John Frederick Hencken (born May 29, 1954) 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 ...

for

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder primarily in the 100 and 200 meter breaststroke events. Hencken won five Olympic medals during his career in the 1972 Munich, and 1976 Montreal Olympics, including three golds.

Early swimming

Hencken was born in Culver City, California, and began swimming to recover from an operation he had to remove a growth behind his knee. By 15, he lived in Kensington, California in the greater San Francisco area, where he swam for the Berkeley YMCA. An outstanding breaststroker at 16, Hencken set a National Junior Olympics record of 1:01.7 in the 100-yard breaststroke, though he had already broken a minute in the event, and had swum the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:14.6, just a second short of the Junior Olympic record. By 1970-71, he swam for Cupertino's

Cupertino High School Cupertino High School, colloquially referred to as "Tino", "CHS", is a four-year comprehensive public high school located near the Rancho Rinconada and Fairgrove neighborhoods of Cupertino, California, USA. The school serves mostly suburban res ...

, in central Western California, graduating in 1972. By 1971, he did much of his more intensive training and competition with the demanding Santa Clara Swim Club, about ten miles Northeast of Cupertino. He swam, though not continuously, for the Santa Clara Club from 1969-1980. Santa Clara Club was an age group team under Hall of fame Coach

George Haines George Frederick Haines (March 9, 1924 – May 1, 2006) was a competitive swimmer and coach who for twenty-three years coached the highly successful Santa Clara Swim Club which he founded in 1951. He later coached UCLA, Stanford University, ...

, who trained 26 future Olympians at Santa Clara including future Olympic medalists

Mark Spitz Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the Lists of Olympic medalists#Medalist with most medals by Olympiad, most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympi ...

Greg Buckingham Gregory Fenton Buckingham (July 29, 1945 – November 11, 1990) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic silver medalist, and former world record-holder in two events. Buckingham was born in Riverside, California, to Morris H. and Rutheda B ...

Don Schollander Donald Arthur Schollander (born April 30, 1946) is an American former competition swimmer, five-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events. He won a total of five gold medals and one silver medal at the 1964 and 1968 S ...

, and Donna deVarona. Swimming for Cupertino High as a Senior in 1972, Hencken set a school record of 22.2 in the 50 freestyle, and swam a 1:00.9 in the 100 breast stroke, the best time in his central coast high school section.

Stanford University

Hencken attended and swam for Stanford University under Hall of Fame Coach Jim Gaughran beginning in 1972, majoring in general engineering and product design, and graduated in 1977. He later completed his MBA at the University of Phoenix. During his years swimming for Stanford, Hencken won five NCAA titles in his signature stroke, with three in the 100-yard breast and two in the 200-yard breast events. Hencken won the 100 and 200-yard Conference championship titles seven out of a possible eight times in his four years of collegiate competition.

Olympic career

At the 1972 Olympic trials in early August in Chicago, Hencken set an American record of 1:05.998 in the 100-meter breaststroke, and a World Record of 2:23.79 in the 200-meter breast stroke."A Good Excuse for Trip", ''Progress Bulletin'', Pomona, California, 18 August 1972, pg. 17 At the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

in Munich, Germany, he won a gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke with a world record time of 2:21.55, breaking his former record of 2:22.8 and a bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke."Olympic Scoreboard", ''Corpus Christi Caller-Times'', Corpus Christi, Texas, 3 September 1972, pg. 30 Four years later 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 ...

in Montreal, Canada, Hencken won a gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke with a world record time of 1:03.11."Swim Records of the Games", ''The Vancouver Sun'', Vancouver, Canada, 27 July 1976, pg. 24 He also took a gold swimming with the 4×100-meter medley relay with a world record time of 3:42.22, and a silver in the 200-meter breaststroke with an American record time of 2:17.26. Each of the four swimmers for the gold-medal winning US 4x100 medley team recorded the swiftest individual time in the event final for their leg, with John Naber taking a significant lead in his opening backstroke leg."Olympic Games Results, Finals, Swimming", ''The Los Angeles Times'', Los Angeles, California, 25 July 1976, pg. 222 Hencken set another world record in the 1975 World Championships, placing first in the 100-meter breaststroke. During his career Hencken set 21 American and 13 world records. He won 14 American Athletic Union National titles.

Honors

As a very distinctive honor, Hencken was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor swimmer. Qualifying in 1972, 1976, and 1980, he remains the only swimmer to ever qualify for three Olympic teams in the 100 meter and 200 meter breaststroke. He was also inducted into the Stanford University Hall of Fame in the 1980s, where in 2016, he was named All-Century. He was elected to the Santa Clara International Swim Center Hall Of Fame in July 1998.

References

External links