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Gary Hall Jr
Gary Hall Jr could make history by becoming the most highly decorated athlete in the history of the Summer Olympics.
Born: September 26, 1974
Country: United States of America
Height: 198 cm
Weight: 97.5 kgs
Events: Swimming (50m Freestyle, 4x100m Freestyle Relay)
Olympics Records:
1996 Atlanta Olympics: 2nd 50m free, 2nd 100m free, 1st 4x100m free relay, 1st 4x100m Medley relay
2000 Sydney Olympics: 1st 50m free, 3rd 100m free, 1st 4x100m medley relay, 2nd 4x100m free relay
Other Records:
1994 World Championships: 2nd 50m free, 2nd 100m free, 1st 4x100m free relay, 1st 4x100m Medley relay
1998 World Championships: 1st 4x100m free relay, 2nd 4x100m Medley relay
Eight-time Olympic medallist Gary Hall Jr. qualified for his third Olympic team becoming the oldest American male swimmer to do so since Duke Kahanamoku in 1924.
Hall won the 50 metre freestyle at the US Olympic Trials with the fastest time in the world this year becoming the first American swimmer to win the event in three trials consecutively.
Gary could make history by becoming the most highly decorated athlete in the history of the Summer Olympics. The current record for most medals over the course of a career is eleven.
At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Gary won two individual silvers and two relay gold medals, anchoring the USA’s world-record setting 400m freestyle and medley relays with two of the fastest splits in history. He then took an extended break in 1997. But he returned back in 1998 where he won two relay gold medals in the Long Course World Championships in Perth and got his second and third National titles in April. In December, Gary competed in a World Cup meet held in Texas, where he won the 50m free.
His rivalry with the Russian swimming hero, Alexander Popov, was well defined but Popov got the best of Hall in the Individual races but Hall did make his impact over his supreme in the 4x100m relays where he ended the race for the victorious American Team.
