Howard Hinds
Howard Xavier Hinds (born October 29, 1977) is a Curaçao former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle and butterfly events. He is a two-time Olympian (1996 and 2000), and a member of the Fort Lauderdale Swim Team, under head coach Jack Nelson.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Howard Xavier Hinds |
| National team | Netherlands Antilles |
| Born | 29 October 1977 Willemstad, Curaçao |
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 87 kg (192 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Freestyle |
| Club | Fort Lauderdale Swim Team (USA) |
| Coach | Jack Nelson (USA) |
Hinds made his official debut for the Netherlands Antilles at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He failed to reach the top 16 final in the 50 m freestyle, finishing only in fifty-fourth place at 24.63.
At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Hinds competed only in a sprint freestyle double. He achieved FINA B-standards of 23.88 (50 m freestyle) and 52.58 (100 m freestyle) from the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In the 100 m freestyle, Hinds placed fifty-first on the morning prelims. Swimming in heat three, he fell short to a second seed, from start to finish, in a lifetime best of 52.52, clipping 0.06 seconds off his entry time, but finishing just behind Uzbekistan's Ravil Nachaev, the winner of his heat, by three-tenths of a second (0.30). Two days later, in the 50 m freestyle, Hinds pulled off again a second seed and fifty-second overall in the same heat at 24.07, nearly half a second (0.50) behind Costa Rica's Estebán Blanco.