Nicholas Folker
Nicholas Folker (born October 26, 1976) is a South African former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. He captured two medals at the 1999 All-Africa Games, and later represented South Africa at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Folker was schooled in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. His primary years were spent at Cowan House Preparatory School, after which he attended Michaelhouse. In recognition of his achievements and dedication to swimming, Michaelhouse renamed one of its swimming pools the Folker Pool. While moving on to reside in the United States, Folker achieved school records in a sprint freestyle double and also trained for the University of Hawaii's swimming and diving team, also known as the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, under the tutelage of head coach Sam Freas.

Folker made his own swimming history at the 1999 Summer Universiade in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, where he earned a bronze medal in the 100 m freestyle at 50.77, finishing behind Russia's Denis Pimankov and Italy's Mauro Gallo. When his nation South Africa hosted the All-Africa Games in Johannesburg on that year, Folker added two more medals to his career hardware in front of a massive home crowd: a silver in the 50 m freestyle (22.83) and another bronze in the 100 m freestyle (50.61).

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Folker competed in two swimming events with only six days in between. First, he teamed up with Roland Mark Schoeman, Brendon Dedekind, and deaf-mute Terence Parkin in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. Swimming the third leg in heat two, Folker overhauled a 50-second barrier and recorded a split of 49.57, but the South Africans missed the top 8 final by 1.09 seconds, finishing in fifth place and eleventh overall with an African standard of 3:21.28. Because of his powerful effort in the freestyle relay, Folker was selected to join with Simon Thirsk, Brett Petersen, and Theo Verster in the 4 × 100 m medley relay six days later. During the prelims race, he swam a freestyle leg in the same heat with a scintillating anchor of 49.53 to deliver a fourth-place finish and thirteenth overall for the South Africans in 3:42.44.

The following year, at the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, Folker, along with his teammate Schoeman and Latin American sprinters José Meolans (Argentina) and Fernando Scherer (Brazil), captured a silver medal for the all-stars team in the freestyle relay (3:18.78).

Since his sporting career ended in 2004, Folker worked as a strength and conditioning coach for the California Golden Bears men's swimming and diving team at the University of California, Berkeley. He was hired to be an assistant coach at his alma mater, the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine swimming and diving teams in September 2019.
Q1360178
1999 All-Africa Games
EVE
Q258
South Africa
LOC
Q8544
2000 Summer Olympics
EVE
Q6835637
Michaelhouse
LOC
Q6835637
Michaelhouse
LOC
Q217439
University of Hawaii
ORG
Q3417790
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
MEDIA
Q196670
1999 Summer Universiade
EVE
Q8826
Palma de Mallorca, Spain
LOC
Q1106269
Denis Pimankov
PER
Q3852830
Mauro Gallo
PER
Q1360178
All-Africa Games
EVE
Q34647
Johannesburg
LOC
Q8544
2000 Summer Olympics
EVE
Q3130
Sydney
LOC
Q380357
Roland Mark Schoeman
PER
Q1132807
Brendon Dedekind
PER
Q530054
Terence Parkin
PER
Q1076260
4 × 100 m freestyle relay
Concept
Q16216792
Simon Thirsk
PER
Q16216006
Brett Petersen
PER
Q16215619
Theo Verster
Concept
Q3879601
4 × 100 m medley relay
Concept
Q3558601
2001 Goodwill Games
MEDIA
Q34932
Brisbane, Australia
LOC
Q1818808
José Meolans
PER
Q1378835
Fernando Scherer
PER
Q2918860
California Golden Bears
MEDIA
Q168756
University of California, Berkeley
LOC
Q3417790
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine
MEDIA
Q16215777
Nicholas Folker
PER
1976-10-26T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
October 26, 1976
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2004-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2004
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2019-09-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
September 2019
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