Austin Clapp
A man in a bathing suit, standing and holding two displays full of medals
Clapp in 1928
Personal information
Full nameAustin Rhone Clapp
National team United States
Born(1910-11-08)November 8, 1910
Farmington, New Hampshire
DiedDecember 22, 1971(1971-12-22) (aged 61)
Woodside, California
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle, water polo
ClubLos Angeles Athletic Club
College teamStanford University
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing the United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1928 Amsterdam 4x200 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 1932 Los Angeles Water polo

Austin Rhone Clapp (November 8, 1910 – December 22, 1971) was an American competition swimmer and water polo player who represented the United States at the 1928 Summer Olympics and 1932 Summer Olympics.[1]

Clapp grew up on the small island of Nauru, one of three sons of parents who served as medical personnel for the British phosphate mining operations on the island.

At the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Clapp won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay, together with Walter Laufer, George Kojac and Johnny Weissmuller.[1][2] The Americans set a new world record of 9:36.2 in the relay event. Individually, he placed fifth overall in the men's 400-meter freestyle and also competed in the preliminary heats of the men's 1,500-meter freestyle.[1]

He attended Stanford University, where he was a member of the Stanford Cardinal swimming and water polo teams in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition. As a college swimmer, Clapp won two NCAA national championships: the 1931 title in the 220-yard freestyle (2:18.0), and 1932 title in the 1,500-meter freestyle (20:02.2).[3] After completing his undergraduate degree at Stanford, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley's law school.

At the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, California, he was a member of the third-place U.S. water polo team that received the bronze medal.[1]

In 1976, he was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.[4][5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Austin Clapp Archived 2007-03-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  2. ↑ Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, United States Swimming at the 1928 Amsterdam Summer Games. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  3. ↑ HickokSports.com, Sports History, NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Champions Archived 2002-02-23 at the Library of Congress Web Archives. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Austin R Clapp (1976)". usawaterpolo.org. USA Water Polo. Archived from the original on 2020-04-04. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  5. ↑ "Hall of Fame Inductees". usawaterpolo.org. USA Water Polo. Archived from the original on 2019-05-31. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
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