Thomas Rupprath

Thomas Rupprath (born 16 March 1977 in Neuss) is an Olympic swimmer from Germany, who is nicknamed "The New Albatross".

Biography
He held the world record for the 50 m backstroke (short course) with a time of 23.27 seconds set on 31 November 2002. This was broken by Robert Hurley of Australia on 26 October 2008. He also held the 50 m backstroke (long course) record between 7 July 2003 to 2 April 2008 with a time of 24.80 s.

With a time of 54.16 over 100 m backstroke (second behind Helge Meeuw) Thomas Rupprath managed to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing. He also won the 100 m butterfly at the German trials.

Achievements

 * Olympic Games
 * Bronze medal in 2000 Sydney
 * Silver medal in 2004 Athens


 * World championships
 * Silver medal at 2007 Melbourne


 * World Championships SC
 * Gold medal at 2004 Indianapolis
 * Silver medal at 2000 Athens
 * Silver medal at 2006 Shanghai