Ari-Pekka Liukkonen (born 9 February 1989) is a Finnish swimmer and European champion.[1] He competed in the 50 m freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[2][3] He is the Finnish record holder over that distance with a time of 21.58 sec, as well as the short course record in the 50 m.[4] He also holds the 100 m freestyle record, at 49.44 seconds. At the 2016 Olympics he swam in the 50 and 100 m freestyle events.[2]

Ari-Pekka Liukkonen
Liukkonen in 2015
Personal information
Born9 February 1989 (1989-02-09) (age 35)
Pieksämäki, Finland
Height2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)
Weight91 kg (201 lb)
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing  Finland
European Championships (LC)
Gold medal – first place 2020 Budapest 50 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Berlin 50 m freestyle
European Championships (SC)
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Chartres 4×50 m mixed freestyle

Personal life edit

On 2 February 2014, Liukkonen came out as gay in an Yle interview, thus becoming one of the first openly gay top-level athletes in Finland.[5][6]

References edit

  1. ^ "Ari-Pekka Liukkonen". SwimRankings.net.
  2. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ari-Pekka Liukkonen". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  3. ^ "London 2012 profile". Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Ari-Pekka Liukkonen Smashes Finnish 50 Free Record In 21.58". SwimSwam. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Suomalainen olympiauimari kaapista ulos - "Vihdoin voin olla oma itseni"" (in Finnish). Yle. 2 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  6. ^ Buzinski, Jim (22 July 2021). "Gay Olympics swimmer makes waves in and out of the water". Outsports. Retrieved 23 August 2023.

External links edit

Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for   Finland
(with Satu Mäkelä-Nummela)
Tokyo 2020
Succeeded by
Incumbent