| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitor for the United States | ||
| Men's Swimming | ||
| Silver | 1936 Berlin | 4x200 m freestyle relay |
John Joseph Macionis (born May 27, 1916) is a former American swimmer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Born in Philadelphia, Macionis swam for Big Brothers, Germantown Y.M.C.A., and Central High School, where he captained the swim team and set a world's record in the 200 yard freestyle in 1933. He spent the next year at Mercersburg Academy ('34), where he swam under the famous coach John "King" Miller, and set two additional national freestyle records. Continuing his swimming career at Yale University ('38), he swam under the legendary coach Bob Kiputh. He soon held all of that team's freestyle records, as well as the school records for the individual medley and the 220 breaststroke. In 1936, he became the first Yale swimmer to compete in the Olympic games. In Berlin, he won a silver medal in the 4×200 m freestyle relay event and was fourth in his semifinal of the 400 m freestyle event and did not advance. Due to World War II, the Olympic Games were canceled. But a committee was established by the International Swimming Hall of Fame to recognize those U.S. swimmers who would have qualified for the Olympic Team that year. Macionis was one of those so recognized. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Swimming Hall of Fame in State College, Pennsylvania.
He continued to swim in master's competition and, at age sixty-five, he held five world records for his age group. Macionis was also an active swimming official in the northeast, and especially in the Philadelphia region, for more than fifty years. He retired from officiating in 2009, and the last meet he officiated was a NCAA dual meet between LaSalle University and the University of Pennsylvania. He continued swimming every day until the age of ninety-four, when his health would no longer allow him to continue.
Macionis lives with his wife of sixty-seven years, May, in Charlottesville, Virginia. His son Robert is active in many Charlottesville organizations; his son John is the noted textbook author and professor of sociology at Kenyon College.