Rowdy Gaines
Rowdy Gaines in 1983
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| Full name | Ambrose Gaines, IV | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | "Rowdy" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team |
 United States
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| Born |
February 17, 1959 Winter Haven, Florida |
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| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 161 lb (73 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | Auburn University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Ambrose "Rowdy" Gaines, IV (born February 17, 1959) is an American former competitive swimmer, U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame member, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He is the chief fundraiser for USA Swimming as well as a swimming analyst for television networks ESPN and NBC. He covered the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, the London 2012 Summer Olympics, and the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.
Born in Winter Haven, Florida, Gaines unsuccessfully tried other sports during his teen-age years but turned to swimming as a Winter Haven High School junior where he improved quickly and was offered a swimming scholarship to Auburn University. At Auburn he became a five-time NCAA champion under the training of former Auburn head swimming coach Richard Quick. From 1978 to 1984, Gaines set ten world records, and had the United States not boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, he would have been a favorite to win multiple medals at the event. After graduating from Auburn in 1981, he stopped swimming for several months, thinking he had missed his opportunity to be an Olympic medalist, but was urged to resume swimming by his father. He qualified for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California and won the 100 meter freestyle. He also won two gold medals for relays, swimming the anchor legs for the U.S. team in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay and 4×100-meter medley relay.
In August 1991, Gaines was temporarily paralyzed with Guillain–Barré syndrome. After a two-month hospitalization, he experienced a surprising full recovery attributed largely to his superb physical condition as a competitive swimmer. He eventually regained world-class times and, at the age of 35, became the oldest swimmer to qualify for the trials for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Ultimately, he chose not to compete in the trials for the 1996 Olympics but instead continued his career as a television commentator, covering swimming for NBC at the Games.
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