Tripp_Schwenk
Tripp Schwenk
American swimmer
William Douglas "Tripp" Schwenk III (born June 17, 1971) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
Schwenk swam for the University of Tennessee where he was coached by Head Coach John Trembley.[1] While swimming for Tennessee, he captured the NCAA 200 backstroke title in 1992 and won Southeastern Conference titles three times.[2]
Schwenk represented the United States at two consecutive Olympic Games. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, he competed in the men's 200-meter backstroke and finished fifth in the event final in a time of 1:59.73.[3]
At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, he received a gold medal for swimming for the winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the men's 4×100-meter medley. Individually, Schwenk also received the silver medal for recording a 1:58.99 second-place finish in the men's 200-meter backstroke. He also competed in the men's 100-meter backstroke, finishing in fifth place in the final with a time of 55.30 seconds.[3]
In international competition, Schwenk was a competitor at both the 1991 and 1993 Universiade, where he took three gold medals and five medals in all. He won a gold medal in the 200 backstroke at the Pan Pacific Championships in 1995.[2]
Schwenk later served as a K-9 Unit police officer in Sarasota, Florida, where he lived with his wife, one son and a daughter.[2]
