Uğur Taner

Mehmet Uğur Taner (born June 20, 1974) is a retired Turkish-born American swimmer who was a High School All American, national public school record holder and Washington state champion specializing in sprint freestyle and butterfly. He competed for Turkey at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in five events, won a gold medal for the U.S. team in the September, 1994 Rome World Championships in the 4x100-meter relay, and was an All American swimmer at the University of California Berkeley. Taner attended and swam for Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington, and nearby Chinook Swim Club in Mercer Island, Washington, formerly Lake Washington Swim Club, where he excelled in swimming and was coached by ASCA Hall of Fame Coach Jack Ridley.

In 1990, Taner set high school state records in the 100 and 50-yard freestyle. As a high school junior in February 1991, he set state high school records in the 200-yard freestyle of 1:37.44 and in the 100-yard butterfly of 49.13. He also swam on winning 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay teams.

In July 1992, at 18, swimming as a high school senior at the AAA Swim Meet in May 1992, he set three national public high school records with a 20.02 in the 50-yard freestyle, a 48.14 in the 100-yard butterfly, and a 43.98 while swimming the first 100 yards of a 4x100 yard freestyle medley relay. Taner best remembered his record 20.02 time for the 50-yard freestyle as a high point in his high school career. During his four high school swimming seasons, Taner set records all four years and qualified to swim in nearly every event in the state high school championship meet.

In what may be considered his highest-profile competition win, Taner was part of the gold medal team in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay at the World Championships in Rome in September 1994. Taner teamed with John Olsen, 1996 and 2000 Olympic medalist Josh Davis, and four-time Olympic medalist Gary Hall Jr. for a combined world championship record time of 3:16.90.

Pan Pacifics Taner performed particularly well in Pan Pacific competition in freestyle, freestyle relay, and butterfly. He won a gold medal in the 1993 Kobe, Japan, Pan Pacifics in the 4x200-meter freestyle, and a bronze in the 200-meter freestyle. While continuing to train, four years later he won a gold in the 200-meter butterfly and the 4x200-meter freestyle in the 1997 Pan Pacifics in Fukuoka, Japan. He won a silver in the Sydney 1999 Pan Pacifics in the 4x200-meter freestyle and a bronze in the 200-meter butterfly. He was on the U.S. national team from 1993 to 2000, where he won nine national individual titles and, as mentioned earlier, was a September 1994 Rome World Aquatics Champion in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.

First NCAA title since Biondi As a sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1994, he was the first Cal swimmer since Matt Biondi to win an NCAA national title when he placed first in the 200-yard butterfly. His Berkeley coach told an interviewer that Taner had such versatility he could be entered in nearly any event and he'd succeed. Swimming for Chinook Swim School and Coach Jack Ridley on March 31, 1994, he took a third in the 100-meter freestyle with a 50.42, and a second in the 200-meter butterfly with a 1:59.77 at the U.S. Championships at Federal Way, Washington, outside Seattle. At Cal Berkeley, Taner was an NCAA champion in the 200 butterfly in multiple years. At the March 1995 NCAA Division I Championships in Indianapolis, swimming for California Berkeley, Taner won the 200 butterfly, one of his signature events, in 1:44.39. At the March 10, 1996, NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, Taner again placed first in the 200 butterfly with a 1:43.22.

Marriage and career In October 2000, Taner married another internationally recognized swimmer from California, Liesl Kolbisen, who attended San Mateo High School, and graduated and swam for the University of Arizona in 1998, where she was an All-American. Before swimming for Arizona, Liesl had attended the University of the Pacific where like Ugur she excelled in sprint freestyle and butterfly, holding school records in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle as well as the 100-yard butterfly. At the time, Taner worked as a professional speaker and represented Speedo Swimming gear and PowerBar. Taner and Kolbisen have seven children together. A son, Brooks, was born in 2001; daughter Channing followed in 2003; son Vaughn in 2006; daughter Charis in 2008; son Grey in 2010; son Canaan in 2013; and daughter Sevilen in 2017.

As of 2003, Taner was continuing to teach swimming at La Petite Baleen swim school in Half Moon Bay, California, about 30 minutes south of San Francisco, where he resides with his family. Since January 2006, Taner has been playing guitar with the Matt Nightingale Band as well as at numerous churches.