Stephen Clarke (swimmer)
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| Full name | Stephen Clarke | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | "Brampton Bullet" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team |
 Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
July 21, 1973 Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 91 kg (201 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Butterfly, freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | City of Brampton (COBRA) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | University of Florida | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Stephen Clarke (born July 21, 1973) is a Canadian former competition swimmer and Olympic bronze medallist.
Clarke was born in Sutton Coldfield, England,[1] and emigrated to Canada at an early age. He swam for the COBRA swim club in Brampton, Ontario, where he was the first member of the club to make the national team.[2]
Clarke had a distinguished international swimming career, representing Canada at two Summer Olympics and a Commonwealth Games. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, he won a bronze medal by anchoring the Canadian team in the men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay, swimming with Mark Tewksbury, Jonathan Cleveland and Marcel Gery.[1] He swam in multiple events at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, winning a gold medal in the men's 100 metres freestye (50.21 seconds), a silver in the 100 metres butterfly (54.45 seconds), and a second silver for anchoring Canada's second-place relay team in the 4 x 100 metres medley relay (3:43.25), together with teammates Chris Renaud, Jon Cleveland and Robert Braknis.[3] At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, Clarke qualified for the event finals of the men's 100-metre butterfly, finishing seventh with as time of 53.3 seconds.[1]
After the 1992 Olympics, Clarke accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he swam for the Florida Gators swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 1993 to 1995, and again in 1997.[4] As a Gator swimmer, Clarke won two individual Southeastern Conference SEC championships, and was a member of five SEC championship relay teams.[4] He earned twenty-three All-American honors, and was twice recognized as the team's most valuable swimmer (1995, 1997).[4] After taking a year off from college to train full-time for the 1996 Summer Olympics, he returned for his final year of NCAA competition and graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science in 1997.
He was inducted into Brampton Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario Aquatic Hall of Fame in 1992.[2]
See also
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
- List of University of Florida alumni
- List of University of Florida Olympians
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Stephen Clarke. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 City of Brampton Sports Hall of Fame, Inductees, Stephen Clarke. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ↑ GBRAthletics.com, Commonwealth Games Medallists, Swimming & Diving. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Florida Swimming & Diving 2009–2010 Media Guide, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 90, 100, 104, 105, 106, 113, 114, 116 (2009). Retrieved 19 July 2014.
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