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:

* 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.

References

External links

US Olympic Committee

Josh 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

College and international career

Life outside competitive swimming

See also

References

External links