Jesse Vassallo
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| Full name | Jesús David Vassallo Anadón | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | "Jesse" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team | United States Puerto Rico |
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| Born |
August 9, 1961 Ponce, Puerto Rico |
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| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 170 lb (77 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Backstroke, individual medley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | University of Miami | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Jesús David "Jesse" Vassallo Anadón (born August 9, 1961) is a former competition swimmer and world record-holder who participated in the 1984 Summer Olympics for the United States. In 1997, he became the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. From 2004 to 2009, he served as the president of the Puerto Rican National Swimming Federation (Federación Puertorriqueña de Natación).
Vassallo Anadón is the third child of five siblings, born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to the Vassallo Anadón family. He received his primary education at Academia Cristo Rey in Ponce. His father, Victor Vassallo, was the brother of the late Puerto Rican industrialist Salvador Vassallo, and was very sports-minded and encouraged his children to participate in sports. Vassallo is the third of five sons. His brothers are Marcos, Víctor (b. 1960), Vicente, and Salvador (b. 1968).
On one occasion, while relaxing by a hotel swimming pool in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Vassallo's father asked his sons to compete against some girls that were swimming laps in the pool. The father was impressed with what he saw, and as soon as he returned to Ponce he enrolled them in a local swimming team.
In 1971, when he was only 10 years old, Vassallo Anadón broke a 50-meter backstroke swimming record. In 1975, he won his first gold medal in backstroke at the Medley Relay, held in Colombia. Vassallo's father moved his family to Miami, Florida, where he was to open a branch of the family business, Vassallo Industries. Vassallo Anadón held various records, including the 100- and 200-meter backstrokes, and the 200- and 400-meter individual medley. Vassallo already ranked among the top ten in the world in three of the events.
Vassallo Anadón's father moved to Mission Viejo, California, where Vassallo completed his secondary studies. He went to train with Mark Schubert, who would later become the coach of the USA Swimming Team. In 1976, Vassallo Anadón wanted to participate in the 1976 Summer Olympics, which were held in Montreal, Canada, representing Puerto Rico, but he could not participate due to a ruling of the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee that stated that "in order to represent Puerto Rico, a person must have resided on the island for at least a year" (currently, this rule requires for a person to reside for three years before becoming a member of a Puerto Rican national sports team). He did however, participate in the U.S. Swimming Nationals at Philadelphia for the first time, and won his first national title and a national gold medal in the 1,500-meter freestyle.
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