Saori Haruguchi

Who is Saori Haruguchi?

Saori Haruguchi is a Japanese swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and individual medley events. On March 20, 2008, Haruguchi became the first ever swimming champion in the university's history, when she posted a meet record of 1:52.39 to take the 200 m butterfly title at the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships in Columbus, Ohio. Haruguchi is a member of the swimming team for Oregon State Beavers, and a graduate of human development and family science at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon.

Haruguchi qualified for the women's 400 m individual medley at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, by placing first ahead of Maiko Fujino and clearing a FINA A-standard entry time of 4:38.94 from the Olympic trials in Tokyo. She challenged seven other swimmers on the fourth heat, including top medal favorites Stephanie Rice of Australia, Li Xuanxu of China, and three-time Olympic medalist Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe. Haruguchi rounded out the field to seventh place by five seconds behind France's Camille Muffat, outside her entry time of 4:45.22. Haruguchi failed to advance into the final, as she placed twenty-seventh overall on the first day of the preliminaries.