Rimvydas Šalčius

Who is Rimvydas Šalčius?

Rimvydas Šalčius is a Lithuanian swimmer, who specialized in butterfly events. He is a multiple-time Lithuanian champion, and a two-time national record holder in both the men's butterfly and medley relay events. He also set a junior record time of 53.25 seconds by winning the gold medal in the men's 100 m butterfly at the 2003 European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

Salcius made his official debut, as a 19-year-old, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where he competed in the men's 100 m butterfly. He touched out Colombia's Camilo Becerra by a quarter of a second to take a fourth spot and thirty-fifth overall in the fourth heat, with a time of 54.45 seconds.

Four years later, Salcius qualified for his second Lithuanian team, as a 23-year-old, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He cleared a FINA B-standard entry time of 54.16 from the European Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Unlike his previous games, Salcius posted his lifetime best and broke a Lithuanian record of 52.90 seconds to touch the wall first in heat 3 by less than 0.18 of a second ahead of three-time Olympian Jeremy Knowles of the Bahamas. Salcius failed to advance again into the semifinals, as he placed thirty-fourth out of 66 swimmers in the preliminary heats. He also tied his position with Canada's Joe Bartoch.