Victor Davis

Victor Davis

Medal record
Men's swimming
Competitor for  Canada
Olympic Games
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	200 m breaststroke
Silver	1984 Los Angeles	100 m breaststroke
Silver	1984 Los Angeles	4×100 m medley
Silver	1988 Seoul	4×100 m medley
World Championships (LC)
Gold	1982 Guayaquil	200 m breaststroke
Gold	1986 Madrid	100 m breaststroke
Silver	1982 Guayaquil	100 m breaststroke
Silver	1986 Madrid	200 m breaststroke
Commonwealth Games
Gold	1982 Brisbane	200 m breaststroke
Gold	1986 Edinburgh	100 m breaststroke
Gold	1986 Edinburgh	4×100 m medley
Silver	1982 Brisbane	100 m breaststroke
Silver	1986 Edinburgh	200 m breaststroke
Pan Pacific Championships
Gold	1987 Brisbane	100 m breaststroke
Bronze	1987 Brisbane	200 m breaststroke

Victor Davis, CM (February 10, 1964 – November 13, 1989) was a Canadian Olympic and world champion swimmer, a well known breaststroker from Canada. He also enjoyed success in the individual medley and the butterfly.

Biography

Victor Davis was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. As a boy, Davis learned how to swim in the lakes around his home. He then joined the Guelph Marlin Aquatic Club at the age of 12.

During his career, Davis held several world records as the winner of 31 national titles and 16 medals in international competition. At the 1982 world championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador, he set his first world record while winning the gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke.

At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, USA, he won a silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke event, then captured the gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke, in the process establishing another world record. In recognition of his accomplishments, Davis was named Swimming Canada's Athlete of the Year three times and the Canadian government made him a Member of the Order of Canada.^[1]

A star of Canada's national swim team for nine years, he retired from competitive swimming in July 1989. He was voted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1985 and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

Only a few months after his retirement, on November 11, 1989 while outside a nightclub in the Montreal suburb of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Davis was struck by a car whose driver fled the scene. It was later determined that, due to an earlier verbal altercation with the driver, Davis had walked to the middle of the road and was brandishing a juice bottle toward the car at the time at which he was struck.^[2] Two days later, the 25 year-old died of his injuries in hospital. In February 1992, Glen Crossley was found guilty of leaving the scene of an accident and sentenced to ten months in prison, ultimately serving four months.^[3]

Legacy

Davis's parents fulfilled his express wish that his organs be donated to help save the lives of others. The swimmer's heart, liver, kidneys and two cornea were transplanted.

Each year since his death, awards are made by the Victor Davis Memorial Fund to help young Canadian swimmers continue their education while training in pursuit of excellence at the international level of competition. To date, more than 86 athletes have benefited from this award, and many of them have gone on to have successful swimming careers. Thirteen recipients of this award participated in the Beijing Olympics.^[4]

Film

Davis's life, death and legacy was remembered in Victor, a two-hour biographical drama film that was written by the Canadian former swimmer Mark Lutz, who also appeared in the title role.

Career highlights

1982 World Aquatics Championships – Guayaquil, Ecuador

• Gold medal – 200 m breaststroke (world record 2:14.77, breaking the old record of 2:15.11 set by David Wilkie in 1976)
• Silver medal – 100 m breaststroke

1982 Commonwealth Games – Brisbane, Australia

• Gold medal – 200 m Breaststroke
• Silver medal – 100 m Breaststroke

1984 Canadian Olympic Trials – Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada

• Won the 200 m breaststroke (broke his own world record with a time of 2:14.58, bettering his 1982 time)

1984 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles, United States

• Gold medal – 200 m breaststroke (established world record at 2:13.34, lowering his own 1984 record time)
• Silver medal – 100 m breaststroke
• Silver medal – 4×100 m medley relay

1986 Commonwealth Games – Edinburgh, Scotland

• Gold medal – 4×100 m medley relay
• Gold medal – 100 m breaststroke
• Silver medal – 200 m breaststroke

1986 World Aquatics Championships – Madrid, Spain

• Gold medal – 100 m breaststroke
• Silver medal – 200 m breaststroke

1988 Summer Olympics – Seoul, South Korea

• Silver medal – 4×100 m medley relay (1.00.90 split)
• Fourth place – 100 m breaststroke (1.02.38)

Canadian National Championships (including separate trials meets)

• 17-time national champion, 100 m breaststroke
• 14-time national champion, 200 m breaststroke
• 2-time national champion, 200 m butterfly
• 2-time national champion, 200 m individual medley
• 1 national championship, 400 m individual medley

See also

• Adrian Moorhouse, Davis's greatest rival.

References

External links

• Official Victor Davis Movie Site
• See Dave Stubbs review of the making of the movie here.
• Victor (a film about Victor Davis) at the Internet Movie Database
• Swimnews Magazine in 2000 ran a retrospective on Davis, see pages 6 – 7..
• Victor Davis Memorial Fund page – part of Guelph Marlin Aquatic Club website
• Victor Davis Memorial Fund Page - Swimming Canada
• CBC (TV) Archives looking back at the 1984 LA Olympics
• Canadian Sports Hall of Fame profile of Victor Davis

Records
Preceded by David Wilkie	Men's 200 metre breaststroke world record holder (long course) August 5, 1982 – August 2, 1984	Succeeded by Mike Barrowman