| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Brent Thales Berk |
| National team | United States |
| Born | June 27, 1949 Eustis, Florida |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Weight | 161 lb (73 kg) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Freestyle |
| Club | Santa Clara Swim Club |
| College team | Stanford University |
| Coach | James Gaughran Stanford |
Brent Thales Berk (born June 27, 1949) was an American competition swimmer for Stanford University and a 1968 Mexico City Olympic 400-meter freestyle competitor. He later worked as an insurance executive in Hawaii.
Berk was born in Eustis, Florida, [1] and graduated in 1966 from the Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he competed for the highly competitive Punahou Swim Club and High School teams. At the Punahou Championships on May 22, 1965, he won the 100-yard free in 51.1, and the 200-yard free in 1:55.1 and was a member of the winning 500-yard free relay. [2] He bettered the 100-yard record bringing it below the 50 second mark swimming unattached as a Senior at Punahou, at the Hawaiian State AAU Indoor Swimming and Diving Championships, where he was clocked at 49.3 seconds. He also won the 500-yard free in a non-record time of 5:13.9. [3] He set a local record for the 200-yard freestyle as well with a time of 1:51.5, while swimming for Punahou School on March 12, 1966. [4]
In the 1968 U.S. trials, Berk placed second in the 400 free. Having qualified for the team, he represented the United States at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, [1] advancing to the event final of the event for which he had qualified, the men's 400-meter freestyle, but finished in eighth place with a time of 4:26.0. [1] [5] Like a number of American swimmers that year, he was ill in Mexico City during the competition, likely a food-born related condition, and it may have affected his performance in the final heat. [6]
He attended Stanford University, where he swam for the Stanford Cardinal swimming and diving team under Head Coach James "Jim" Gaughran in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition and was recognized as an All-American. During his college swimming years, he also swam and trained for Hall of Fame Coach George Haines' outstanding Santa Clara Swim Club. [6] As an outstanding contributor to the Stanford team, in his Sophomore year on February 1, 1969, he helped defeat a strong UCLA team, winning two events and recording a national collegiate best seasonal time of 4:58.7 in the 500 freestyle. [7]
After retiring from his swimming career, Berk settled in Hawai’i where he had grown up, and took up competitive body surfing, competing into his 40s. [6] Remaining in Hawaii, he worked as an insurance executive and was employed in the 1980's by the law firm of Clients and Kerrigan. [8]
He was inducted into the Hawaii Swimming Hall of Fame in 2003. [9]
Carl Joseph Robie III was an American competitive swimmer, who swam for the University of Michigan and was first a silver medalist in the 1964 Olympics, and then a gold medalist in the 1968 Olympics. He was a three-time world record-holder in the 200-meter butterfly, continuing to lower his times from 1961-63. After graduating Dickinson Law School around 1970, he practiced civil law in Sarasota, Florida.
Catherine Mai-Lan Fox, born December 15, 1977 in Detroit, Michigan, is an American former swimmer who competed for Stanford University, and won two gold medals swimming freestyle at the 1996 Summer Olympics, one in the 4x100 freestyle relay and one in the 4x100 medley relay.
Kim Marie Peyton, also known by her married name Kim McDonald, was an American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist at the 1976 Summer Olympics. She was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, three years after her death at age 29 from a brain tumor.
Jane Louise Barkman, also known by her married name Jane Brown, is an American former swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
Gregory Fenton Buckingham was an American competition swimmer, Olympic silver medalist, and former world record-holder in two events.
Thelma H. Kalama, later known by her married name Thelma Aiu after 1960, was an American competition swimmer, 1948 London Olympic gold medalist in the freestyle relay, and a marine veteran. She was the second woman to represent Hawaii in the Olympics.
Richard Fitch Cleveland was an Hawaiian-born American competition Hall of Fame swimmer, three-time Pan American Games champion, and former world record-holder in the 100 meters and 100 yard events. He attended Ohio State University, and was one of the early competitive swimmers to benefit from the use of weight training in the off season. He later worked as a real estate broker
Andrew Douglas Gemmell is an American competition swimmer who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. He swam for the University of Georgia, helping then to place 5th in the NCAA in 2014, and was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic Team, where he competed in the 1,500-meter freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. At the Olympics, he finished ninth with a time of 14:59:05, missing the semi-finals by one place. He took several distance swimming medals, with a gold at the 5 km team event in the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, and took medals at the Pan Pacific Championships in 2014 and the Pan American Games in 2015 in the 1500 m, 5 km and 10 km events.
John Flanagan is a male freestyle swimmer from the United States who specialized in middle distance and Open water distance events. He swam for Honolulu's exceptional Punhou School Swim Team where he was a three-time state champion in the 200 and 500-meter freestyle. After swimming for Auburn University, he won a 5 Km gold team medal at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships in Perth, Australia. He competed in and placed well in a number of USA Swimming National Championships through 2001, winning a 10 Km event at Daytona Beach in 2001, and receiving several second places in 5 Km events. In 2000, he won Hawaii's Surf and Sea North Shore Challenge, and was a five-time winner of the Waikiki Roughwater Challenge. In July 2010, he placed fourth in the 10 Km swim at the World Competitions in Fukuoka, Japan with a time of 2:01:6.5. He would later compete professionally in triathlon and in 2001 work as a swim coach at Kamehameha Swim Club in Honolulu.
William Tripp Woolsey was an American competition swimmer for McKinley High School and Indiana University, who captured an Olympic gold medal in Helsinki in 1952, and a silver medal in Melbourne in 1956.
Evelyn Tokue Kawamoto, also known by her married name as Evelyn Konno, was an American competition swimmer, and American record holder, who won bronze medals in the 400-meter individual freestyle and the 4x100-meter freestyle relay events at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. She set American records in both the 300-meter IM and 200-meter breaststroke in 1949. After graduating the University of Hawaii in her 30's with a degree in Education, she worked as an elementary school teacher.
Patricia Sarena Caretto, also known by her married name Patricia Brown, is an American former competition swimmer, 1968 Olympic competitor, and 1964 world record-holder in two distance freestyle events. She is a former world record holder in the women's 800-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle, having set world records in those events on eight occasions.
Paul Michael Hartloff is an American former competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec. Hartloff competed in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle event, but in a highly competitive year finished seventh in the final. After qualifying for the 1976 Olympics at the Olympic Trials in Long Beach, California, he set an Olympic record on July 19, 1976, in a qualifying heat for the 1,500-meter event at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, with a time of 15:20.74, but in a highly competitive year, his time was a full 14 seconds slower than American Olympic team mate Brian Goodell's recent standing world record of 15:06.66.
David "Dave" Charles Johnson is an American former competition swimmer and 1968 Mexico City Olympic competitor. He graduated Yale Medical School and became an orthopaedic surgeon, specializing in sports medicine.
Michael Allen Wall is an American former competition swimmer who participated in two consecutive Summer Olympics.
William Winfield Farley was a 1964 Tokyo Olympic competitor in the 1500-meter event, and an All-American competition swimmer specializing in distance freestyle events for the University of Michigan. He worked as an American businessman in the Philippines, Tokyo and Hawaii, and served as a swimming coach for over 25 years, best known for leading Princeton Varsity Men's swimming to six Eastern Seaboard championships and five Ivy League titles from 1969-1979.
Philip Riker III is an American former competition swimmer for the University of North Carolina, and a 1964 U.S. Olympic competitor in the 200-meter butterfly.
Richard Tsugio Tanabe Jr., is a former American competition swimmer, teacher, and swim coach, who represented the United States at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. A native Hawaiian, he taught and coached at the Kamehameha Schools outside Honolulu for over thirty years.
Juan Carlos Bello is a Peruvian former butterfly, freestyle and medley swimmer. He was an outstanding competitor for the University of Michigan swim team and represented Peru at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics. He later worked as a coach and served as the President of the National Swimming Foundation of Peru.
Charles "Sparky" Kiyoichi Kawamoto was an Assistant swim coach for the 1956 U.S. Olympic team, and a Head Coach for Hilo High School, and the Hilo Aquatic Club, in Hilo, Hawaii, which he founded in the 1940's. In addition to High School All Americans, and AAU champions, he produced two Olympic medalists during his coaching years, Sonny Tanabe, and Yoshi Oyakawa, Hawaii's first Olympic gold medalist in 1956.
| Men's Team |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Women's Team | ||
| Staff |
| |
  | This biographical article related to a United States swimmer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
