Personal information | |||||||||||||
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Full name | Robert Edward Townsend, Jr. | ||||||||||||
Nickname(s) | "Ed" | ||||||||||||
National team | United States | ||||||||||||
Born |
Santa Clara, California |
September 13, 1943 ||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||||
Weight | 200 lb (91 kg) | ||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||
Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||||||
Club | Santa Clara Swim Club | ||||||||||||
College team | Yale University | ||||||||||||
Medal record
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Robert Edward Townsend, Jr. (born September 13, 1943) is an American former competition swimmer, Pan American Games gold medalist, and former world record-holder.
Townsend won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 1963 Pan American Games. He participated in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where he swam for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Under the 1964 Olympic swimming rules, he was ineligible for a medal, however, because he did not swim in the relay final.
Townsend attended Yale University, where he was a standout swimmer for coach Phil Moriarty's Yale Bulldogs swimming and diving team from 1963 to 1965. He won an NCAA national championship in the 400-yard individual medley (1963), and three more as a member of winning Yale teams in the 400-yard freestyle relay (1963, 1964, 1965).