealth Games in Delhi and ranked as the world’s fastest in the 100m freestyle.

At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Hayden smashed his own Canadian record in the freestyle leg of the 4x100m relay. The 4x200m freestyle team also set a Canadian record and finished fifth at the event.

At the 2007 World Aquatic Championships, in Melbourne Australia Hayden took down his own 100m freestyle national record at the time en route to the gold medal. He added a bronze to his collection by anchoring the 4x200m freestyle relay.

The Canadian Olympic Team veteran had a very impressive performance at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, bringing home the silver medal in the 50m — an event he hadn’t intended on racing. Hayden competed in four events at the Athens Games in 2004 with his best result being a fifth place finish in 4X200m freestyle relay.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• Beijing 2008: In the men’s 4x200m freestyle final, Hayden, Colin Russell, Brian Johns, and Andrew Hurd finished two notches off the podium in fifth spot despite shaving two seconds off the Canadian record
• Gold medallist in the 100m freestyle at the 2007 World Championships, breaking his own Canadian record (first Canadian world title since 1986)

PERSONAL

• Studied at the University of British Columbia
• Selected by Visa Canada to have Olympic sprinter Bruny Surin as a mentor
• Ironically, he had to repeat his swimming lessons
• Has a black belt in Isshin Ryu karate
• Chinese writing tattooed on his right arm means “friends forever” that he had done with a friend who survived a terrible motorcycle crash
• Sister Andrea was also a swimmer
• Nickname is “Soup” which is related to the Superman tattoo on his chest