Keren Siebner

Siebner was born in Kfar Saba, Israel, to Miron and Osnat Siebner, and grew up in Herzliya.[4] She has an older sister, Sivan.[4] She attended Hayovel High School.[4]

She attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, where Siebner studied industrial and systems engineering,[5] despite having severe ADHD.[6] She is also an industrial and management engineer and a model.[2]

In high school Siebner swam for four years for the school, and set Israeli junior records in the 50m freestyle, the 200m free, and the 200m backstroke.[4]

In college, she swam for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and was named to the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll.[4][7] Siebner set university records in the 100m fly (54.48), 200m free relay (1:32.95), 400m free relay (3:20.64), 800m free relay (7:18.42), and the 400m medley relay (3:42.02).[4] She is also 3rd all-time at the university in the 100m freestyle (50.27).[4]

At the 2013 Maccabiah Games, she won two gold medals swimming for Israel, in the 100m butterfly and the 400m freestyle relay team, which set a new Israeli record.[8] Siebner had won 8 medals at the Maccabiah Games as of 2013, 5 of them gold.[2] Her club is Hapoel Dolphin Netanya.[9]

She participated in the 2014 European Aquatics Championships, placing 16th in the 200 m butterfly with a new Israeli record. In 2015, Siebner took part in the 2015 European Short Course Swimming Championships held in Netanya, Israel, finishing 12th in the 200 m butterfly, 18th in the 100 m butterfly, 12th in the 4×50 m medley, and 6th in the 4×50 m freestyle with a new Israeli record. She also participated in 50 and 100 m freestyle, 100 m backstroke, and 50 m butterfly.

In December 2015, she set a new Israeli national record of 2:10.05 in the 200m butterfly, replacing the prior national record which she had also set.[10]

In May 2016, Siebner won eight gold medals at the Israel National Championships.[11] That same month, at the Belgian Open Championships she won the 200m butterfly in a time of 2:11.36.[12]

In June 2016, she participated in the 2016 European Aquatics Championships, finishing 16th in the 200 m butterfly with the current Israeli record, 2:11.04.[11] Siebner also placed 18th in the 100 m butterfly, 23rd in the 50 m butterfly, and 39th in the 100 m freestyle. A few weeks later, in July she broke the Israeli record in 200 m backstroke during the national championships, with a time of 2:13.10, as she won six gold medals at the nationals.[13]

Siebner missed swimming as an individual at the 2016 Summer Olympics by 0.01 seconds, but she still represented Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics by competing in the 4×100m freestyle relay with Andrea Murez, Amit Ivry, and Zohar Shikler.[14][15][2]

Her long course (50m pool) personal bests as of the end of 2016 were 50m butterfly -- 0:26.92 (April 2016), 100m butterfly -- 0:59.10 (May 2016), 100m freestyle -- 0:55.42 (April 2016), and 200m butterfly -- 2:11.04 (May 2016).[9]

Siebner swam for Team Israel at the 2017 Maccabiah Games, and won a gold medal in the 200m butterfly with a time of 2:16.57, and a silver medal in the 100m butterfly with a time of 1:00.01.[16][17] Siebner, Amit Ivry, Shahar Menahem, and Or Tamir set an Israeli national record in the women’s 4×100m medley relay with a time of 4:11.67 as they won a silver medal.[18]

• List of Israeli records in swimming

• Keren Siebner at Swimming Israel