Meritxell Sabaté González[a] (born September 8, 1980) is an Andorran former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle and individual medley events.[1] She represented Andorra in two editions of the Olympic Games (1996 and 2000), and also held numerous national records in long-distance freestyle (both 400 and 800 m) and medley double (both 200 and 400 m).

Meritxell Sabaté
Personal information
Full nameMeritxell Sabaté González
Nationality Andorra
Born (1980-09-08) 8 September 1980 (age 44)
Andorra la Vella, Andorra
Height1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight65 kg (143 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle, medley

Sabaté made her first Andorran team, as a 16-year-old teen, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. She failed to reach the top 16 final in the 200 m individual medley, finishing in forty-second place at 2:37.38.[2]

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Sabate swam only in the 200 m individual medley. She established an Andorran record and a FINA B-cut of 2:23.24 from the Mare Nostrum Meet in Barcelona, Spain.[3] She participated in heat one against three other swimmers Marina Mulyayeva of Kazakhstan, Alexandra Zertsalova of Kyrgyzstan, and Fernanda Cuadra of Nicaragua. Entering the race with the fastest-seeded time, Sabaté faded down the stretch to touch the wall with a third-place time of 2:30.41, but missed a chance to lower her own national record by 7.17 seconds. Sabaté failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed thirty-fifth overall in the prelims.[4][5]

Notes

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  1. ^ In this Catalan name, the first or paternal surname is Sabaté and the second or maternal family name is González; both are generally joined by the conjunction "i".

References

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  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Meritxell Sabate". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  2. ^ "Atlanta 1996: Aquatics (Swimming) – Women's 200m Individual Medley Heat 1" (PDF). Atlanta 1996. LA84 Foundation. p. 49. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  3. ^ "Swimming – Women's 200m Individual Medley Startlist (Heat 1)" (PDF). Sydney 2000. Omega Timing. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  4. ^ "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 200m Individual Medley Heat 1" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 323. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Malchow sets Olympic record in 200 fly". Canoe.ca. 18 September 2000. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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