Fred Schmidt

Frederick Weber Schmidt (born October 23, 1943) is an American former competition swimmer. He was Olympic champion in 4×100 m medley in 1964, and bronze medallist in 200 m butterfly. He is a former world record-holder in men's 100-meter butterfly, holding the record from 1961 to 1962.

Fred Schmidt
Schmidt at the 1964 Olympics
Personal information
Full nameFrederick Weber Schmidt
Nickname(s)"Fred"
National teamUnited States
Born (1943-10-23) October 23, 1943
Evanston, Illinois, U.S.[1]
Height6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight185 lb (84 kg)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesButterfly
College teamIndiana University
Medal record
Representing the United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1964 Tokyo 4×100 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 1964 Tokyo 200 m butterfly
Pan American Games
Silver medal – second place 1963 São Paulo 200 m butterfly

Swimming career

Schmidt began swimming competitively at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, and was part of one of the greatest high school swim teams, in 1961. The team won the Illinois high school championship, and various team members held every high school national record at the time. The New Trier High School team placed third in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships that year behind the Yale and Indiana University teams. He then joined coach Doc Counsilman's Indiana Hoosiers swimming and diving team at Indiana University.

At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, he received a gold medal by swimming the butterfly leg for the winning U.S. team in the 4×100-meter medley relay, setting a new world record of 3:58.4 with teammates Thompson Mann (backstroke), Bill Craig (breaststroke), and Steve Clark (freestyle).[2] He also received a bronze medal for his third-place finish in the 200-meter butterfly, clocking a time of 2:09.3.

Schmidt held the world record in 100-meter butterfly (58.6 seconds) from August 20, 1961 to April 24, 1962.

Life outside competitive swimming
Schmidt with the crew of Apollo 15 aboard the NASA Motor Vessel Retriever

Schmidt later entered the U.S. Navy, became a SEAL, and participated in the recovery of several capsules in NASA's manned space flight program. In 1971, when Apollo 15 returned from the Moon, Schmidt welcomed mission commander David Scott, also a former competitive swimmer, back to Earth.[3]

Schmidt later moved to Guam, where he currently resides.

See also

References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Fred Schmidt". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2012-11-13.
  2. "1964 Summer Olympics – Tokyo, Japan – Swimming" Archived 2007-09-04 at the Wayback Machine – databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on April 29, 2008)
  3. Collections Retrieved From The Vault. constantcontact.com
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