Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox swimmer
Andrew Patrick Bree (born 16 March 1981) is a breaststroke swimmer from Helen's Bay, County Down, Northern Ireland. He is a two-time Olympian, having swum at the 2000 and 2008 Olympics for Ireland. He also represented Northern Ireland four times at the Commonwealths and placed fifth twice in the 200m breaststroke. Andrew attended the University of Tennessee.
He became the first Northern Irish person to win a medal at the European Short Course Swimming Championships when he finished second in the 200 m breaststroke at the 2003 Championships at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin, Ireland.<ref>Bree wins European silver at National Aquatic Centre Template:Webarchive, RTÉ Sport, published 14 December 2003; retrieved 1 June 2009.</ref> His home club is Ards, but as of 2008 he trains in the United States at the University of Tennessee.
After swimming at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney;<ref>Olympics: Bree sets PB for 200m Breaststroke Template:Webarchive, RTÉ Sport; published 19 September 2000; retrieved 1 June 2009.</ref> He failed to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.<ref>Bree fails in Olympic bid Template:Webarchive, RTÉ Sport, published 27 June 2004; retrieved 1 June 2009.</ref> However, he qualified for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, where he equaled the 200 m LC breaststroke record and placed fifth.<ref>2006 Commonwealth Games Results: Swimming: 100 breaststroke, bbc.co.uk; published 18 March 2006.</ref>
In the months leading up to the 2008 Olympics he tested positive at a drug test. Bree claimed that he had used a nasal spray and did not know it contained banned substances. The results of the drug test were later overturned and he was allowed swim at the Beijing Olympics.<ref>Andrew Bree interview with RTÉ Radio 1Template:Dead link; original airdate 1 June 2008; retrieved 14 March 2015.</ref>
Beijing 2008 OlympicsEdit
Bree qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics at the 2008 US National Swimming Championships in Indiana by swimming a new personal best time and then-Irish record of 2:13.14 in the 200 m breaststroke. At the British Swimming Championships in June 2008 he swam the 100 m breaststroke in a time of 1:01.83 which allowed him to swim the 100 m breaststroke at the Olympics also. He was also entered in the heats of the 200 metres individual medley but scratched from the heats.<ref name="Beijing08">Bree breaks Irish record in 200m, RTÉ Sport, published 13 August 2008; retrieved 1 June 2009.</ref>
In the 200 m breaststroke heats he won his heat in a time of 2.10.91, breaking his own Irish record by over 2 seconds, and then lowering it again in semi-finals to 2:10.16.<ref name="Beijing08"/> He is also Irish record holder in the 100 m breaststroke (1:01.78) and the 200 m individual medley (2:04.43).
MediaEdit
In 2024, Bree was an analyst on the 2024 Olympics swimming coverage on RTÉ Sport.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>