Joshua Clark Davis (born September 1, 1972) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder. Davis represented the United States at two consecutive
Summer Olympics.
College and international career
He attended the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
, where he swam for coach
Eddie Reese's
Texas Longhorns swimming and diving
The Texas Longhorns swimming and diving program represents The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's and women's swimming and diving competition. The Longhorns currently compete in the Big 12 Conference.
The fir ...
team in
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
(NCAA) competition.
At the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
in Atlanta, Georgia, he won gold medals by swimming for the winning U.S. teams in the
4×100-meter freestyle relay and
4×200-meter freestyle relay. He earned a third gold medal by swimming for the first-place U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the
4×100-meter medley relay. He also competed in the
200-meter freestyle, and finished seventh in the event final with a time of 1:48.54.
Four years later at the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...
in Sydney, Australia, he served as the captain of the U.S. swimming team. At the 2000 Olympics, he won silver medals swimming for the second-place U.S. teams in the preliminary heats of the
4×100-meter freestyle relay, and the final of the
4×200-meter freestyle relay. He again competed in the
200-meter freestyle, finishing in fourth place in the final with a time of 1:46.73.
He also swam for the U.S. national team at:
* World Championships:
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...
,
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
* Pan American Games:
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
* Pan Pacific Championships:
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
,
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
,
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
* World University Games:
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
* Short Course Worlds:
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
Life outside competitive swimming
Completed in 2001, the newer
natatorium
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built above ground (as ...
at
North East independent school District's Virgil T. Blossom Athletic Center (the district where Davis attended school) in San Antonio was named in his honor.
In February 2009 four of Davis' Olympic medals—three gold medals and one silver medal—were stolen from his car after he returned from a swim clinic in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
. On February 13, 2009, cleanup crews found the medals outside one of the Salvation Army's Boys and Girls Clubs in San Antonio. The medals were returned to Davis at a news conference later that night.
On June 1, 2016, Davis was named as the first coach of
Oklahoma Christian University's swimming programs, charged with building men's and women's teams for competition that will begin with the 2017-18 season. It is Davis' first collegiate coaching job.
Oklahoma Christian University is currently the only college in Oklahoma offering intercollegiate swimming.
Davis and his wife Shantel live in
Edmond, Oklahoma
Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. The population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States Census, making it the fifth largest ci ...
, and have six children.
See also
*
Bill Boomer, swimming coach
*
List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
This article lists the individuals who have won at least four gold medals at the Olympic Games or at least three gold medals in individual events.
List of most Olympic gold medals over career
This is a partial list of multiple Olympic gold medalis ...
*
List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
This is a list of athletes who have won multiple gold medals at a single Olympic Games. List of most gold medals won at a single Olympic Games
This is a list of most gold medals won in a single Olympic Games. Medals won in the 1906 Intercalated Ga ...
*
List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
This is the complete list of men's Olympic medalists in swimming.
Men's events 50 metre freestyle
100 metre freestyle
200 metre freestyle
400 metre freestyle
800 metre freestyle
1500 metre freestyle
100 metre backstroke
200 metre ...
*
List of University of Texas at Austin alumni
This list of University of Texas at Austin alumni includes notable graduates, non-graduate former students, and current students of the University of Texas at Austin. The institution is a major research university in Downtown Austin, Texas, US and ...
*
*
World record progression 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
References
External links
US Olympic CommitteeJosh Davis homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Josh
1972 births
Living people
American male freestyle swimmers
World record setters in swimming
Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming
Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming
Sportspeople from San Antonio
Swimmers at the 1995 Pan American Games
Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Texas Longhorns men's swimmers
World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States
Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States
Pan American Games medalists in swimming
Universiade medalists in swimming
Goodwill Games medalists in swimming
Oklahoma Christian Eagles and Lady Eagles swimming coaches
FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States
Universiade silver medalists for the United States
Universiade bronze medalists for the United States
Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 1995 Summer Universiade
Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games
Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games
Swimmers from Texas