Markus Antonius Rogan (born May 4, 1982 in Vienna)
is an Austrian swimmer, who won two silver medals at
the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and a
gold medal for 200m backstroke at the 2008 World
Championships in Manchester. He also is the world
record holder in 200 meter Backstroke (Short course,
25 meter pool).
Rogan's first big international success was a second
place finish in the 200m Backstroke at the 2001
World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
In the Olympics in 2004, Rogan placed second in both
Men's 100 m Backstroke and the Men's 200 m
Backstroke, both times behind Aaron Peirsol of the
United States. The 200 meter race was controversial
as Peirsol was first disqualified but later
reinstated as gold medalist.
As a teenager, the 6' 5" tall Rogan swam for Mount
Vernon High School in Fairfax County, Virginia,
where he trained with the Curl-Burke Swim Club. In
July 2000, he cut short his final season of the
Northern Virginia Swim League, swimming for the
Mansion House Piranhas (of Mount Vernon), and flew
to Australia where he competed in the 2000 Sydney
Olympics, failing to advance beyond the heats in the
backstroke. He earned a scholarship to attend
Stanford University from 2000-2004. On December 8,
2005, in Trieste, Markus set a new world record in
the 200 m backstroke for short course swim pools,
with 1:50.43. This world record was then broken by
American swimmer Ryan Lochte, who lowered the
standard to 1:49.05 at the 2006 FINA Short Course
World Championships in Shanghai, China. Back on the
Short Course in Manchester 2008, Rogan broke the
world record again on 13 April 2008, setting the new
record with 1:47,84, with Lochte finishing second by
seven one-hundredths of a second (also under the old
world record.) Both swimmers were wearing the new
Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit.
In an interview with BBC Sports at the European
Swimming Championships in Eindoven, The Netherlands,
in March 2008, Markus told reporters that he was
planning to retire from competitive swimming after
the Beijing Olympics in August. Markus won both the
100 and 200 meter Backstroke events (long course) at
those European Championships. In the meantime Rogan
changed his plans to retire. He will at least swim
on a competitive level till the World Championships
2009 in Rome. As he is training in Italy, the event
is virtually on homeground and he wants to enjoy the
home event with his Italian training partners.
