Ari-Pekka Liukkonen
Liukkonen in 2015
Personal information
Born9 February 1989 (1989-02-09) (age 35)
Pieksämäki, Finland
Height2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)
Weight91 kg (201 lb)
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing  Finland
European Championships (LC)
Gold medal – first place 2020 Budapest 50 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Berlin 50 m freestyle
European Championships (SC)
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Chartres 4×50 m mixed freestyle

Ari-Pekka Liukkonen (born 9 February 1989) is a Finnish swimmer and European champion.[1] He competed in the 50 m freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[2][3] He is the Finnish record holder over that distance with a time of 21.58 sec, as well as the short course record in the 50 m.[4] He also holds the 100 m freestyle record, at 49.44 seconds. At the 2016 Olympics he swam in the 50 and 100 m freestyle events.[2]

Personal life

On 2 February 2014, Liukkonen came out as gay in an Yle interview, thus becoming one of the first openly gay top-level athletes in Finland.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ "Ari-Pekka Liukkonen". SwimRankings.net.
  2. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ari-Pekka Liukkonen". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  3. ^ "London 2012 profile". Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Ari-Pekka Liukkonen Smashes Finnish 50 Free Record In 21.58". SwimSwam. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Suomalainen olympiauimari kaapista ulos - "Vihdoin voin olla oma itseni"" (in Finnish). Yle. 2 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  6. ^ Buzinski, Jim (22 July 2021). "Gay Olympics swimmer makes waves in and out of the water". Outsports. Retrieved 23 August 2023.

External links

Olympic Games Preceded byTuuli Petäjä-Sirén Flagbearer for  Finland (with Satu Mäkelä-Nummela)Tokyo 2020 Succeeded byIncumbent
European Champions in Men's 50 m Freestyle
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