Wheeling, W. Va. - On Thursday night, the best and brightest athletes from around the world will converge on Paris, France for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. To celebrate, the Wheeling Athletic Department looks back at a former Cardinal swimmer who made history as the first Olympian in school history. Former Cardinal swimmer Zoran Lazarovski is a two-time Olympic swimmer, competing for his home country of Macedonia, and spent two seasons in the swimming pool here at Wheeling University. 

Lazarovski made his way to the Wheeling University campus in the fall of 1997 to begin his Cardinal swimming career. Little did he know, but just two seasons later, he would reach the top of his sport, qualifying for the 2000 NCAA DII Swimming and Diving Championships. He would compete in both the 100-Yard Butterfly and 200-Yard Butterfly at the event and came through with the program's lone NCAA DII Individual Championship in the 200-Yard event. He would swim a time of 1:48.26, which remains the program record in the 200-Yard Butterfly to this day. The following season, Lazarovski was back at the NCAA DII National Championships, and picked up a 3rd place finish in the 200-Yard Butterfly (1:53.50) and a 17th place finish in the 100-Yard Butterfly (51.42). 

It was the summer following his DII National Championship that Lazarovski would get his first call to the Olympic games. He would qualify for the Macedonia team and competed in the 200-Yard Butterfly for the team. He would end up finishing 29th overall with a time of 2:01.30, claiming second place in his heat by 0.69 seconds. After leaving Wheeling, Lazarovski was back on the olympic scene after qualifying at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, with a time of 2:03.69. This time, he would finish fourth place in his heat, posting a time of 2:02.26. He improved two spots from his first Olympic showing, placing 27th in the field. 

Today, Lazarovski still has a place in the Wheeling Men's Swimming record books, sitting in the top 10 all-time in three different events. His NCAA DII Championship mark of 1:48.26 still holds as the program record in the 200-Yard Butterfly, while he sits third all-time in the 100-Yard Butterfly with a time of 49.99. Lazarovski's final top 10 spot comes in the 200-Yard Individual Medley, where he sits sixth all-time with a time of 1:55.12. To this day, Lazarovski is the only Cardinal to compete in the Olympics, and the Cardinals celebrate their former Olympian as the summer games get set to begin. 

The 2024 Paris Olympic Opening Ceremonies will take place on Thursday, July 25th, beginning at 7:30 PM.