Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Craig Russell Beardsley | |||||||||||||||||||||||
National team | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | 1960 New York, New York | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | Butterfly | |||||||||||||||||||||||
College team | University of Florida | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Craig Russell Beardsley (born 1960) is an American former competition swimmer who was a world record-holder in the 200-meter butterfly for three years in the early 1980s. Although he qualified as a member of the ill-fated 1980 U.S. Olympic Team, Beardsley could not compete in the Olympics because of the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympic Games.
Craig Beardsley was born in New York City in 1960, the son of an American father, Russell Beardsley, and a Chinese American immigrant mother, Jeanne Loh. [1] He attended the United Nations International School in the city, where he was a stand-out cello player, and graduated from Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan after his family moved to Harrington Park, New Jersey. [1] [2] Prior to attending college, Beardsley never had an opportunity to swim for a school team because none of his schools sponsored an organized swim team. [1]
At that time, I don't want to say that I supported the boycott, but I wasn't against it, either. I tried to think there was some good in it. We were doing the right thing. I supported everything at that time . . . [however], I began to realize that it was just another political movement. I became strongly opinionated about trying to separate sports and politics. It will never happen again. Sports, like music, is one of those great things that bind people together.
Beardsley won the gold medal in his signature event, the 200-meter butterfly, at the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After high school, he received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he swam for coach Randy Reese's Florida Gators swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 1979 to 1982. [4] Beardsley qualified for the star-crossed U.S. Olympic team in 1980, but could not participate when, at the behest of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the U.S. Olympic Committee voted to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in late 1979. Like many of the best American athletes of 1980, he was denied the opportunity to participate in the largest stage in international sports. At the 1980 U.S. Olympic Trials held the month before the Olympics, Beardsley set a new world record of 1:58.21 in the 200-meter butterfly—a time that was over a second faster than Soviet swimmer Sergey Fesenko's gold medal time in the 1980 Olympic finals. [5]
After the United States-led a boycott of the Moscow Olympics, Beardsley continued to train and participate in competitive swimming. He held both the American and world records for the 200-meter butterfly from 1980 to 1983. Swimming World Magazine named him its American Male Swimmer of the Year in 1981. Beardsley was a two-time NCAA champion in the 200-meter butterfly and received eight All-American honors while swimming for the Gators. [4] In 1983, he again won the gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly at the Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela.
Beardsley failed to qualify for the U.S Olympic team in 1984, by placing third by 0.36 of a second in the U.S. Olympic Trials, [6] and he retired from competitive swimming afterward. Taking advantage of the hard feelings created by the American-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries had pushed for and received Olympic rules changes limiting each country to only two participants in each swimming event. [6] The United States, as the dominant swimming power, was hurt the most. [6]
Beardsley is a veteran celebrity swimmer for Swim Across America (SAA), a charitable organization that raises funds for cancer research. [7] He has been an active participant in SAA events since 1987. [7]
He graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in management in 1983, and was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great." [8] Beardsley became a Wall Street trader, working for Prudential Securities in New York City. [9] In 1992, he married Ann-Elizabeth McKay Hensel, a former member of the U.S. national figure skating team. [9] He has two children, Carter and Caroline, [7] and lives in Chatham, New Jersey. [3]
Anthony Conrad Nesty is a former competition swimmer from Suriname who was an Olympic gold medallist in the 100-metre butterfly event in 1988. He is currently the head coach of the Florida Gators men's and women's swim team at the University of Florida, where he attended school.
Ambrose "Rowdy" Gaines IV 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 for television network NBC. He has covered swimming at the Olympic Games since 1992 in Barcelona.
Michael Steward Heath is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in freestyle events. He is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a former world record-holder in two relay swimming events. A native of Texas, he won two national collegiate championship competing for the University of Florida. During his elite swimming career, Heath won ten medals in major international championships, including seven golds, two silvers and a bronze, spanning the Olympic Games, FINA World Championships, and Pan Pacific Championships.
Mary Terstegge Meagher Plant is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder. In 1981 she bettered her own existing world records in the 100-meter butterfly (57.93) and 200-meter butterfly (2:05.96). These times would stand as the respective world records for 18 and 19 years, and are considered to be among the greatest sports performances ever.
Tracy Anne Stockwell, OAM,, née Tracy Anne Caulkins, is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time world champion, and former world record-holder in three events.
David López-Zubero Purcell, also known as David Zubero, is a former competitive swimmer who represented Spain at three Summer Olympics and won an Olympic bronze medal in 1980. Zubero was born in the United States, swam in international competition for Spain, and holds dual Spanish-American citizenship.
Martín López-Zubero Purcell, also known as Martin Zubero, is a former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. López-Zubero was born in the United States, swam in international competition for Spain, and holds dual Spanish-American citizenship.
Mary Alice Bradburne is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and television sports commentator. During her international swimming career, Wayte won eight medals in major international championships, including four golds.
Theresa Andrews is an American former competitive swimmer and Olympic champion. Raised in Maryland, Andrews gained prominence as a national collegiate champion when competing for the University of Florida. In international competition, she was a backstroke specialist who won two gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Matthew J. Cetlinski is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder.
David Erwin Larson is an American former competition swimmer who is an Olympic gold medalist and former world record-holder. Larson is a Georgia native who became an All-American college swimmer for the University of Florida. He was known for his success as a member of American relay teams in international competition at the Pan American Games and the Olympics – and for setting two world records in the 4×200-meter relay event on the same day at the 1984 Olympics.
Troy Lane Dalbey is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
Gregory Stewart Burgess is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic medalist.
Geoffrey Steven Gaberino is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder. Gaberino was a member of two national championship college teams and a four-time college national champion in relay events.
William M. Sawchuk is a Canadian former swimmer, competing in the butterfly, freestyle and medley events during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Omar Andrés Pinzón García is a competitive swimmer who represented Colombia at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece and 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Pinzón attended college in the United States, where he swam for the University of Florida.
Megan Neyer is an American former competition springboard and platform diver. Neyer was a member of the ill-fated 1980 U.S. Olympic team, the 1982 world champion springboard diver, a fifteen-time U.S. national diving champion, and an eight-time NCAA champion.
Randy Reese is an American college and Olympic swimming coach. Reese is best known for coaching the Florida Gators swimming and diving teams of the University of Florida to four national championships, and coaching the winners of eighteen Olympic gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals. Reese is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Alberto Eugenio Mestre Sosa is a former competition swimmer who represented Venezuela at the 1980 Summer Olympics and 1984 Summer Olympics.
Patrick David Kennedy is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in butterfly and individual medley events.