Lance Melvin Larson (born July 3, 1940) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events.

Early years

Larson was born in

Monterey Park, California Monterey Park is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately from the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. The city's motto is "Pride in the past, Faith in the future". Mo ...

, and attended

El Monte High School El Monte High School in El Monte, California, is a public high school of the El Monte Union High School District. It is one of the oldest high schools in the San Gabriel Valley. Founded in 1901, it began operation in a single, upstairs classroom i ...

. He set CIFSS records in 1957 and 1958 in the 100-yards butterfly of 55.5 and 54.6 seconds, and another CIFSS record in 1958 in the 100-yard freestyle of 50.9 seconds. He was the first high school swimmer to break the 50-second barrier in the 100-yard freestyle. Larson was the first man in the world to swim the 100-meter butterfly in under sixty seconds. He enrolled in the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, where he swam for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

swimming and diving 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 an ...

(NCAA) competition. He was an "all-around" swimmer in the four-stroke individual medley, the butterfly, and the sprint freestyle, and he won

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 has ...

(AAU) national championships in all three.

Olympics

He competed at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

in Rome, Italy, where he received a gold medal for swimming the butterfly leg of the men's 4×100-meter medley relay for the winning U.S. team."1960 Summer Olympics – Rome, Italy– Swimming"
– ''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on April 30, 2008) The U.S. relay team of

Frank McKinney Frank Edward McKinney Jr. (November 3, 1938 – September 11, 1992) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. He later became a prominent executive in the American banking industry, but died in a mi ...

(backstroke),

Paul Hait Paul William Hait (born May 25, 1940) is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who is an Olympic champion and former world record-holder. Hait won a gold medal in the 4×100 m medley relay at the 1960 Summer Olympic ...

(breaststroke), Larson (butterfly), and

Jeff Farrell Felix Jeffrey Farrell (born February 28, 1937) is an American former competition swimming (sport), swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in multiple relay events. Farrell won a gold medal in the men's 100-meter freestyle at t ...

(freestyle) set a new world record of 4:05.4 in the event final. Individually, Larson also won a silver medal in the men's 100-meter freestyle at the 1960 Olympics, and he was a participant in one of the most controversial Olympic swimming finishes ever.

John Devitt John Thomas Devitt, AM (born 4 February 1937) is an Australian sprint freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a gold medal in the 100-metre freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He won in controversial circumstances, bein ...

of Australia was listed as the winner of the men's 100-meter freestyle race. Results were decided by finish judges who relied on their eyes and did not use replays. Three judges were assigned to each finishing position. There were three official timers in 1960 for each lane and swimmer, all timing by hand. All three timers for Devitt, in lane three, timed him in 55.2 seconds. The three timers for lane four timed Lance Larson in 55.0, 55.1, and 55.1 seconds. Former Olympic swimmer and

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

co-founder

Max Ritter Richard Max Ritter (November 7, 1886 – May 24, 1974) was a German freestyle and backstroke swimmer who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics and in the 1912 Summer Olympics. Biography He was born in Magdeburg and died in Montgomery, Pennsyl ...

inspected the judge's scorecards. Two of the three first-place judges found that Devitt had finished first and the third found for Larson. Of the three-second-place judges, two found that Devitt finished second and one found that Larson was second. Ritter pointed out to chief judge Henry Runströmer of Sweden that the scorecards indicated a tie. Runstrümer cast the deciding vote and declared Devitt the winner. However, the rules at that time did not provide for the chief judge to have a vote or give him the right to break ties. Ties were supposed to be broken by referring to the timing machine. The official results placed Devitt first and Larson second, both with the identical time of 55.2 seconds. The United States team appealed, bolstered by videotaped footage of the finish that appeared to show Larson the winner. The appeal jury, headed by Jan de Vries, also the President of FINA in 1960, rejected the appeal, keeping Devitt the winner.Maraniss, ''Rome 1960'', p. 138 This controversy would pave the way for electronic touchpads to be included in swimming events to determine finish and accurate timing. Larson broke the 100-meter butterfly world record twice in 1960: first, setting the new record of 59.0 seconds on June 29, 1960; and again, a new record of 58.7 seconds on July 24, 1960.

Life after swimming

Larson was formerly married to Betty Lee Puttler (1940–2007) of Newport Beach, California; they had four sons, Lance Jr., Greg, Gary & Randy. He was remarried in the late 1990s, and has two adopted daughters. He lives in Southern California's mountain community and retired in 2014 after owning and operating a dentistry practice in Orange, California since 1979. He was inducted into 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 1980.

References

Bibliography

* Maraniss, David, ''Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World'', Simon & Schuster, New York City (2008). .

External links