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Abrahm DEVINE
Sport Swimming
NOC United States   
GenderMen
Born03 Sep 1996 in Seattle, WA, USA
Height1.90 m
 Human Interest 
Further Personal Information
Residence
 Seattle, WA, USA
Sport Specific Information
Club / Team
 Team Elite Aquatics : San Diego, CA, USA
Further Personal Information
Higher education
 Computer Science - Stanford University: United States
General Interest
Hobbies
 Surfing, cooking. (a.isl.global, 01 Jan 2019)
Sport Specific Information
Why this sport?
 "My mum got me in the water pretty early as an infant, and then I joined a summer league team and I loved it. I started on a year-round team when I was six years old. I stuck with that programme and made friends and had my core group there all the way through high school."
General Interest
Awards and honours
 In 2018 while studying at Stanford University he was named the Pac-12 Conference Swimmer of the Year. (gostanford.com, 01 Jan 2019)
Sport Specific Information
Name of coach
 David Marsh [club], USA
When and where did you begin this sport?
 He began swimming as a child and joined a summer league team when he was age five.
Further Personal Information
Occupation
 Athlete
Languages
 English
General Interest
Sporting philosophy / motto
 "I'm a technique-oriented swimmer. Being able to watch videos has always been helpful for me. When you swim a really good race, it feels so good to watch it back and see how it looks from your coach's perspective." (digitaljournal.com, 17 Sep 2020)
Other information
 COMING OUT
He came out as gay in September 2018, and after graduating from Stanford University in May 2019 he said that a homophobic culture had existed on his former university's swimming programme. He claimed that he was not invited back to train at the university as a post-grad because of his sexuality. Stanford swimming coaches issued a public statement confirming he was not invited to return to train with the team, but not because of his sexuality. "There are surface level reasons I was kicked off the Stanford swim team, but I can tell you with certainty that it comes down to the fact that I am gay. This is a pattern. Homophobia is systematic, intelligently and masterfully designed to keep me silent and to push me out. I am a talented, successful, educated, proud, gay man. I am a threat to the culture that holds sports teams together. I feel that my identity as a gay man is incompatible with the swimming world. I do think that being openly gay in the sport is something that people assert and say that it doesn't matter and that it doesn't define me. [But] it has absolutely 100% defined my trajectory in the sport. It has given me so much strength, power, and confidence. It has given me a really strong mindset and it has taught me resilience." (Instagram profile, 30 Sep 2019; swimmingworldmagazine.com,16 Sep 2018; stanforddaily.com, 06 Oct 2019; swimswam.com, 01 Oct 2019; swimmingworldmagazine.com, 29 Sep 2019; digitaljournal.com, 17 Sep 2020)

FAVOURITE STROKE
His favourite event is the 400m individual medley [IM]. "It was my big event in high school, and I came into college with it as the focus. The one thing I really like about the IM is it's all strokes and it incorporates speed and endurance. Anything you are doing will help you progress in that event. I think through better training, coaches, lifting and all this new stuff, I also spread out from the 400 IM. By this year [2019], I felt like I could spread out and choose to swim other things. At the same time, it felt like my baby and it got me into college. It has consistently been my best event. I'm really proud of what I've put into the event and what I've gotten out of it. I'd say it chose me and then by the end I had chosen it back." (stanforddaily.com, 24 Apr 2019)

 Competition Highlights
World Championships
Rank Year Venue Event Result
8 2019 Gwangju, KOR 200m Individual Medley 1:57.66
10 2017 Budapest, HUN 200m Individual Medley 1:58.01 
World Championships Short Course
Rank Year Venue Event Result
8 2016 Windsor, ON, CAN 400m Individual Medley 4:06.02