Chip Peterson

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Medal record
Men's Swimming
Competitor for United States
World Championships
Gold	2005 Montreal	10km Open Water
Silver	2005 Montreal	5km Open Water
Pan Pacific Championships
Gold	2006 Victoria	10km Open Water

Charles (“Chip”) Bowne Peterson (born December 3, 1987 in Morehead City, North Carolina) is an American swimmer who specializes is long-distance freestyle swimming, especially open water swimming, in which he is a world champion.

At the 2005 World Swimming Championships, he won gold in the 10 km event and a silver medal position behind Germany's Thomas Lurz in the five km event. He was jointly awarded the inaugural Open Water Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine with Lurz. He also earned a gold medal in the 1500 meter freestyle at the 2005 summer nationals in Irvine, California. Peterson is from Pine Knoll Shores, North Carolina and signed a letter of intent to swim for UNC Chapel Hill beginning in fall 2006. At the 2007 Open Water National Championships, Peterson was the class of the field, winning both the 5K and 10K races by considerable margins. His father, Pete, is a professor of Marine Sciences at UNC.

Peterson now swims for UNC, and after his freshman year owned the top time for the tar heels in three events, the 500yd free, the 1000yd free, and the 1650yd free. At the ACC championships, Peterson placed second in the 1650yd free and fifth in the 500yd free. He was the subject of a feature story that ran in The Daily Tar Heel during the year.