Alexander Timothy McKee (born March 14, 1953) is an American former competition swimmer and three-time Olympic silver medalist. He was a successful

medley Medley or Medleys may refer to: Sports *Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles * Medley relay races at track meets Music *Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together People *Medley (surname), list of people with this nam ...

and

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

swimmer, and is often remembered for being a part of the closest Olympic swimming finish in history and the resulting rule changes regarding the timing of international swimming events.

Early years

McKee was born in

Ardmore, Pennsylvania Ardmore is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) spanning the border between Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Montgomery counties in the U.S. ...

.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes
Tim McKee
Retrieved June 26, 2015. He was the fourth of nine children in his family; his father Alexander "Big Al" McKee was a former

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

for Ohio State University's Buckeye swimming and diving team in the late 1930s.Larry Lewis,
Alexander McKee, 85; loved swimming
" ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' (August 6, 2002). Retrieved June 26, 2015. While McKee was a child, his parents moved the family to

Newtown Square, Pennsylvania Newtown Township, also referred to by the name of its post office of Newtown Square, is a township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Prior to 1789, it was part of Chester County, along with the rest of Delaware County. As of t ...

, so that he and his siblings could walk through a path in their backyard to the Suburban Swim Club to practice, where his father served as coach from 1962 to 1968. Three of his brothers and two of sisters achieved some measure of national or international recognition as competition swimmers. McKee graduated from

Malvern Preparatory School Malvern Preparatory School, commonly referred to as Malvern Prep, is an independent, all-boys Catholic middle school and college preparatory high school in Malvern, Pennsylvania, within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The school is operated by O ...

Malvern, Pennsylvania Malvern is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is west of Philadelphia. The population was 3,419 at the 2020 census. History The area was originally settled in the 17th century by Welsh immigrants who purchased lan ...

in 1971. Shortly before Tim McKee graduated, Greg Jagenburg, a World Aquatics and Pan American Games Champion in butterfly also swam for Malvern and the Suburban Swim Club along with McKee's brother Chris, a High School All American."Malvern Prep Swimmers Eye All-American Honors", ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 9 December 1971, pg. 42

College swimming career

After high school, McKee accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in Gainesville, Florida, where he swam for coach Bill Harlan's

Florida Gators swimming and diving The Florida Gators swimming and diving program represents the University of Florida in the aquatics sports of swimming and diving. The program includes separate men's and women's teams, both of which compete in Division I of the National Coll ...

team in

National Collegiate Athletics Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and 1 in Canada. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and helps ...

(NCAA) and

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) competition from 1972 to 1974.
Florida Swimming & Diving 2014–15 Media Supplement
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 79, 84, 87, 88, 96, 101 (2014). Retrieved June 26, 2015. He followed his older brother Mark to Gainesville, where Mark McKee was an All-American swimmer for the Florida Gators from 1969 to 1971. As a freshman in 1972, he finished fourth in the 200-yard backstroke, and fifth in the 400-yard individual medley, as the Florida Gators finished seventh overall at the NCAA men's swimming championships. In his three years as a Gator swimmer, McKee was recognized as the SEC Swimmer of the Year in 1972, won six SEC individual titles, and received four All-American honors.

International swimming career

After graduating from high school, McKee was chosen as a member of the U.S. national swim team for the

1971 Pan American Games The 1971 Pan American Games, officially known as the VI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Cali 1971, were held in Cali, Colombia, from 30 July to 13 August 1971. (One source dates the Games from July 25 to August 8.) A total of 2,935 ...

in Cali, Colombia. He finished second in the men's 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:07.9, earning his first silver medal in international competition. Following his freshman college season, McKee qualified for the 1972 U.S. Olympic team despite recovering from a bout of

mononucleosis Infectious mononucleosis (IM, mono), also known as glandular fever, is an infection usually caused by the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Most people are infected by the virus as children, when the disease produces few or no symptoms. In young adu ...

.Liz Doup,
Old Glory
," ''Sun-Sentinel'' (August 27, 2000). Retrieved June 26, 2015. 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 represented the United States in three different events. Most memorably, McKee won a silver medal in the men's 400-meter individual medley in the closest swimming decision in Olympic history, losing by a margin of two one-thousandths (0.002) of a second to Sweden's Gunnar Larsson. Initially, the scoreboard showed that Larsson and McKee had tied with an official time of 4:31.98, but in a controversial decision, the event judges named Larsson the eventual gold medal-winner ten minutes after the race was over—Larsson's electronic clock time was 4:31.981, McKee's 4:31.983.Matthew De George,
Duels in the Pool: Swimming's Greatest Rivalries
', Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham, Maryland, pp. 151–158 (2013). Retrieved June 26, 2015. The time difference was variously calculated as one-tenth of the time of a typical blink of a human eye, and the distance as the thickness of a coat of paint, a sheet of paper, or the minor imperfections in the individual lanes of the Olympic pool. As a result of the controversy, the international swimming federation,

FINA World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in List of water sports, water sports. It is one of several interna ...

, subsequently clarified the timing rules for competition swimming; international races are now required to be timed to the hundredth of a second, and timing to the thousandth of a second is prohibited for tie-breakers. It was the first and only Olympic swimming event ever decided on the basis of thousandths of a second. Afterward, McKee attributed his second-place finish to a tactical mistake: he looked over his shoulder to see where Larsson was in the final leg of the race.Tom Kelly,
He Looked, And Lost
" ''The St. Petersburg Times'', pp. 1-C & 4-C (August 31, 1972). Retrieved June 26, 2015. At the 1972 Olympics, McKee garnered a second silver medal in the men's 200-meter individual medley (2:08.37), again finishing behind gold medalist Larsson, who set a new world record in the event (2:07.17).John P. Lohn,
The Most Memorable Moments in Olympic Swimming
', Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, pp. 31–34 (2014). Retrieved June 26, 2015. He also placed fifth in the final of the men's 200-meter backstroke (2:07.29). After his junior year at the University of Florida, McKee left the Gators swim team to train full-time for the 1976 Olympics.Gene Gomolka,
McKee Makes a Splash
" ''Delaware County Daily Times'', p. 13 (June 21, 1976). Retrieved June 26, 2015. The 23-year-old McKee again qualified for the U.S. team in the 400-meter individual medley at the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials. 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, he repeated his second-place performance in the men's 400-meter individual medley event, finishing behind gold medalist and fellow American

Rod Strachan Rodney Strachan (born October 16, 1955) is an American former high school and college competition swimmer, 1976 Olympic gold medalist, and physician with a specialization in internal medicine. Starting at the age of eight, Rod did age group trai ...

.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Swimming at the 1976 Montréal Summer Games
Men's 400 metres Individual Medley Final
Retrieved June 26, 2015. The times of both Strachan (4:23.68) and McKee (4:24.62) broke the prior world record in the event final, with Strachan setting the new mark. During the course of his career, McKee set six American records (short course 200- and 400-yard individual medley, 400-yard medley relay; long course 100- and 220-yard backstroke, 200-yard individual medley).

Life after competition swimming

McKee was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1987,Associated Press,
Gators Honor McKee, Dubose
" ''Ocala Star-Banner'' (April 3, 1987). Retrieved June 26, 2015. and the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1998. He is a veteran celebrity swimmer for

Swim Across America Swim Across America Inc., (SAA) is a nonprofit dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention, and treatment. It does so by hosting charity swims and donating the proceeds to a hospital. Since its founding, SAA has gr ...

(SAA), a charitable organization that raises funds for cancer research, and has participated in sixteen SAA events.Swim Across America, Olympians
Tim McKee
Retrieved June 26, 2015. He has worked in

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean ...

as a life guard and public safety officer for over 20 years, has also worked in real estate, and has helped train other Olympic swimmers including

Nancy Hogshead Nancy Lynn Hogshead-Makar ( Hogshead, born April 17, 1962) is an American swimmer who represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics, where she won three gold medals and one silver medal. She is currently the CEO of Champion Women, an ...

. McKee married his wife Courtney, a former competition swimmer, in 1998.

References

Bibliography

*De George, Matthew,
Duels in the Pool: Swimming's Greatest Rivalries
', Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham, Maryland, pp. 151–158 (2013). . *Lohn, John P.,
The Most Memorable Moments in Olympic Swimming
', Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, pp. 31–34 (2014). .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McKee, Tim 1953 births Living people American male backstroke swimmers American male medley swimmers Florida Gators men's swimmers Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming People from Ardmore, Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Pennsylvania Swimmers at the 1971 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1971 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in swimming 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen