Luis Alberto Nicolao (born June 28, 1944 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

) is a retired

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

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 ...

from

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

,Profile at Sports Reference
/ref> who in 1962 twice broke the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

in the men's 100 metres butterfly (long course).

World records

Trained and coached by the winningest Argentinean coach "Profe" Alberto Carranza, Nicolao traveled to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

with great help from a long time Carranza's friend "Pepe" Caraballo. Despite going too fast in the first 50 meters he broke Fred Schmidt’s world record at 58.4 in the salt water Guanabara pool on 24 April 1962. Carranza knew that Nicolao could go even faster if the first 50 meters were more measured, so he went back to Pepe Caraballo and others to assist and support their stay in Rio for a couple more days in order to try a second time. This resulted in a much better race and the world record was lowered to 57.0 on 27 April 1962. Five years later US swimmer

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 ...

broke Nicolao's top time.

References

*
Red Argentina Profile
1944 births Living people Argentine male freestyle swimmers Argentine male butterfly swimmers Olympic swimmers for Argentina Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1963 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1967 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Buenos Aires World record setters in swimming Pan American Games silver medalists for Argentina Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina Pan American Games silver medalists in swimming Pan American Games bronze medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games 20th-century Argentine sportsmen {{Argentina-swimming-bio-stub