Stephen Edward Clark (born June 17, 1943) is an American former competition swimmer for Yale University, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Clark attended and swam for Los Altos High School under Hall of Fame Coach Nort Thornton Jr., who would later coach the University of California Berkeley. He qualified for the Olympic team in 1960, while still attending High School. Demonstrating his early mastery of the event, at the March 1961, AAU National Indoor Swimming Championships in New Haven, Connecticut, Clark set an all-time age group record in the 100-yard freestyle of 46.7. With exceptional talent, the Los Altos High School team was considered strong enough to compete with many Varsity college teams, and competed against the Stanford Freshman team in 1961."Foothill Aquatics Coach Wins Call Swimming Job", ''The Berkeley Gazette'', Berkeley, California, April 19, 1974, pg. 14

Yale University

Clark attended

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 ...

, where he swam for coach Philip Moriarty's Yale Bulldogs swimming and diving team in

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) and

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

competition. During his tenure at Yale, he won five NCAA titles. He also captured six individual and five AAU relay championships while swimming for the Santa Clara Swim Club, 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, ...

. Clark was the Santa Clara Club's first outstanding male swimmer, and the first of many outstanding swimmers mentored by Haines. A sprint specialist with exceptionally efficient flip turns, he set nine world records, but would have set more as short course records were not accepted for world records at the time. As a senior, he was the Yale swim team captain; he graduated from Yale with his bachelor's degree in 1964. In 2005, he donated one of his three Olympic gold medals to his alma mater.

1960 Olympics

At the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

in Rome, Clark swam for the first-place U.S. relay teams in the preliminary heats of the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay and men's 4×100-meter medley relay. Both American relay teams won gold medals, but Clark was ineligible for a medal under the Olympic swimming rules in effect in 1960 because he did not compete in the event finals. He won his first international gold medal at the

1963 Pan American Games The 1963 Pan American Games, officially known as the IV Pan American Games () and commonly known as São Paulo 1963, were held from April 20 to May 5, 1963, in São Paulo, Brazil. Host city selection For the first time, two cities submitted b ...

in São Paulo, Brazil, winning the men's 100-metre freestyle in a time of 54.7 seconds, and narrowly edging American swimmer Steven Jackman (54.8 seconds).

1964 Olympics

At the 1964, U.S. Olympic trials, Clark had developed tendinitis in his shoulder, and was only able to make the team as a member of relays, though he would meet with great success at the Olympic finals. After travelling with the team to Tokyo for the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

, Clark won three gold medals in record times as a member of three highly competitive U.S. relay teams. His first win in the 4×100-meter freestyle, was a world record with a time of 3:33.2. Clark's individual 100 freestyle leg was a world record, and one of his most notable swims, as the fastest leg of the relay with a time of 52.9 seconds. Clark also won gold in the 4×200-meter freestyle with a world record combined time of 7:52.1. His final gold was in the 4×100-meter medley with a world record time of 3:58.4.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes
Steve Clark
Retrieved March 15, 2015. After Yale, Clark enrolled at Harvard Law School and authored a widely selling book on swimming, entitled ''Competitive Swimming As I See It''. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1966.

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* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Steve 1943 births Living people American male freestyle swimmers World record setters in swimming Harvard Law School alumni Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Oakland, California Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Yale Bulldogs men's swimmers Swimmers at the 1963 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in swimming 20th-century American sportsmen

Yale University

1960 Olympics

1964 Olympics

See also

References

External links