Joshua Clark Davis (born September 1, 1972) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder. Davis represented the United States at two consecutive Summer Olympics.

College and international career

He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he swam for coach Eddie Reese's Texas Longhorns swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, he won gold medals by swimming for the winning U.S. teams in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay and 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He earned a third gold medal by swimming for the first-place U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the 4×100-meter medley relay. He also competed in the 200-meter freestyle, and finished seventh in the event final with a time of 1:48.54.

Four years later at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, he served as the captain of the U.S. swimming team. At the 2000 Olympics, he won silver medals swimming for the second-place U.S. teams in the preliminary heats of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and the final of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He again competed in the 200-meter freestyle, finishing in fourth place in the final with a time of 1:46.73.

He also swam for the U.S. national team at:

Life outside competitive swimming

Completed in 2001, the Josh Davis Natatorium, one of the two natatoriums part of North East ISD's Virgil T. Blossom Athletic Center (the district where Davis attended school) in San Antonio was named in his honor.[1]

In February 2009 four of Davis' Olympic medals—three gold medals and one silver medal—were stolen from his car after he returned from a swim clinic in St. Louis.[2] On February 13, 2009, cleanup crews found the medals outside one of the Salvation Army's Boys and Girls Clubs in San Antonio. The medals were returned to Davis at a news conference later that night.[3]

On June 1, 2016, Davis was named as the first coach of Oklahoma Christian University's swimming programs, charged with building men's and women's teams for competition that will begin with the 2017-18 season. It is Davis' first collegiate coaching job.[4][5] Oklahoma Christian University is currently the only college in Oklahoma offering intercollegiate swimming.[6]

Davis and his wife Shantel live in Edmond, Oklahoma, and have six children.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ Josh Davis Natatorium to be Dedicated Archived August 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Lane 9 News, May 10, 2001 Swimming World
  2. ^ "U.S. Olympic swimmer Davis reports four stolen medals". Sports Illustrated. February 11, 2009. Archived from the original on February 14, 2009.
  3. ^ US Swimmer Josh Davis Olympic Medals Found and Returned sports.yahoo.com, February 13, 2009
  4. ^ a b "Josh Davis - Head Coach - Staff Directory". Oklahoma Christian Eagles.
  5. ^ "OC adds swimming; Olympic champ to coach teams | Vision | Oklahoma Christian University". www.oc.edu. Archived from the original on September 21, 2016.
  6. ^ "New swim coach brings Olympic podium to campus". September 2016.

External links