Milorad Cavic

Nickname

Mike, Cavic. (miloradcavic.com, 12 Jul 2011)

Hobbies

Spending time with friends and family, movies, documentaries, nightlife, sports, animals, spear fishing, traveling. (miloradcavic.com, 12 Jul 2011)

Occupation

Student

Education

Economics, Political Studies - University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

Language(s) spoken

English

Club name

UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

Coach

Michael Botton (USA) from 2002 (Athlete, 24 Mar 2007)

Handedness

Right (Athlete, 24 Mar 2007)

Other sports

His brother Daniel is a basketball player in San Francisco. (callbears.cstv.com, 05 Dec 2007)

Debut

2000 for Serbia and Montenegro, Olympic Games (Australia) (Athlete, 24 Mar 2007)

Injuries

In 2010 he had back surgery that kept him out of action for a few months. (FINA Aquatics World Magazine, 07 Dec 2010)

He started having back pain in 2005 and could not train properly for more than two weeks at a time until he returned to swimming in August 2006. (miloradcavic.com, 12 Jul 2011)

Additional information

Start of sporting career
At the age of six he learned to swim, but he didn`t join a swimming club until he was nine. (berkeley.edu, 05 Dec 2007)

Reason for taking up this sport
"I loved the pool and I was competitive." (fanmail.olympic.ibm.com, 6 Sep 2000)

Most memorable sporting achievement
Breaking the record in the 100m short course butterfly at the 2003 European Championships in Dublin, Ireland. He said, "My dream had finally come true – the mental images and race simulations which I ran through my mind thousands of times, had finally come into realization." Realising his Olympic dreams by winning a gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games. (miloradcavic.com, 12 Jul 2011)

Hero
US track and field runner Steven Prefontaine. (miloradcavic.com, 12 Jul 2011)

Sporting philosophy / motto
"A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways as they're capable of understanding." – Steve Prefontaine. (miloradcavic.com, 12 Jul 2011)

General
QUITTING SWIMMING
He started having back pain in 2005 and could not train properly for more than two weeks at a time. He experienced pain until the end of the NCAA Championships in March 2006, when disappointed with his results, decided to quit swimming. He returned to swimming that August after suffering an identity crisis and being inspired by his room-mate who was also a swimmer. (miloradcavic.com, 12 Jul 2011)

CHARITY WORK
He founded a campaign called 'Believe in Yourself' with Serbian national volleyball team member, Ivana Djerisilo in October 2009 for the orphans of Serbia. (miloradcavic.com, 12 Jul 2011)

ANTI-DOPING
After rumours circulated he may have had some help in unexpectedly breaking the 100m butterfly world record at the European Championships in 2003, he joined 'Positivo alla Salute' (Positive from Health) movement and committed to a 'Blood Passport' where he gives blood every three months in order to maintain a 'clean' passport and encourage others to do the same. (positivoallasalute.it, 12 Jul 2011)

RIVALRY WITH PHELPS
The rematch of his Beijing Olympic 100m butterfly race where Michael Phelps won by a very small margin, was preceeded by Phelp's complaining about Cavic's supposedly superior Arena X-Glide swimwear. Keen for the rematch, Cavic said he would buy Phelps a new suit. (sports.espn.go.com, 31 Jul 2009)

POLITICAL CONTROVERSY
He was suspended abruptly from the 2008 European Championships after wearing a t-shirt that said 'Kosovo is Serbia' in his own language. The Serbian Swimming Federation were also fined. (telegraph.co.uk, 22 Mar 2008)

DUAL CITIZENSHIP
He holds both Serbian and US passports, his parents are both from Serbia but he was born and resides in the United States. (berkeley.edu, 05 Dec 2007)

Previous Olympics

Beijing 2008, Athens 2004, Sydney 2000