Croatian Olympian competes for OSU

Marko Strahija, an Academic All-Big Ten selection and 1996 Olympian for his home country of Croatia, is enjoying living in the Buckeye state. 'I like Ohio State a lot,' said Strahija, who holds the school record in the 200-meter backstroke. 'The people here are really nice and I have a lot of friends here.' The Zagreb, Croatia native will try to swim for his home country again during the Sydney Olympics in 2000, but now is concentrating on this season and the Big Ten. 'My goal is to win the Big Ten for the 200 backstroke, and to break a school record,' Strahija said. During the 1996 Olympics Games in Atlanta, Strahija won his heat and finished 11th overall in the 200-meters. He set a new Croatian National Record. 'He swam out of this world,' said OSU head coach Bill Wadley. 'He broke the Croatian national record. He developed a lot of confidence and discipline.' 'He's about as good as there is in his events. There are 10 guys in front of him in the world, but he does his events about as good as you can do them.' There are two different types of races used for the NCAA and the Olympics. The NCAA uses the short course yard swimming, while the Olympics use the long course meter swimming. The short course 200-yard swimming is eight laps in the pool, and the long course 200-meter swimming is four laps. Wadley said that short course yard swimming is a little different than long course meter swimming. He said that a swimmer has an advantage in the short course swimming if they are a great underwater swimmer or dolphin kicker. In short course racing, the one that can stay under water on the backstroke and can kick a big portion of the race has a huge advantage on the turn. 'There are a couple guys in the league that are very good turners and kickers,' Wadley said. 'That evens it out since Marko is a great swimmer, but I think he is in great shape and great condition. I think he has as good as chance as anybody at winning the Big Ten.'

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