Bahamian Olympian Izaak Bastian Announces Retirement
Izaak Bastian, who starred at Florida State and represented the Bahamas at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has announced his retirement from competitive swimming.
Bastian confirmed the decision in an interview with the Bahamian newspaper, The Tribune.
Bastian graduated from Florida State in the spring of 2022. He is pursuing a doctorate in physical therapy at Florida Gulf Coast University, with an anticipated graduation date in 2025.
“I’m happy with what I have done and I’m hoping that other people in the sport would find the inspiration from it and take it further,” Bastian told The Tribune. “So I’m pleased with it and stepping out of the sport this way.”
Born in Florida, Bastian represented the Bahamas internationally at the Olympics and a pair of Commonwealth Games, serving as his country’s flagbearer at the 2022 edition. He finished 40th in the 100 breast and 36th in the 200 breast in Tokyo. He holds national records in all three breaststroke distances.
Bastian collected a bevy of regional medals, including at the Central American and Caribbean Games and the CARIFTA Games. He won two medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games.
Bastian left Florida State with school records in the 100 and 200 breast. He won silver medals at ACCs in a pair of medley relays and finished third in the 100 breast in 2020. A four-time All-ACC Academic selection, he is a five-time All-American and qualified for NCAAs in each of his four seasons (with the 2020 edition cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The 22-year-old is hoping to stay involved in swimming in some capacity once his competition days end.
“I want to give back to the kids a little more and that is something that I can achieve a little more, now that I am no longer on the competitive side,” he said. “If that is helping out with coaching or giving lessons or just being someone as a resource for them to use if they have any questions about my process or their own individual process, I just want to be a bank of knowledge if they need it.”