Who is Agostina Hein, the Argentine swimmer preparing to take LA28 by storm

Argentine swimmer Agostina Hein made history on Sunday. The 17-year-old claimed her ninth gold medal at the South American Youth Olympic Games, bringing her total to 10 across the competition.  In the process, Hein broke two South American records — 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:22.01 and 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:10.82 —  and three Argentine records.  Her nine gold medals also made her the most successful athlete in the competition’s history, breaking the record previously held by Brazil’s Stephanie Balduccini, who had won eight at Rosario 2022. “To be honest, I’m thrilled. It was like a Dream Games; I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome,” Hein said in an interview with the National Undersecretariat of Sports, adding that beating the record of someone she admires like Balduccini meant a lot to her. Hein admitted she’s “already thinking about Los Angeles 2028,” with times that should allow her to qualify on her first attempt.  “I have to keep growing and building on my progress. Right now I’m competing in a lot of events, and it’s not easy to keep up the pace, but I have to enjoy it, give it my all—that’s how the times come,” she said.  Who is Agostina Hein? Hein was born on April 24, 2008, in the city of Campana, Buenos Aires Province, and started swimming at age 3.  She participated in her first swimming competition at 7, where she met her current coach, Sebastián Montero. “She always had great height and poise, but above all, she had a real feel for the water,” Montero told sports outlet Olé in 2025. “You could tell she did everything very naturally. That’s not something you develop over time—it’s something you’re born with.” In 2023, at 15, Hein won the bronze medal at the World Junior Swimming Championships held in Israel, becoming the second Argentine swimmer to reach the podium since Delfina Pignatiello in 2017.  The result qualified her for the 2024 World Championships in Doha, where, at age 16, she finished fifth in the 800-meter freestyle and eighth in the 400-meter freestyle. Months later, she became the youngest member of the Argentine delegation at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In August 2025, she made history in swimming in Argentina: she was crowned champion in the 400-meter medley at the World Junior Championships in Otopeni, Romania.  She did so with a time of 4:34.34, breaking the Argentine and South American record, set by Georgina Bardach (4:37.51) at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where she won the bronze medal.