Nikša Roki (born 8 February 1988) is a Croatian swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and individual medley events.[1] He represented his nation Croatia at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has claimed multiple-time Croatian championship titles and national records throughout his swimming career in the 200 m butterfly and the individual medley double (both 200 and 400 m).[2]
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Niksa Roki |
| National team |  Croatia |
| Born | 8 February 1988 Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia |
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) |
| Weight | 80 kg (176 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Butterfly, medley |
| Club | Zagrebački PK |
| College team | Ohio State University (U.S.) |
Roki competed for Croatia in two swimming events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Leading up to the Games, he managed to dip beneath the FINA B-cut in 2:01.56 (200 m butterfly) and 4:25.28 (400 m individual medley) at the Golden Bear meet in Zagreb.[3] On the first day of the Games, Roki broke a Croatian record of 4:22.44 to touch the wall first in heat one of the 400 m individual medley, but finished only in twenty-third place.[4] In the 200 m butterfly, Roki repeated his luck in the evening prelims, as he topped the first heat against India's Rehan Poncha, Peru's Emmanuel Crescimbeni, and Honduras' Javier Hernández Maradiaga, overhauling a sub-2:00 barrier with a new Croatian record on a tech body suit in 1:59.58, nearly two seconds faster than his entry time. Roki failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed thirty-first overall in the prelims.[5]
Roki is previously a member of the swimming team for the Ohio State Buckeyes, and a graduate of biology at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio (2011). He was also named an honorable mention Scholar All-American by the National Swimming Coaches Association of America in 2009.[6]
Roki is currently a graduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park and is a teaching assistant for freshman level bioengineering courses.