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Don Schollander

Don Schollander
Don Schollander 1964.jpg
Schollander at the 1964 Olympics
Personal information
Full name Donald Arthur Schollander
Nickname(s) "Don"
National team United States
Born (1946-04-30) April 30, 1946 (age 70)
Charlotte, North Carolina
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight 174 lb (79 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle
Club Santa Clara Swim Club
College team Yale College

Donald Arthur Schollander (born April 30, 1946) is an American former competition swimmer, five-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events. He won a total of five gold medals and one silver medal at the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics. With four gold medals, he was the most successful athlete at the 1964 Olympics.

Schollander was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and learned competitive swimming from his uncle, Newt Perry, who ran a swimming school in Florida. As a boy, Schollander moved with his family to Lake Oswego, Oregon. Although his first sporting passion was football, he was too small to compete in high school football. Instead, he joined Lake Oswego High School's swim team, and in 1960, helped lead the team to an Oregon state swimming championship as a freshman.

As a teenager in 1962, Schollander moved to Santa Clara, California to train under swim coach George Haines of the Santa Clara Swim Club. Two years later at the age of 18, he won three freestyle events at the AAU national championships. He made the U.S. Olympic team in two individual events and two relays. Months later, he won four gold medals and set three world records at the 1964 Summer Olympics, at the time the most medals won by an American since Jesse Owens in 1936. His success helped earn him the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States, and the AP Athlete of the Year, defeating runner-up Johnny Unitas by a wide margin. He was also named ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year.


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Wikipedia

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