John Maurer Nelson (born June 8, 1948) 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 Yale University, a 1964 Olympic medalist, a 1968 Olympic champion, and a former world record-holder. Nelson was born in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and attended

Pompano Beach High School Pompano Beach High School (formerly Pompano High School, Pompano Beach Senior High School and The Pompano Beach High School Institute of International Studies) is a college-preparatory school located in Pompano Beach, Florida, which instructs g ...

Pompano Beach, Florida Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale and 36 miles north of Miami. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part ...

. In the summer of 1967, Nelson trained with the Jack Nelson Swim Club in Fort Lauderdale. Prior to 1967, he trained with Bob Ousley of the Fort Lauderdale Swimming Association. From 1962-1964, he won the Florida State Championship in the 100 and 200 freestyle events for three successive years, swimming them in record times. In 1964, he helped lead Pompano Beach to a state championship in swimming.

1964 Tokyo Olympics

As a 16-year old High School Junior 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 finishing with a time of 17:03.0. Nelson trailed the first and second place swimmers throughout the race, but came on strong at 1350-meters catching American Alan Wood who was second to Australian Bob Windle. Though he finished close, Nelson was unable to catch Windle, who won the event."1964 Summer Olympics – Tokyo, Japan – Swimming"
– ''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on May 1, 2008)

Yale

Nelson enrolled in

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, around 1966, where he swam for coach Phil Moriarty's Yale Bulldogs swimming and diving team, which included other Olympic-caliber swimmers such as Don Schollander. Nelson missed much of his Freshman swimming year from illness. As a Sophomore at Yale in April 1968, Nelson looked forward to the Mexico City Olympics, but realized how much tougher the competition would be to make the U.S. team. He worked for Yale's newspaper as a photographer, and had a good year as a swimmer in 1968, with Yale taking a second place finish to Indiana University at the NCAA Championship that year. At the 1968 NCAA's Nelson swam on Yale's winning 400 and 800-yard freestyle relay teams, and took a fourth place in the 500 with a time of 4:39.76. He trained for the 68 Olympics with Sherm Chavore's Arden Hills Swim Club. For the 1968 Olympics, he was trained by Hall of Fame Coach Sherm Chavoor at the Arden Hills Swim Club in Sacramento, as were fellow 1968 U.S. team swimming Olympians

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 ...

, Mark J. Burton, John Ferris and Sue Peterson. Chavoor was one of the early coaches to challenge elite swimmers with "overdistance training", which focused on workouts that gave more total yardage and semi-frequent mid-range and longer distance intervals to build greater endurance and speed.

1968 Mexico City Olympics

Nelson qualified at the trials and subsequently competed at the 1968 Olympic Games in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, where he received a gold medal in the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay beside his teammates Stephen Rerych,

and Schollander. Despite having the talents of Mark Spitz and Don Schollander on the team, the high altitude led the American team to underperform expectations, barely taking the gold with a combined time of 7:52.3, just 1.4 seconds ahead of second place Australia. In individual competition, Nelson received the bronze medal for his third-place finish in the men's 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:58.1."1968 Olympics – Mexico City, Mexico – Swimming"
– ''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on May 1, 2008)

World record 400-meter

Nelson improved the world record on the 400-meter freestyle (long course) on August 18, 1966 (4:11.8), only to be beaten by Don Schollander, both a Yale and U.S. Olympic teammate, on the same day (4:11.6).SportsRecords.co.uk, Swimming

Retrieved September 25, 2012. In 1985, Nelson was practicing medicine in Salt Lake City, Utah."Beanpickers to Tornadoes", ''Fort Lauderdale News'', Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 11 August 1985, pg. 30

References

External links