Pedro Pablo Morales Jr. (born December 5, 1964) is an American former competitive

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 ...

. He set

world records 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 100-meter

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 ...

in 1984 and 1986. He was the 100-meter butterfly gold medalist at the 1992 Olympic Games, as well as winning 4 × 100 meter medley relay gold medals at both the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

and 1992 Olympic Games. He also won 100-meter butterfly and 4 × 100 meter medley relay gold medals at the 1986 World Championships.

Biography

Morales attended

Bellarmine College Preparatory Bellarmine College Preparatory is an all-male, Jesuit, private secondary school located in San Jose, California. Founded in 1851, it is the oldest secondary school in California and the second-oldest west of the Mississippi River. In 2020, Niche ...

, in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, and trained under the supervision of Larry Rogers. Morales won a relay gold and two silver medals swimming butterfly at the 1984 Olympics in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and set the world record in the 100-meter butterfly at the US Olympic Trials that year with a time of 53.38 seconds, as well as setting relay records with teammates

Rick Carey Richard John Carey (born March 13, 1963) is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three events. Carey specialized in the backstroke. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, ...

Steve Lundquist Stephen K. Lundquist (born February 20, 1961) is an American former competition swimmer who is an Olympic gold medalist and former world record-holder. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he won gold medals in the 100-meter breaststroke ...

and

Rowdy Gaines Ambrose "Rowdy" Gaines IV (born February 17, 1959) is an American former competitive swimmer, U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame member, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He is a swimming analyst fo ...

. After losing the 100-meter butterfly world record to German swimmer Michael Gross in 1984, he regained it in 1986 with a swim of 52.84 seconds. This record stood until 1995. In 1988, on the heels of a record 11th

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) individual championship at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, Morales surprisingly failed to qualify for the 1988 Olympics. After briefly retiring from the sport to pursue a JD degree at

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

, Morales returned to swimming and qualified for the 1992 Olympics in

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 ...

, where he was the US team captain and captured gold in the 100-meter butterfly.

Coaching career

Morales is currently the head women's swimming and diving coach at the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morales, Pablo 1964 births Living people American people of Mexican descent American male butterfly swimmers American male freestyle swimmers American male medley swimmers American swimming coaches College swimming coaches in the United States Cornell Law School alumni World record setters in swimming Hispanic and Latino American sportspeople Nebraska Cornhuskers swimming coaches Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming Swimmers from Chicago Sportspeople from Chicago Stanford Cardinal men's swimmers Swimmers at the 1983 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Swimmers from San Jose, California World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games 20th-century American people 21st-century American people

Biography

Coaching career

See also

External links