Jack Medica

Jack Medica, born in Seattle in 1914 and died in 1985, was an American competition swimmer who became an Olympic champion and held world records in two events. He trained at the Washington Athletic Club under Ray Daughters and swam for the University of Washington from 1934 to 1936, where he was the first All American swimmer in the school's history and won nine national collegiate titles. At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin he won gold in the 400 metre freestyle in an Olympic record time, took silver in the 1500 metre freestyle and won a second silver in the 4x200 metre freestyle relay. Over his career he won ten national AAU titles and set eleven world records. After the war he coached at Columbia and then the University of Pennsylvania, and he entered the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1966.