Michael Halika

Michael ("Mickey") Halika (born November 11, 1978 in Jerusalem ) is a former medley swimmer from Israel , who competed in three events at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia as a member of the Israeli swimming team.¹ He finished sixth in his preliminary heat (and 11th overall) of the 400 m individual medley (4:19.97). Halika also finished 31st in the 200 m butterfly (2:01.97), and 39th in the 200 m individual medley (2:07.53). Halika, who won the 800 m freestyle and the 400 m individual medley at the 1997 Maccabiah Games , among a total of 5 individual and 2 team gold medals, captured the silver medal in the 400 m individual medley (4:17.49) at the European LC Championships 1999 in Istanbul . One of Israel's top young swimmers, Halika placed fourth in the same event (4:20.89) at the 2000 European Aquatics Championships . Halika attended the University of Texas , and helped the Longhorns win their second straight NCAA Championship in 2001 by finishing 14th in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 3:50.02 – one of his Texas-teammates was American Olympian Scott Goldblatt . In 2001, Halika qualified for the World Championships in Fukuoka , Japan in both the 200 m butterfly and the 200 m individual medley. In the butterfly, he finished 19th overall in the preliminaries and failed to qualify for the semifinals with a time of 2:01.67. In the medley, though, he made the semifinals and finished 13th overall with a time of 2:04.38. At the 2003 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain , Halika competed in the 200-meter butterfly, the 200 m individual medley, and the 400 m individual medley. In the butterfly, he finished 33rd overall with a time of 2:02.45. In the 200 m medley, he was 37th with a time of 2:05.68. In the 400 m medley, he achieved his best result with a 19th place finish in a time of 4:21.76.² In the same year he also won bronze in the 400 IM at the Summer Universiade in South Korea .³