Former Ukrainian Olympian swimmer Sergey Fesenko will join the Indiana men's swimming and diving program this fall, head coach Ray Looze, announced.

Fesenko competed for the Ukraine in the 2000 Olympics. He qualified to participate again this summer for the 2004 Athens Games but decided against competing because of questions regarding his NCAA eligibility.

Looze said Fesenko’s times are already good enough to make him an NCAA finalist in several events. IU's media relations reports that Fresenko’s strongest events are the freestyles where he's been 1:50 in the 200m free, 3:51 in the 400m free and 8:02m in the 800 free, though he was 16th in the 200 fly in Sydney.

"Fesenko will be eligible to compete this season,” said Looze. Born in 1982, Fesenko “will have at least two years of eligibility, and perhaps three, to compete at IU. This puts us at the point to win the Big Ten title and finish in the top 10 at the NCAA meet.”

Several current members of IU’s team gave up part of their scholarships so IU would have financial assistance for Fesenko to attend the university.