USA Has Long History Of Olympic Backstrokers; Adolph Kiefer Oldest Living

Photo Courtesy: Alchetron

Editorial Coverage Sponsored By FINIS

By Chuck Kroll – Swimming World Historian.

On this day eighty years ago,18 year old Adolph Kiefer won the gold medal in the 100 meter Backstroke at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. His winning time of 1:05.9 was followed by silver medalist USA’s Albert Vandeweghe with a 1:07.7. Coming in fourth place at a 1:10.94 was their teammate Taylor Drysdale.

Though Adolph at age 98 no longer is actively involved in the sport or business side of swimming he still swims as regularly as possible and is always keen to ‘talk swimming’ with fans and reporters alike.

In a story often told, young Adolph had the opportunity to meet the ‘other’ Adolph after winning his event… young Kiefer has since exclaimed, ‘if I knew then what we all know now I would have thrown him in the pool’ or ‘I would have grabbed him and taken him to the bottom and not let go’ or some version of this good tale.

His teammate Al Vandeweghe (d 2002) cousin’s Kiki Vandeweghe was a NBA pro, another cousin Tauna Vandeweghe was a backstroker on the ’64 team and grand niece Coco Vandeweghe is a pro tennis player. Some good sports genes in the Vandeweghe bloodlines, eh?

With congratulations in order to the 100/200 double dorsal gold medal performances of Ryan Murphy with teammate David Plummer taking the Bronze in the 100 this past week in Rio here is a listing of the former USA Olympic Backstroke medalists over the years…

100 Backstroke

1912 Stockholm: Harry Hebner Gold 1:21.2

1920 Antwerp: Warren Kealoha Gold 1:15.2

1924 Paris: Warren Kealoha Gold 1:13.2; Paul Wyatt Silver 1:15.4

1928 Amsterdam: George Kojac Gold 1:08.2; Walter Laufer Silver 1:10.0; Paul Wyatt bronze 1:12.0

1932 Los Angeles: G,S,B all won by Japan, No American Medals

1936 Berlin: Adolph Kiefer Gold 1:05.9; Albert Vandeweghe Silver 1:07.7

1948 London: Allen Stack Gold 1:06.4; Robert Cowell Silver 106.5

1952 Helsinki: Yoshinobe Oyakawa Gold 1:05.4; Jack Taylor Bronze 1:06.4

1956 Melbourne: Frank McKinney Bronze 1:04.5

1960 Rome: Frank McKinney Silver 1:02.1; Robert Bennett Bronze 1:02.3

1964 Tokyo: No American Medals

1968 Mexico City: Charles Hickcox Silver 1:00.2; Ronald Mills Bronze 1:00.5

1972 Munich: Michael Stamm Silver 57.7; John Murphy Bronze 58.35

1976 Montreal: John Nabor Gold 55.49; Peter Rocca Silver 56.34

1980 US Boycott

1984 Los Angeles: Rick Carey Gold 55.79; David Wilson Silver 56.35

1988 Seoul: David Berkoff Silver 55:18

1992 Barcelona: Jeff Rouse Silver 54.4; David Berkoff Bronze 54.78

1996 Atlanta: Jeff Rouse Gold 54.10

2000 Sydney: Lenny Krayzelburg Gold 53.72

2004 Athens: Aaron Peirsol Gold 54.06

2008 Beijing: Aaron Peirsol Gold 52.51; Matt Grevers Silver 53.11

2012 London: Matt Grevers Gold 52.16; Nick Thoman Silver 52.90

200 Backstroke

1964 200 Backstroke First Introduced: Gary Dilley Silver; Bob Bennett Bronze

1968 Mexico City: Mitch Ivey Silver; Jack Horsley Bronze

1972 Munich: Mike Stamm Silver; Mitch Ivey Bronze

1976 Montreal: John Nabor Gold; Peter Rocca Silver; Dan Harrigan Bronze

1980 US Boycott

1984 Los Angeles: Rick Carey Gold

1988 Seoul: No Americans Medals

1992 Barcelona: No American Medals

1996 Atlanta: Brad Bridgewater Gold; Tripp Schwenk Silver

2000 Sydney: Lenny Krayzelburg Gold; Aaron Peirsol Silver

2004 Athens: Aaron Peirsol Gold

2008 Beijing: Ryan Lochte Gold; Aaron Peirsol Silver

2012 London: Tyler Clary Gold; Ryan Lochte Bronze

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Shawn Laari

7 years ago

You missed Jed Graff who set a world record winning the gold in the 200 backstroke in 1964.

Chuck Kroll

7 years ago

Reply to Shawn Laari

Shawn,
Thank you for catching this. Jed was in my notes but…oops! My apologies and thanks again to Shawn.
Also thanks for the WR note. There are lots of stories to be told regarding almost any of these events and gentlemen backstrokers. A story involving two of the greatest and this humble scribe is shared below.
Chuck

liquidassets

7 years ago

FYI Kiki Vandeweghe was a NAG record holder in swimming as a kid before switching to basketball. And his sister Tauna was a backstroker on the ’76 team in Montreal , rather than the ’64 Olympic team in Tokyo.

PVanDeWeghe

7 years ago

Reply to liquidassets

FYI Tauna was in ’84 Los Angeles, all else above is correct (PS I’m Married to KIKI)

Chuck Kroll

7 years ago

Reply to PVanDeWeghe

At the 2000 Trials in Indianapolis Adolph Kiefer took me to a luncheon at the Conseco Field House where the next years World Championships were to be held in the first use of the ‘portable’ pools… but I digress. At this luncheon where I was one of only 5-6 non Olympian Mr. Kiefer introduced me to his teammate from the 1936 Games, 100 Backstroke Silver Medalist Al VanDeWeghe. He introduced me as his friend and as an aquatic/swim historian. With that Mr. VanDeWeghe sat me down and proceeded to show me his photo scrap book from the Berlin Olympics. I was honored and thrilled to be sharing this time with a true superstar swimmer (he was Mr. Kiefer’s runner-up!) What topped off the time for me was all the other Olympians who had gathered around and were looking over our shoulders. I was in Swim Olympic History Heaven for some time after that lunch!
Note-Would love to be in touch with the VanDeWeghes. Home is Beaverton, Oregon. Go BLAZERS!