Paul Palmer

Paul Palmer was a freestyler who excelled at the 200 and 400. He was 17-years-old on his Olympic début and narrowly missed qualifying for the finals of the both his individual in Barcelona although he did help Britain finish sixth in the 4x200 m relay. Palmer showed gradual improvement in the following years and won the first of his ten European Championship medals in 1995. Between 1995 and 2000 he won ten European Championship medals (3 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze) and added a pair of bronze medals from the 1998 World Championships in Australia.

His best race came at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The long range favourite for the event was Australia’s Kieran Perkins but Perkins failed at the Australian trials and the race was now considered to be a more open contest. When Anders Holmertz faded in the second half of the race Palmer attempted to break clear alongside Danyon Loader of New Zealand. Although Loader was too fast for Palmer, he held off the fast finishing Daniel Kowalski for the silver medal. He nearly retired between Atlanta and Sydney but was tempted back for one last Olympic adventure. Palmer reached the final of the 200 m freestyle at Sydney but was merely a supporting act in the Ian Thorpe-Pieter van den Hoogenband drama.