RIO DE JANEIRO – The second member of the FGCU Swimming and Diving program to qualify for the Olympics for the third straight occurrence, Evita Leter prepares to make her Olympic debut with the Opening Ceremony scheduled for Friday and the swimming portion of the Games slated for Aug. 6-13 at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
 
Leter (Paramaribo, Suriname/Doral Academy) qualified for the Olympic Games as a Universality Place and will compete in the 100 breast, which runs Sunday, Aug. 7 and Monday, Aug. 8. The preliminary round will begin at 12:51 p.m. ET with the top-16 swimmers advancing to the semifinal round at 9:29 p.m. Sunday. The top-eight finishers from the semifinal will then advance to the final event at 9:54 p.m. Monday.
 
NBC will broadcast the Opening Ceremony of the Rio Olympics on Friday, Aug. 5 on a one-hour delay beginning at 8 p.m. Additionally, each event can be seen on the NBCOlympics.com live stream. For a more detailed view of the daily competition schedule, click here.
 
"It's obviously an honor to represent your country at any international meet, but to do it at the Olympics – the highest platform – I'm over the moon happy about it," said Leter. "All of my family and friends are going to be watching, and I'm happy I get to experience that level of competition. It's everything I could ever dream of accomplishing in the sport."
 
During the Olympic qualification period from March 1, 2015 to July 3, 2016, Leter turned in the top times among Surinamese female swimmers in both the 50 breast (32.44) and 100 breast (1:12.99) after recently taking gold in the shorter sprint and silver in the longer sprint at the Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships. Additionally, she clocked her country's second-best times in the 50 free (27.91) at the All-Florida Senior Circuit and the 100 free (1:01.07) at the Southern Zone Sectional Championship.
 
Leter, who joins former teammate Lani Cabrera (Bridgetown, Barbados/St. Ursula's Secondary School) at the Rio Olympics, is one of five members of the FGCU Swimming and Diving program and the sixth FGCU student-athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games. Former swimmers Danielle Beaubrun (St. Lucia) and Eva Lehtonen (Finland) qualified for Beijing in 2008, while Beaubrun and Karen Vilorio (Honduras) competed in London four years later. Additionally, former beach volleyball player Brook Youngquist Sweat will join Cabrera and Leter in Rio as the University's first representative of the United States.

In her junior season with the Green and Blue, Leter took home the CCSA crown in the 100 breast after touching the pads in a personal-best time of 1:01.10 and helped lead the Eagles to its seventh CCSA Championship in an eight-year span. Her time in the event was also good for the third-fastest of the season and fourth-fastest in program history.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-date coverage of FGCU women's swimming and diving, follow us on Twitter @FGCU_WSWIM and visit www.FGCUAthletics.com where full recaps and results will be available.
                                                                        
SUPPORT THE CAUSE
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.