Matt Targett

Matt Targett

Personal information
Full name	Matthew Targett
Nationality	Australia
Born	December 24, 1985 (1985-12-24) (age 25)
Height	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Stroke(s)	Butterfly, Freestyle
Club	Melbourne Vicentre Swimming Club
College team	Auburn University
Medal record Men's swimming Competitor for  Australia Olympic Games Silver 2008 Beijing 4×100 m medley Bronze 2008 Beijing 4×100 m freestyle World Championships (LC) Gold 2011 Shanghai 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2009 Rome 50 m butterfly Silver 2011 Shanghai 50 m butterfly Bronze 2009 Rome 4×100 m medley

Matthew Targett (born 24 December 1985) is an Australian sprint freestyle and butterfly swimmer.

2006 Commonwealth Games

In 2006 and in his home town of Melbourne, Targett competed in the 50 metres butterfly, finishing second and placing above more experienced countrymen Michael Klim and Matt Welsh. Targett was later disqualified for twitching before the starter's signal.

2008 Olympic Games

Targett's second international meet was at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, capturing a silver in the 4×100m medley and a bronze in the 4×100m freestyle relay, both in Australian, Commonwealth and Oceanic record time. He also finished 7th in the individual 100m Freestyle.^[1]

2009 World Championships

Targett's first world championships came in 2009 in Rome, Italy, he swam 4 races on day one, and thus not looking in peak form in the 4x100 freestyle relay, with the absence of Ashley Callus and Eamon Sullivan Australia was never in medal territory. Everything turned around on night 2, when he captured a silver in the 50m butterfly,^[2] with a terrific first 35 meters, he started to even up and he was touched out by Milorad Čavić by six hundredths. On the final day of competition he anchored the men's 4×100 medley relay to bronze.

In 2010, amidst sickness, Targett finished 5th in 50m Butterfly and 14th in the 100m Freestyle at the Telstra Australian Swimming Trials and failed to qualify for a second Commonwealth Games.

2011 World Championships

On night 1, James Magnussen was the starter for the Australian relay team for the 4×100 freestyle relay, setting an amazing 47.49 to get a large lead over Michael Phelps and Alain Bernard. Targett swam the second leg to extend the lead, Australia lead the whole way changing over to the 3rd leg with Matt Abood, finishing with sprinting veteran Eamon Sullivan holding off a strong Finnish by France. Night 2 brought more success, capturing silver again in the 50m butterfly behind César Cielo, his compatriot Geoff Huegill finishing with the bronze. In the lead up to these Championships, Targett developed a reputation at his club for his intensive strength regime outside the pool.

References

1. ^ Olympic results
2. ^ Matt Targett focused on swimming fast again after a year off from the sport

Persondata
Name	Targett, Matt
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	24 December 1985
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death