John Morgan is an American swimmer who won 13 gold medals across two

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

. He made his debut at the

1984 Summer Paralympics The 1984 International Games for the Disabled, canonically the 1984 Summer Paralympics were the seventh Paralympic Games to be held. There were two separate competitions: one in Stoke Mandeville, England, United Kingdom for wheelchair athletes ...

where he won five golds, then returned at the 1992 Games in Barcelona where he medalled in all ten events in which he competed. Morgan's success at these Games included setting six world records; throughout his career he set a total of 14 world records. He was inducted into the

United States Olympic Hall of Fame United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

in 2008 and the

United States Association of Blind Athletes The United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) is an organization founded in 1976 to increase the number and quality of world-class athletic opportunities for Americans who are blind or visually impaired. USABA has reached over 100,000 b ...

' Hall of Fame in 2011.

Biography

Morgan was born in

San Gabriel, California San Gabriel (Spanish for " St. Gabriel") is a city located in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California. At the 2010 census, the population was 39,718. San Gabriel was founded by the Spanish in 1771, when Mission San Gabriel Arc ...

, and was taught to swim in the ocean at

Huntington Beach Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...

by his parents. He joined the local swim team and worked as a junior lifeguard. The family moved to Argentina, his father's home country, when Morgan was 13. Morgan was finding success as a competitive swimmer and he completed a 20K marathon river swim at the age of 15. While exercising, an accident with a springed exerciser he was holding left Morgan with two

detached retinas Retinal detachment is a disorder of the eye in which the retina peels away from its underlying layer of support tissue. Initial detachment may be localized, but without rapid treatment the entire retina may detach, leading to vision loss and blin ...

. Over the next two years his eyesight deteriorated, until in 1980 at age 18 he lost all vision. In 1984, while studying mathematics at

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

, he was selected for the All-American Team for

open water swimming Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers. The beginning of the modern age of open water human swimming, swimming is sometimes taken to be May 3, 1810, when L ...

. Morgan was competing as a blind swimmer in B1 category events when he attended the International Games for the Disabled, subsequently known as the Paralympic Games, in 1984. He found great success, finishing the tournament with five gold medals. In 1988 he attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

to do his master's degree and consequently missed the Paralympic Games that year. After completing his studies in 1991, he took part in a open water marathon in Argentina which he completed in 12th position with a time of 8 hours and 24 minutes. Morgan returned for the 1992 Games in Barcelona, again finding success by winning eight golds in backstroke, butterfly, freestyle, and medley events, as well as silver in two breaststroke distances. Morgan was inducted into the

in 2008 and the

' Hall of Fame in 2011. Aside from swimming, Morgan has pushed himself in other athletic endeavours, including

tandem cycling A tandem bicycle or twin is a form of bicycle (occasionally a tricycle) designed to be ridden by more than one person. The term tandem refers to the seating arrangement (fore to aft, not side by side), not the number of riders. Patents relat ...

and the successful ascent of

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...

References

External links

"6th Annual Common Sight, Common Vision" (video)

, December 2, 2011 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, John (swimmer) Year of birth missing (living people) People from San Gabriel, California Paralympic swimmers of the United States Paralympic gold medalists for the United States Paralympic silver medalists for the United States Paralympic medalists in swimming Living people Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Paralympics American male freestyle swimmers American male backstroke swimmers American male breaststroke swimmers American male butterfly swimmers American male medley swimmers 20th-century American people