John Nelson (swimmer)

John Maurer Nelson (born June 8, 1948) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.

John Nelson
Personal information
Full nameJohn Maurer Nelson
National teamUnited States
Born (1948-06-08) June 8, 1948
Chicago, Illinois
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight146 lb (66 kg)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
College teamYale University

Nelson was born in Chicago, Illinois, and attended Pompano Beach High School in Pompano Beach, Florida. He enrolled in Yale University, where he swam for coach Phil Moriarty's Yale Bulldogs swimming and diving team, which included other Olympic-caliber swimmers such as Don Schollander.

At the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, Nelson received a silver medal for his second-place finish in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle.[1] Four years later, he competed at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, where he received a gold medal in the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay beside his teammates Stephen Rerych, Mark Spitz and Schollander. In individual competition, he received the bronze medal for his third-place finish in the men's 200-meter freestyle.[2]

Nelson improved the world record on the 400-meter freestyle (long course) on August 18, 1966 (4:11.8), only to be beaten by Schollander, his American teammate, on the same day (4:11.6).[3]

See also

References
  1. "1964 Summer Olympics – Tokyo, Japan – Swimming" Archived 2007-09-04 at the Wayback Machine – databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on May 1, 2008)
  2. "1968 Olympics – Mexico City, Mexico – Swimming" – databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on May 1, 2008)
  3. SportsRecords.co.uk, Swimming, Swimming - Men's World Records - Long Course. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  • Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "John Nelson". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2012-11-08.


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