Jack Babashoff: Difference between revisions
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===1978 World Aquatics Gold Medal=== |
===1978 World Aquatics Gold Medal=== |
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In August 1978, he won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the [[1978 World Aquatics Championships]] in West Berlin. The relay time was another World Record and broke the prior World Record set by an American team, by 2.6 seconds. |
In August 1978, he won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the [[1978 World Aquatics Championships]] in West Berlin. The relay time was another World Record and broke the prior World Record set by an American team, by 2.6 seconds.<ref name=WB/> |
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The 1976 Olympic 100-meter Gold Medalist [[Jim Montgomery (swimmer)|Jim Montgomery]] swam on the team with Jack, and both had swum on the team that had set a prior World record in the event.<ref name=r2/><ref name=Olympedia/> The host team, West Germany, finished second, a considerable seven seconds behind the Americans, with the Swedish team a close third. After the win, the American team's Coach [[George Haines]], said "We expected the victory and the new world record as well".<ref>"American Swimmers Set Records in Berlin, Relay Record", ''The Gazette'', Montreal, Quebec, pg. 44, 23 August 1978</ref> |
The 1976 Olympic 100-meter Gold Medalist [[Jim Montgomery (swimmer)|Jim Montgomery]] swam on the team with Jack, and both had swum on the team that had set a prior World record in the event.<ref name=r2/><ref name=Olympedia/> The host team, West Germany, finished second, a considerable seven seconds behind the Americans, with the Swedish team a close third. After the win, the American team's Coach [[George Haines]], said "We expected the victory and the new world record as well".<ref name=WB>"American Swimmers Set Records in Berlin, Relay Record", ''The Gazette'', Montreal, Quebec, pg. 44, 23 August 1978</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
Revision as of 01:28, 17 September 2023
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Full name | Jack Babashoff, Jr. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Whittier, California | July 13, 1955|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 185 lb (84 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Long Beach Swim Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College team | University of Alabama | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coach | Don Gambril | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Jack Babashoff, Jr. (born July 13, 1955) is an American former competition swimmer and a 1976 Olympic silver medal winner in the 100 meter freestyle.
Babashoff is the son of Vera (Slevkoff), a former teacher, and Jack Babashoff, Sr. Both of his parents were second-generation Russian-Americans.[1] His younger sisters Shirley and Debbie and brother Bill were also swimmers who competed at the international level.[2][3] Jack's father, Jack Sr., was a swimming instructor in Hawaii for a period and hoped his own children might aspire to be olympic swimmers.[4]
Early swim career
Babashoff began swimming in 1965 around the age of nine at a Junior College pool in Norwalk, California, as did his sister Shirley Babashoff, who would also become an accomplished Olympian.[5] Babashoff attended and swam first for Lynwood High School and later Fountain Valley High School in Fountain Valley, California, where he graduated. [6] Recognized as a top California swimmer, Babashoff's High School swim times by his Senior Year were exceptional with personal bests of 46.8 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, and a 1:42 in the 200-yard freestyle.[7]
He later swam for the University of Alabama where he was coached by Don Gambril a Swimming Hall of Fame inductee. Gambril also coached several American Olympic swimming teams, including Jack's 1976 team.[8]
Babashoff completed what was then a personal best 100-meter time at California's Mission Viejo Invitational in August of 1975. As a college junior, he swam with the Long Beach Swim Club coached by Dick Jochums, who believed in shorter distance training at faster speeds. About a year prior to his junior year he left competitive swimming briefly for a year.[9]
1975 Pan American Games medals
In the Pan American Games at Mexico City in 1975, Babashoff competed in one of his most successful meets and won three medals. He won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay, and a gold medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay. Continuing to improve his time, he took an individual silver medal, in the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 52.26.[10][11]
In the 1979 Pan American games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Babashoff won another gold medal with the American team in the 4 x 100 Meter freestyle relay.[10]
1976 Olympic silver medal, 100 meters
In what was his singularly most significant athletic achievement, Babashoff won a silver medal in 100-meter freestyle at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec.[8]
Babashoff's time was 50.81 seconds, less than a second behind American team member Jim Montgomery's gold medal winning time of 49.99. Montgomery's time became the first 100 meter swim to break the 50 second mark.[10]
Jack was an alternate for the record setting 4x100 meter Medley relay team, which won a gold medal as well at Montreal, but he did not swim in the final heat, nor did he medal.[10]
Record 4x100 free relay, East Berlin, 1977
Babashoff led off the 4 x 100 American Team freestyle relay on August 28, 1977, in a dual meet against East Germany in East Berlin. The team included the 1976 Olympic 100 meter Gold medal winner Jim Montgomery who swam last.[12]
(The American team's combined time was 3:21.11, which broke the standing world record by around 3.7 seconds.)[10][12][13]
1978 World Aquatics Gold Medal
In August 1978, he won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 1978 World Aquatics Championships in West Berlin. The relay time was another World Record and broke the prior World Record set by an American team, by 2.6 seconds.[14]
The 1976 Olympic 100-meter Gold Medalist Jim Montgomery swam on the team with Jack, and both had swum on the team that had set a prior World record in the event.[15][10] The host team, West Germany, finished second, a considerable seven seconds behind the Americans, with the Swedish team a close third. After the win, the American team's Coach George Haines, said "We expected the victory and the new world record as well".[14]
See also
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
- List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (men)
- World record progression 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay
- World record progression 4 × 100 metres medley relay
References
- ^ Babashoff, Shirley. Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Thematic Series: Sports Figures (January 1, 2002).
- ^ Paula Edelson (1 January 2002). A to Z of American Women in Sports. Infobase Publishing. pp. 13–. ISBN 978-1-4381-0789-9. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ^ Kristin Hardeman (April 23, 1988). HIGH LIFE : In the Family Swim : Babashoff Hopes to Follow Siblings to Olympic Stardom. Los Angeles Times
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20131105200649/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3436500034.html Babashoff, Shirley]. Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Thematic Series: Sports Figures (January 1, 2002).
- ^ Chapin, Dwight, "Jack Babashoff, The Older Brother Nobody Knows", The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, pg. 17, 19 July 1976
- ^ Swam for Lynnwood High School in "Swimmers Defeat Montebello", Lynwood Press, Lynwood, California, pg. 15, 11 March 1971
- ^ Zainea, Leo, "Bear Pools His Resources", Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, pg. 79, 18 June 1973
- ^ a b Jack Babashoff biography and Olympic results Archived 2012-01-27 at the Wayback Machine, sports-reference.com.
- ^ "Now Its Jack Babashoff's Time to Crow", The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, California, pg. 47, 4 August 1975
- ^ a b c d e f "Jack Babashoff". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
- ^ "Pan Am Game Results, Swimming", The Gazette, Montreal, Quebec, pg. 19, 25 October 1975
- ^ a b "The Year 1977 in Statistics; Swimming, World Record Set, 400m Relay", Rutland Daily Herald, pg. 16, Rutland, Vermont, 1 January 1978
- ^ Standing world record for the 4x100 relay was 3:24.85 in Kellner, Jenny, "Last of Spitz's Mark's Broken, Men, 4x100 meter relay", Palladium-Item, Richmond, Indiana, pg. 35, 7 January 1978
- ^ a b "American Swimmers Set Records in Berlin, Relay Record", The Gazette, Montreal, Quebec, pg. 44, 23 August 1978
- ^ Jean-Louis Meuret (2007), HistoFINA Volume IV – Tome IV Archived 2009-05-05 at WebCite. MEDALLISTS AND STATISTICS. Special FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS (50 m.) Before Rome 2009.
- 1955 births
- Living people
- Alabama Crimson Tide men's swimmers
- American male freestyle swimmers
- American people of Russian descent
- World record setters in swimming
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming
- Sportspeople from Whittier, California
- Swimmers at the 1975 Pan American Games
- Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Swimmers at the 1979 Pan American Games
- World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
- Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States
- Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States
- Pan American Games medalists in swimming
- Jewish American sportspeople
- Jewish swimmers
- Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games
- Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games
- 21st-century American Jews
- Sportspeople from Fountain Valley, California
- Fountain Valley High School alumni
- American swimming Olympic medalist stubs