Duncan Alexander Goodhew, (born 27 May 1957) is an English former competitive

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 ...

. After swimming competitively in America as a collegian at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

, he was an Olympic swimmer for Great Britain and won Olympic gold and bronze medals at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

in Moscow. He also swam at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

Early life

Goodhew attended Windlesham House School and

Millfield School Millfield is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding s ...

(Walton House). He was diagnosed with

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

at the age of 13. At the age of 15, he fell out of a tree, which triggered permanent hair loss due to alopecia universalis.

Career

Goodhew came to prominence as an international swimmer in 1976, finishing 7th in the 100m breaststroke at the Montreal Olympics that summer. Four years later, in the

1980 Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

, he won gold in the 100m breaststroke, in a time of 1:03.34, and a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay. He represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and won three

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

s in the breaststroke events and medley relay, at the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. At the ASA National British Championships he won the 100 metres breaststroke title in 1976, 1978 and 1980 and the 200 metres breaststroke title in 1976, 1978 and 1980. As an undergraduate swimmer at North Carolina State University in the mid-70's, Goodhew was mentored by North Carolina State swimming Coach Don Easterling who led the team from 1971 to 1995. Coach Easterling's North Carolina State teams won twelve straight Atlantic Coast Conference Championships from 1971 through 1982. Goodhew was selected by the British Bobsleigh Association to represent Great Britain at the 1981 European Championships. He is also an author and

motivational speaker A motivational speaker (or inspirational speaker) is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep ta ...

. In 1983 he was appointed an MBE by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

for services to sport. In 1987 he participated in Prince Edward's charity television special '' The Grand Knockout Tournament''. Goodhew's 100m breaststroke gold medal achievement was ranked 99th in the British network

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's '' 100 Greatest Sporting Moments'' in 2002. On 29 September 2001, Goodhew participated in an international relay off the coast of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

from Santa Catalina Island to

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. Of the eight international relay teams participating, each team had one swimmer with MS. Goodhew swam on the same team as organizer and MS activist Taylor MH. Proceeds from fund-raising were all donated to the Myelin Project. Goodhew has made a number of television appearances including featuring in several episodes of '' Dave Gorman's Important Astrology Experiment''.

Personal life

Goodhew married Annie Patterson, an American graphic designer from North Carolina, in December 1984, and they have two children. In 2000, Labour MP Robert Sheldon collapsed in the street and was revived by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by Goodhew who happened to be passing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodhew, Duncan 1957 births Living people English male breaststroke swimmers British male breaststroke swimmers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States People educated at Millfield Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Olympics English Olympic competitors Olympic swimmers for Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain People educated at Windlesham House School Swimmers at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists in swimming Members of the Order of the British Empire NC State Wolfpack men's swimmers British expatriate swimmers in the United States Olympic bronze medalists in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Summer World University Games medalists in swimming FISU World University Games silver medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 1977 Summer Universiade People with alopecia universalis Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games People from Marylebone Swimmers from the City of Westminster Sportspeople with dyslexia

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References