Bill Smith (swimmer)
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Melvin Smith, Jr. | |||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | "Bill" | |||||||||||||||
| National team |
 United States | |||||||||||||||
| Born |
May 16, 1924 Honolulu, Hawaii | |||||||||||||||
| Died |
February 8, 2013 (aged 88) Honolulu, Hawaii | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||
| College team | Ohio State University | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=icon}
William Melvin Smith, Jr. (May 16, 1924 – February 8, 2013) was an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and a former world record-holder in four events. He was one of the most successful competitive swimmers in the United States in the first half of the 20th Century.
Smith was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, of mixed Irish and Hawaiian ancestry. He attended Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and swam for the Ohio State Buckeyes swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition. As a college swimmer, he was undefeated in three years of dual meet competition, and was a four-time All-American. He set seven world records and won fourteen U.S. national championships: seven NCAA, six AAU indoor and one AAU outdoor.
At the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England, Smith won gold medals in the men's 400-meter freestyle and 4x200-meter freestyle relay.[1] At one time, Smith held all of the world records in freestyle swimming events between the 200-meter and 1,000-meter distances.
Smith was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1966.[2] He died February 8, 2013; he was 88 years old.[3]
See also
- List of Ohio State University people
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
- World record progression 200 metres freestyle
- World record progression 400 metres freestyle
- World record progression 800 metres freestyle
- World record progression 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay
References
- ↑ Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Bill Smith. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
- ↑ International Swimming Hall of Fame, Honorees, Bill Smith (USA). Retrieved March 14, 2015.
- ↑ Dave Reardon, "Quick Reads: Hawaii swimming legend Bill Smith passes," Honolulu Star-Advertiser (February 13, 2013). Retrieved March 14, 2013.
External links
- Bill Smith – Olympic athlete profile at Sports-Reference.com
- Bill Smith (USA) – Honor Swimmer profile at International Swimming Hall of Fame
- Bill Smith Obituary Archive – Bill Smith, The Greatest Swimmer of His Era, Passes Away
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jack Medica |
Men's 400-meter freestyle world record-holder (long course) May 13, 1941 – September 12, 1947 |
Succeeded by Alexandre Jany |
| Preceded by Shozo Makino |
Men's 800-meter freestyle world record-holder (long course) July 24, 1941 – June 26, 1949 |
Succeeded by Hironoshin Furuhashi |
| Preceded by Jack Medica |
Men's 200-meter freestyle world record-holder (long course) February 12, 1944 – September 20, 1946 |
Succeeded by Alexandre Jany |
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||
|