Frederick Weber Schmidt (born October 23, 1943) is an American former competition swimmer. He was Olympic champion in 4×100 m medley in 1964, and bronze medallist in 200 m butterfly. He is a former world record-holder in men's 100-meter butterfly, holding the record from 1961 to 1962.

Swimming career

Schmidt began swimming competitively at New Trier High School in

Winnetka, Illinois Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,316 as of 2019. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the nation in terms of household income. It was the second- ...

, and was part of one of the greatest high school swim teams, in 1961. The team won the Illinois high school championship, and various team members held every high school national record at the time. The New Trier High School team placed third in the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) championships that year behind the Yale and Indiana University teams. He then joined coach Doc Counsilman's

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Ath ...

swimming and diving team at Indiana University. At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, he received a gold medal by swimming the butterfly leg for the winning U.S. team in the 4×100-meter medley relay, setting a new world record of 3:58.4 with teammates Thompson Mann (backstroke), Bill Craig (breaststroke), and Steve Clark (freestyle)."1964 Summer Olympics – Tokyo, Japan – Swimming"
– ''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on April 29, 2008) He also received a bronze medal for his third-place finish in the 200-meter butterfly, clocking a time of 2:09.3. Schmidt held the world record in 100-meter butterfly (58.6 seconds) from August 20, 1961 to April 24, 1962.

Life outside competitive swimming

Schmidt later entered the U.S. Navy, became a

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, and participated in the recovery of several capsules in NASA's manned space flight program. In 1971, when Apollo 15 returned from the moon, Schmidt welcomed mission commander

David Scott David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) is an American retired test pilot and NASA astronaut who was the seventh person to walk on the Moon. Selected as part of the third group of astronauts in 1963, Scott flew to space three times and ...

, also a former competitive swimmer, back to earth. Collections Retrieved From The Vault
constantcontact.com Schmidt later moved to

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, where he currently resides.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Fred 1943 births Living people American male butterfly swimmers World record setters in swimming Indiana Hoosiers men's swimmers Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in swimming Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Evanston, Illinois Swimmers at the 1963 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games

Swimming career

Life outside competitive swimming

See also

References

External links