Melvin Monroe Stewart Jr. (born November 18, 1968) is an American

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

promoter, former competition swimmer and world record-holder who won two gold medals and one bronze medal at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

in Barcelona, Spain. He is the co-founder and publisher of the swimming news website,

SwimSwam ''SwimSwam'' news is a swimming news organization covering competitive swimming along with diving, water polo and synchronized swimming. SwimSwam launched as a website in March 2012 and quickly became the most-read swimming website in the world. ...

, and a producer-director of commercials through his company, Gold Medal Media.

Early life and education

Stewart was born in

Gastonia, North Carolina Gastonia is the largest city in and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. It is the second-largest satellite city of the Charlotte area, behind Concord. The population was 80,411 at the 2020 census, up from 71,741 in 2010 ...

and raised in

Fort Mill, South Carolina Fort Mill, also known as Fort Mill Township, is a town in York County, South Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. As of 2020 United States census, 2020 census, 24,521 people live inside the town's corporate limits. ...

. Noden, Merrell (July 6, 1992)
"Great Expectations: Melvin Stewart's Journey From the World of the PTL Ministry to his Life as the World's Best Butterflyer Has Been Well, Dickensian"
''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

''. Retrieved July 20, 2021."Where Are They Now?: Mel Stewart"
''

Charlotte Magazine Morris Communications, headquartered in Augusta, Georgia, is a privately held media company with diversified holdings that include magazine publishing, outdoor advertising, book publishing and distribution, visitor publications, and online serv ...

''. July 20, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2021. He began swimming competitively at the Johnston Memorial YMCA in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. He attended

Fort Mill High School Fort Mill High School (FMHS) is a public high school in Fort Mill, South Carolina, United States. It is part of the York County School District 4. Achievements Two-time National Blue Ribbon School – 2004, 2018 Marching Band 24 S.C. ...

until partway through his junior year at the school. That year, he switched high schools to

Mercersburg Academy Mercersburg Academy (formerly Marshall College and Mercersburg College) is an independent selective college-preparatory boarding & day high school in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania in the United States. Founded in 1893, the school enrolls approximat ...

Mercersburg, Pennsylvania Mercersburg is a borough in Franklin County, located near the southern border of Pennsylvania, United States. The borough is southwest of Harrisburg, the state capital. Due to its location in a rural area, it had a relatively large percentage ...

after a sponsor paid Stewart's tuition expenses. Collegiately, he competed for the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

Career

At the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, Stewart placed fifth in the men's 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:59.19. The 1988 Olympics were the first

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Stewart competed in, qualifying for the event when he was 20 years old. Following Seoul, Stewart began dominating the event. At the

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, and

1991 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The fourth edition of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, a long course (50 m) event, was held in 1991 in Edmonton, Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is ...

Stewart won gold in the 200-meter butterfly. At the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Stewart won gold in the 200-meter butterfly, and set the world record with a time of 1:55.69. At the

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, Stewart won the 200-meter butterfly in an Olympic record time of 1:56.26. Stewart also won gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay by swimming in the prelims, and a bronze in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Swimming at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games
Men's 4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay Final Standings
Retrieved February 16, 2015. When Stewart did not qualify for 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, ...

at the US Olympic Trials, he still attended the Olympic Games, this time as an analyst for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

instead of as a swimmer. After the 1996 Summer Olympics, Stewart hosted a season of a television show titled "American Outback" on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. He spent the next decade doing contract work writing

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

s. In 2006, Stewart joined a team launching a new swimming news website through

USA Swimming USA Swimming is the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. It is charged with selecting the United States Olympic Swimming team and any other teams that officially represent the United States, as well as the overal ...

named ''SwimNetwork.com''. His focus was bringing people to the website and managing the flow of

traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...

for the website. Two years later, he began serving an ambassador to the United States Swimming Foundation, where one of his focuses since 2008 has been managing

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

of the US national team.Papadatos, Markos (June 4, 2019)
"Meet Mel Stewart: Olympic gold medalist, Co-founder of SwimSwam (Includes interview)"
''DigitalJournal.com''. Retrieved July 19, 2021. By 2010, Stewart was

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

ging and hosting an interview show. Not long after, USA Swimming shut ''SwimNetwork.com'' down, and Stewart started a new joint venture of his own. In 2011, Stewart and a team of co-founders, including his wife Tiffany, Braden Keith, Gary Hall Jr., Garrett McCaffrey, and Rich Roll, founded the swimming news website

. The website was launched on March 7, 2012, and a print magazine followed in 2016.

Personal

Stewart and his wife Tiffany moved to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

in 2009. Previously, they had been living in California."Website launch goes swimmingly"
''

Statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...

''. September 24, 2012. Retrieved July 19, 2021. SwimSwam was headquartered in Austin in part because Stewart and his wife lived there."SwimSwam: From A Website To A Printed Magazine – The New Publication That Proves Adding A High-Quality Print Component to Your Brand's Identity Is Always A "Swimmingly" Good Idea – The Mr. Magazine™ Interview With Braden Keith, Editor In Chief, SwimSwam Magazine"
''mrmagazine.wordpress.com''. October 24, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2021.

References

External links

* * *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Melvin 1968 births Living people American male butterfly swimmers American male freestyle swimmers World record setters in swimming Mercersburg Academy alumni Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in swimming Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming People from Gastonia, North Carolina Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Tennessee Volunteers men's swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Goodwill Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games 20th-century American people 21st-century American people

Early life and education

Career

Personal

See also

References

External links