Thomas Rupprath
# 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
