Luis Alberto Nicolao (born June 28, 1944 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

) is a retired

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

,Profile at Sports Reference
/ref> who in 1962 twice broke the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in the men's 100 metres butterfly (long course).

World records

Trained and coached by the winningest Argentinean coach "Profe" Alberto Carranza, Nicolao traveled to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

with great help from a long time Carranza's friend "Pepe" Caraballo. Despite going too fast in the first 50 meters he broke

Fred Schmidt 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 butterf ...

’s world record at 58.4 in the salt water Guanabara pool on 24 April 1962. Carranza knew that Nicolao could go even faster if the first 50 meters were more measured, so he went back to Pepe Caraballo and others to assist and support their stay in Rio for a couple more days in order to try a second time. This resulted in a much better race and the world record was lowered to 57.0 on 27 April 1962. Five years later US swimmer

Mark Spitz Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, winning seven gold medals, each in world-record ti ...

broke Nicolao's top time.

References

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Red Argentina Profile
1944 births Living people Argentine male swimmers Argentine male butterfly swimmers Olympic swimmers of Argentina Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1963 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1967 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Buenos Aires World record setters in swimming Pan American Games silver medalists for Argentina Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina Pan American Games medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games 20th-century Argentine people {{Argentina-swimming-bio-stub