Ken Merten

Last updated
Ken Merten
Personal information
Full nameKenneth Owen Merten
Nickname"Ken"
National teamUnited States
Born (1945-05-04) May 4, 1945 (age 78)
Akron, Ohio
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight176 lb (80 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Breaststroke
Club Los Angeles Athletic Club
College team Southern Methodist University
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing the United States
Pan American Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1963 São Paulo 200 m breaststroke
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1967 Winnipeg 100 m breaststroke
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1967 Winnipeg 200 m breaststroke
Summer Universiade
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1967 Tokyo 4×100 m medley
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1967 Tokyo 100 m breaststroke
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1967 Tokyo 200 m breaststroke

Kenneth Owen Merten (born May 4, 1945) is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Pan American Games medalist, and former world record-holder.

Merten won three medals in his breaststroke specialty at the Pan American Games. [1] At the 1963 Pan American Games in São Paulo, Brazil, he won a silver medal for his runner-up finish in the 200-meter breaststroke. [1] Four years later at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he received a pair of bronze medals for his third-place performances in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke. [1]

Merten represented the United States at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. [2] He competed in the semifinals of the men's 100-meter breaststroke, finishing with a time of 1:11.6. [2] [3] He also swam in the preliminary heats of the men's 200-meter breaststroke, clocking a time of 2:37.0, but did not advance. [2] [4]

Merten was born in Akron, Ohio, [2] but grew up in Los Angeles, California. [5] He attended Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, where he swam for the SMU Mustangs swimming and diving team in national Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition. [5] While he was an SMU swimmer, he won NCAA individual national championships in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, the first ever in the history of the SMU swim team, and set new American records in doing so. [5]

Merten helped set a new world record of 3:57.2 in the 4×100-meter medley relay as a member of the winning U.S. relay team at the 1967 World University Games on August 31, 1967. [6] The record was broken by an East German relay team a little over two months later. At the University Games, he also gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events. [5]

He is now retired after a 32-year career as a teacher, school administrator and coach. [5] He actively competes in windsurfing within his age group, and is an active participant in Swim Across America, a non-profit organization that uses Olympic swimmers to raise funds for cancer research. [5] He lives in Dallas, Texas. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

Kristine Lora Quance, also known by her married name Kristine Julian, is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in breaststroke and medley events. Quance competed at the international level in the 1990s, and swam at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, winning a gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay. She is a 10-time United States national champion; and twice won the Kiphuth Award as the highest individual point scorer at an individual national championship. In the 1992 Summer National Championships, she won all four of the events in which she swam.

Stephen K. Lundquist is an American former competition swimmer who is an Olympic gold medalist and former world record-holder. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he won gold medals in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 400-meter medley relay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Hencken</span> American swimmer

John Frederick Hencken is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Hencken won five Olympic medals during his career, including three golds.

Lisa Anne Flood is a Canadian former competitive swimmer and breaststroke specialist. Flood competed at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There she finished in fourteenth position in the women's 200-metre breaststroke. Four years later at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, Flood came in tenth place in the women's 100-metre breaststroke.

Kenneth Marshall Walsh is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder in three events.

Jan Margo Henne, also known by her married name Jan Hawkins, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Soni</span> American swimmer

Rebecca Soni is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who is a six-time Olympic medalist. She is a former world record-holder in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter breaststroke, and is the first woman to swim the 200-meter breaststroke in under 2 minutes 20 seconds. As a member of the U.S. national team, she held the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay from 2012 to 2017.

Brian Gregory Job was an American competition swimmer, Olympic medalist, and world record-holder. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, he won the bronze medal for his third-place finish in the men's 200-meter breaststroke. He later graduated from Harvard Business School.

Daniel Ploug Jorgensen is an American former competition swimmer who represented the United States at two consecutive Olympic Games.

Hans F. Dersch is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There he won the gold medal in the men's 4×100-meter medley relay, after having swum in the preliminary heats for the winning U.S. team. Dersch was a two-time gold medalist at the 1991 Pan American Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Cleveland</span> American swimmer (1929–2002)

Richard Fitch Cleveland was an American competition swimmer, three-time Pan American Games champion, and former world record-holder in the 100 meters and 100 yard events.

David Chandler "Dave" Lyons is an American former competition swimmer and Pan American Games gold medalist.

Robert Edward Townsend, Jr. is an American former competition swimmer, Pan American Games gold medalist, and former world record-holder.

Kurt David Grote is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. Grote competed internationally in the breaststroke events during the 1990s.

Laura Gail Siering is an American former competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec. She won a silver medal as a member of the second-place U.S. team in the women's 4×100-meter medley relay, together with Linda Jezek (backstroke), Camille Wright (butterfly), and Shirley Babashoff (freestyle). Siering also competed in the women's 100-meter breaststroke and 200-meter breaststroke at the 1976 Olympics, but did not advance to the finals in either event.

Michael Allen Wall is an American former competition swimmer who participated in two consecutive Summer Olympics.

Frank Martin Dooley was an American competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Dooley swam for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the qualifying heats of the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He did not receive a medal, however, because under the Olympic swimming rules in effect in 1952, only relay swimmers who competed in the event final were medal-eligible.

Donald Alexander Sheff is an American former competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He competed for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Sheff did not receive a medal, however, because under the 1952 Olympic swimming rules, relay swimmers who did not compete in the event final were not medal-eligible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Cordes</span> American competitive swimmer

Kevin Cordes is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in breaststroke events. He currently represents the Cali Condors which is part of the International Swimming League. Cordes was a member of the 2016 U.S. Men's Olympic Swimming Team. He won gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay as a member of the preliminary relay, and took 4th place in the Men's 100m Breaststroke at the 2016 Olympic Games. He is the former American record holder in the 50-meter and 100-meter breaststroke.

Clayton T. Evans is a Canadian former competition swimmer and Olympic silver medalist. Evans represented Canada at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Pan American Games: Men's Swimming Medalists". HickokSports.com. Archived from the original on December 5, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ken Merten". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  3. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Breaststroke Semi-Finals". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  4. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Breaststroke Round One". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Swim Across America, Olympians, Ken Merten. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
  6. ↑ "A Roundup Of The Sports Information Of The Week". Sports Illustrated. September 11, 1967. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.