Sharon Wichman
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Sharon Lynn Wichman (born May 13, 1952), also known by her married name Sharon Jones, is an American former competition
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 ...
and 1968 Olympic champion in the breaststroke.


Early age group swimming

Sharon's family left Detroit when she was young, and she swam for a while in Toledo, Ohio.Angelopoulis, Jimmie, "Sharon Eyes Olympic Spot", ''The Indianapolis News'', Indianapolis, Indiana, 24 July 1968, pg. 52 One of her earliest age group coaches was Coach Glen Hummer who coached at the YMCA in Huntington, near Fort Wayne. Besides Sharon, Hummer had also taught swimming technique to Hall of Fame Coach
George Haines George Frederick Haines (March 9, 1924 – May 1, 2006) was a swimmer and swimming coach who coached at the Santa Clara Swim Club, Stanford University and UCLA. He also coached for seven U.S. Olympic swim teams. He was inducted into the In ...
.


Club Olympia

At eleven, Sharon started swimming for Fort Wayne's Club Olympia in Fort Wayne, Indiana, coached by Don Carter, and then by her Olympic trainer, and world-renowned Coach Steven Hunyadfi. By 16, prepping for the Olympics, Sharon would practice up to four hours a day, and swim up to 13,000 yards or seven miles a day. Her father, a cost-analyst and tool engineer, was transferred to Mexico in 1966, where the family lived just North of Mexico City and Sharon continued her training, but she could no longer train with her backstroke specialist Hunyadfi and believed she needed better coaching to make the Olympics. She received minimal training in Mexico City, and returning to the United States, she trained with Hunyadfi for the 1967 U.S. Summer National Championship. Wichman was born in
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, but after a move attended Chester Lane Junior High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana where, already a swimmer, she began dreaming of competing in the Olympics. A straight "A" student by 16, she graduated in 1970 from Fort Wayne's
R. Nelson Snider High School R. Nelson Snider High School is a secondary school in the Fort Wayne Community Schools system, serving the north central and northeast neighborhoods of Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. A small portion of New Haven is zoned to Snider. Ath ...
. Though not coached together, five years later in 1975, Snider High would graduate 1976 Montreal Olympic gold medalist Matt Vogel."Hero's Welcome for Matt Vogel", ''Palladium Item'', Richmond, Indiana, 29 July 1976, pg. 22


'68 Indiana Junior Olympics

Sharon bested a few breaststroke records prepping for the 68 Olympics. In the Spring of '68, she won the 200-yard breaststroke and was second in the 100 at the Pittsburgh Indoor National meet, though she lacked a world record. Under the watchful eye of her coach Steven Hudyadfi, a former Hungarian National and Italian Olympic swim team coach, she broke the National Junior Olympics record at Indianapolis's AAU Indiana Junior Olympics in the 100-meter breaststroke by a substantial 3.5 seconds with a time of 1:19.3. Sharon also broke the 200-meter breastroke record with a time of 2:47.6 in the final round.


'68 Summer Olympic medals

While a Junior at Snider High School, in her most noteworthy performance she represented the United States as a 16-year-old at the
1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...
in Mexico City, having qualified to compete in both
breaststroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be s ...
events.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes
Sharon Wichman
Retrieved September 9, 2015.
Sharon benefitted from the training she received at the Olympic training camp in Colorado Springs in preparation for the altitude in Mexico City, and believed she was inspired by Olympic Coach Frank Elm.


Gold medal

Wichman received a gold medal for winning the women's 200-meter breaststroke (2:44.4) on October 23, 1968, beating
Đurđica Bjedov Đurđa "Đurđica" Bjedov (born 5 April 1947) is a retired Croatian swimmer and the only Yugoslav Olympic champion in swimming. Bjedov never won a medal at major international competitions, except for the 1968 Olympics, where she finished fir ...
of Yugoslavia by two seconds, and breaking the old Olympic record by around the same margin. With her victory, Sharon became the first U.S. breaststroke champion in Olympic history.


Bronze medal

She also received a bronze medal for her third place in the women's 100-meter breaststroke (1:16.1), finishing less than two seconds behind gold medalist Bjedov (1:15.8) and only two-tenths of a second behind Soviet swimmer
Galina Prozumenshchikova Galina Nikolayevna Prozumenshchikova ( rus, Галина Николаевна Прозуменщикова, p=ɡɐˈlʲinə nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvnə prəzʊˈmʲenʲɕːɪkəvə; 26 November 1948 – 19 July 2015) was a Soviet breaststroke swimme ...
(1:15.9).


Post-Olympic competition

Continuing to swim, in July of 1969, she competed in the Santa Clara International Invitational, one of the top international meets of the year, at the Santa Clara Swim Center in Santa Clara, California. Continuing successful competition in 1969, she won the 100-meter breaststroke title in the national short course championship and was able to place in the top three in most subsequent national competitions. She later took international titles at Bremen, Germany in both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke. After college graduation, she coached swimming for the Tippecanoe County Swim team in Lafayette, Indiana while her husband attended Perdue. Sharon attended and swam for
Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts inst ...
in Illinois, helping the team to finish sixth in the NCAA Swim Championships, though she felt, despite being an Olympic medalist, she was not taken as a serious athlete by the Men's team swimmers. In 1976, she coached Washburn, Jeff, "Outspoken Gold Lafayette Resident Recalls 1968 Olympics", ''Journal and Courier'', Lafayette, Indiana, 1 August 1976


Later life

She graduated college, married David Jones in 1973, and lived in nearby
Churubusco, Indiana Churubusco ( or ); often shortened to Busco (), is a town located near the headwaters of the Eel River (Wabash River), Eel River in the extreme northeast corner of Whitley County, Indiana, United States, in Smith Township, Whitley County, Indiana, ...
. The couple had two sons. Sharon Wichman became the first Fort Wayne athlete to earn an Olympic gold medal at the 1968 Summer Games
" ''The News-Sentinel''. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
As a result of a strong Baptist faith, after years of disciplined spending and cautious informed investments, Sharon and her husband David Jones started giving generous donations to a number of organizations, particularly her favorite, a Prison Fellowship. She also has worked driving a school bus to serve her community and give her time with children.


Honors

She 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 1991.


See also

*
List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame 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 a ...
*
List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women) This is the complete list of women's Olympic medalists in swimming. Current program 50 metre freestyle 100 metre freestyle 200 metre freestyle 400 metre freestyle 800 metre freestyle 1500 metre freestyle 100 metre backstroke 20 ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wichman, Sharon 1952 births Living people American female breaststroke swimmers Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in swimming Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Swimmers from Detroit Sportspeople from Fort Wayne, Indiana Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Olympics 21st-century American women