Full name Robert Earl Bennett Name Bob Bennett Club Los Angeles Athletic Club Sport Swimming Weight 78 kg | National team United States Height 1.83 m Nickname(s) "Bob" Role Olympic athlete | |
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Born May 23, 1943 (age 80) ( 1943-05-23 ) Los Angeles, California College team University of Southern California Education University of Southern California Olympic medals Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke Similar People David Theile, Frank McKinney, Jed Graef | ||
Robert Earl Bennett (born May 23, 1943) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder.
Bennett attended the University of Southern California (USC), where he competed for the USC Trojans swimming and diving team from 1963 to 1965. He received All-American honors for three consecutive years, and graduated in 1965.
Bennett represented the United States at the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics. At the 1960 Rome games, he received a bronze medal for his third-place result in the men's 100-meter backstroke, finishing in 1:02.3 – a fraction of a second behind Australian David Theile (1:01.9) and fellow American Frank McKinney (1:02.1). He also swam for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the heats of the 4×100-meter medley relay, setting a new world record of 4:08.2 in the process. He did not receive a medal, however, because he did not swim in the event final, and was not medal-eligible under the 1964 Olympic swimming rules.
Four years later at the 1964 Tokyo games, he won a second bronze medal in the men's 200-meter backstroke (2:13.1). He again swam for the first-place U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the 4×100-meter medley relay, but was again ineligible to receive a medal.
Bennett set a new world record of 1.01.3 in the 100-meter backstroke on August 19, 1961; the record survived for twelve months until broken by American Tom Stock.