Steve Clark (swimmer)
Stephen Edward Clark is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Clark swam for the first-place U.S. relay teams in the preliminary heats of the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay and men's 4×100-meter medley relay. Both American relay teams won gold medals, but Clark was ineligible for a medal under the Olympic swimming rules in effect in 1960 because he did not compete in the event finals.
He won his first international gold medal at the 1963 Pan American Games in São Paulo, Brazil, winning the men's 100-metre freestyle in a time of 54.7 seconds, and narrowly edging American swimmer Steven Jackman.
When Tokyo, Japan hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, Clark won three gold medals as a member of the winning U.S. relay teams in the 4×100-meter freestyle, 4×200-meter freestyle, and 4×100-meter medley events.
Clark attended Los Altos High School and Yale University, where he swam for coach Philip Moriarty's Yale Bulldogs swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association and Ivy League competition. As a senior, he was the Yale swim team captain; he graduated from Yale with his bachelor's degree in 1964. In 2005, he donated one of his three Olympic gold medals to his alma mater.
Clark was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1966.
