Mark Henderson (swimmer)

Mark Henderson
Personal information
Full name Mark Andrew Henderson
National team  United States
Born (1969-11-14) November 14, 1969
Washington, D.C.
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight 174 lb (79 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Butterfly, freestyle
Club Curl-Burke Swim Club
College team University of California, Berkeley

Mark Andrew Henderson (born November 14, 1969) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. He is an Olympic gold medalist, three-time World champion, two-time Pan American Games champion, four-time Pan Pacific champion and five-time U.S. National champion. He competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where he was the butterfly leg of the gold medal 4×100-meter medley relay, which set the world, Olympic, American, and U.S. Open records.[1]

While in high school, Henderson swam for Curl-Burke Swim Club and was coached by Jeff King.[2] He attended college at the University of California, Berkeley where he swam for coach Nort Thornton's California Golden Bears swimming and diving team.

At the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1992, Mark entered the meet ranked 2nd in the world in the 100m butterfly, but concentrated too much on his competition and took out his race much too fast (under world record pace at the 50m mark). He led the race to the final 5 meters where he "bonked" and dropped from first to seventh place.

Mark returned to competition after an 8-month retirement with a vengeance. In 1993, Mark put together wins at the U.S. Open and Summer U.S. Nationals and two gold medals at the Pan Pacific Championships. He finished the year with a gold and two silvers at the inaugural Short Course World Championships in Palma, Majorca.

In 1994, Mark joined the first USA Swimming resident team which was located at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was run and coached by former world record holder Jonty Skinner.

Mark has worked in the financial industry concentrating on Japan and U.S. equities for the past 12 years for the likes of JP Morgan Securities, Citigroup, and now Janney Montgomery Scott. Mark was married in 2007. They currently have two children.

Charitable endeavors

Since his retirement, Mark has been a member of USA Swimming's Athlete Executive Council (AEC) (2000–2008), USA Swimming Board member (2000–2008), United States Olympic Committee Athlete Advisory Council (AAC) member (2000–2008), Chair of the AAC (2004–2008), current Board member of the Leo Brien Foundation, Olympic solidarity representative to Zimbabwe (2000–present), Co-founder of S.W.I.M (Swim With Inspiration and Motivation) learn-to-swim program for inner-city youth in San Francisco, and he is also a participant/ member in the Big Brother Program (1988–present). In 2008, Mark was the recipient of the USA Swimming Athlete Appreciation Award.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "1996 Olympics – Atlanta, United States – Swimming" – databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on May 3, 2008)
  2. ↑ "www.cubu.org". www.cubu.org. Retrieved 2015-12-23.

External links

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