Craig Russell Beardsley (born 1960) is an American former competition

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who was a world record-holder in the 200-meter

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

for three years in the early 1980s. Although he qualified as a member of the ill-fated 1980 U.S. Olympic Team, Beardsley could not compete in the Olympics because of the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympic Games.

Early years

Craig Beardsley was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

in 1960, the son of an American father, Russell Beardsley, and a Chinese American immigrant mother, Jeanne Loh.Craig Neff,
A Little Water Music, Please: The University of Florida's Craig Beardsley, who bows a mean cello, swims the 200 fly faster than anyone in the world
" ''Sports Illustrated'' (March 29, 1982). Retrieved April 15, 2010. He attended the

United Nations International School The United Nations International School (UNIS) is a private international school in New York City, established in 1947. Many members of the United Nations staff arriving with young families found unexpected difficulties with New York's school sys ...

in the city, where he was a stand-out

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

player, and graduated from

Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan is a comprehensive four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from the suburban communities of Harrington Park, Northvale, Norwood and Old Tappan in Berg ...

after his family moved to

Harrington Park, New Jersey Harrington Park is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,664,Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is hel ...

in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After high school, he received an athletic scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville, Florida, where he swam for coach

Randy Reese Randy Reese (born 1946) is an American college and Olympic swimming coach. Reese is best known for coaching the Florida Gators swimming and diving teams of the University of Florida to four national championships, and coaching the winners of ...

Florida Gators swimming and diving The Florida Gators swimming and diving program represents the University of Florida in the aquatics sports of swimming and diving. The program includes separate men's and women's teams, both of which compete in Division I of the National Coll ...

team in

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athlete, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic sports, ...

(NCAA) competition from 1979 to 1982.'
Florida Swimming & Diving 2011–12 Media Supplement
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 61, 62, 65, 68, 78, 79 (2011). Retrieved April 15, 2012. Beardsley qualified for the star-crossed U.S. Olympic team in 1980, but could not participate when, at the behest of U.S. President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...

, the U.S. Olympic Committee voted to boycott the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

in Moscow, Russia after the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

invaded

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

in late 1979. Like many of the best American athletes of 1980, he was denied the opportunity to participate in the largest stage in international sports. At the 1980 U.S. Olympic Trials held the month before the Olympics, Beardsley set a new world record of 1:58.21 in the 200-meter butterfly—a time that was over a second faster than Soviet swimmer Sergey Fesenko's gold medal time in the 1980 Olympic finals. After the United States-led a boycott of the Moscow Olympics, Beardsley continued to train and participate in competitive swimming. He held both the American and world records for the 200-meter butterfly from 1980 to 1983. ''Swimming World Magazine'' named him its American Male Swimmer of the Year in 1981. Beardsley was a two-time NCAA champion in the 200-meter butterfly and received eight All-American honors while swimming for the Gators. In 1983, he again won the gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly at the Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela. Beardsley failed to qualify for the U.S Olympic team in 1984, by placing third by 0.36 of a second in the U.S. Olympic Trials,Craig Neff,
They've Stroked Their Way To L.A.: Three world and five American records tumbled as 43 swimmers gained Olympic berths at the U.S. trials
" ''Sports Illustrated'' (July 9, 1984). Retrieved April 15, 2010. and he retired from competitive swimming afterward. Taking advantage of the hard feelings created by the American-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the Soviet Union and other

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

countries had pushed for and received Olympic rules changes limiting each country to only two participants in each swimming event. The United States, as the dominant swimming power, was hurt the most.

Life after competition swimming

Beardsley is a veteran celebrity swimmer for Swim Across America (SAA), a charitable organization that raises funds for cancer research.Swim Across America, Olympians
Craig Beardsley
Retrieved September 24, 2010. He has been an active participant in SAA events since 1987. He graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in management in 1983, and was later inducted into the

University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame The University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame includes over 300 former Florida Gators athletes who represented the University of Florida in one or more intercollegiate sports and were recognized as "Gator Greats" for their athletic excellence d ...

as a "Gator Great."F Club, Hall of Fame
Gator Greats
Retrieved December 15, 2014. Beardsley became a

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

trader, working for Prudential Securities in New York City. Weddings; Ms. Hensel, Craig Beardsley
" ''The New York Times'' (June 14, 1992). Retrieved April 14, 2010. In 1992, he married Ann-Elizabeth McKay Hensel, a former member of the U.S. national

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympics, 1908 Olympics ...

team. He has two children, Carter and Caroline, and lives in

Chatham, New Jersey "The Chathams" is a term used in reference to shared services for two neighboring municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey, United States – Chatham Borough and Chatham Township. The two are separate municipalities. The first, a town that w ...

References

Bibliography

* Caraccioli, Jerry, & Tom Caraccioli, ''Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games'', New Chapter Press, Washington, D.C. (2009). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Beardsley, Craig 1960 births Living people American male butterfly swimmers Florida Gators men's swimmers World record setters in swimming Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan alumni People from Chatham Borough, New Jersey Sportspeople from Morris County, New Jersey People from Harrington Park, New Jersey Sportspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey Swimmers from New York City Swimmers at the 1979 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1983 Pan American Games Swimmers from New Jersey World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games

Early years

Life after competition swimming

See also

References

Bibliography