RIO DE JANEIRO (Aug. 12, 2016) – FIU sophomore
Naomi Ruele competed on the world's biggest stage Friday, representing her home country of Botswana in the 50-meter freestyle at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Ruele posted a time of 26.23 to finish second in her heat and 47
th overall in front of a worldwide audience.
The reigning Conference USA Swimmer of the Year qualified to represent her home country with a time of 26.07 back on March 20 in a FINA (
Fédération Internationale de Natation) approved time trial at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. FINA is the world's governing body of swimming.
Ruele is coming off a tremendous freshman campaign for the Panthers. During the 2015-16 season, she was perfect at the C-USA Championships, winning gold in all seven events in which she swam (three individual, four relays). Named the C-USA Swimmer of the Meet, she also set two school records during the championships (100 Free and 200 Free Relay).
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUSwimDive) and become a fan on Facebook (
Facebook.com/FIUSwimmingAndDiving) for all the latest Swimming and Diving news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (
Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
