Robin James Backhaus (born February 12, 1955) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. Backhaus represented the United States as a 17-year-old at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

in Munich, Germany.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes
Robin Backhaus
Retrieved October 22, 2012. He won a bronze medal for his third-place performance in the men's 200-meter butterfly, finishing with a time of 2:03.23 behind

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 ...

and Gary Hall, and completing an American sweep of the event. At the

1973 World Aquatics Championships The 1st FINA World Championships in Aquatics were held in the Tašmajdan Sports Centre in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia, from 31 August to 9 September 1973. Medal table Results Diving ;Men ;Women Swimming ;Men ;Women Synchroni ...

in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, he won gold medals for his first-place finish in the 200-meter butterfly, and as a member of the winning U.S. team in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He also received a bronze medal third for finishing in the 100-meter butterfly. Domestically Backhaus won three AAU titles, in the 200 yd butterfly indoors in 1973–74, and in the 100 m butterfly in 1973. He also won NCAA titles in the 200 butterfly in 1974–75. After retiring from competitions Backhaus worked as a teacher and coach at

Konawaena High School Konawaena High School is a public school located in Kona District, Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. Konawaena means "the center of the leeward side" in the Hawaiian Language. The school has a Kealakekua mailing address, and it, along with Ko ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

for four years, and then trained swimmers in Texas and California for over 20 years.Robin Backhaus
Hawaii Swim site

References

1955 births Living people Alabama Crimson Tide men's swimmers American male butterfly swimmers American male freestyle swimmers Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Lincoln, Nebraska Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics {{US-swimming-Olympic-medalist-stub

See also

References