Al Vande Weghe
 Vande Weghe in 1938 | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Albert Joseph Vande Weghe | |||||||||||
| Nickname | "Al" | |||||||||||
| National team |  United States | |||||||||||
| Born | July 28, 1916 New York, New York | |||||||||||
| Died | August 13, 2002 (aged 86) Tulsa, Oklahoma | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||
| Strokes | Backstroke | |||||||||||
| Club | Newark Athletic Club | |||||||||||
| College team | Princeton University | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Albert Joseph Vande Weghe (July 28, 1916 – August 13, 2002) was an American competition swimmer and Olympic silver medalist.
As a 20-year-old high school senior at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, he won the silver medal in the men's 100-meter backstroke.[1] Vande Weghe finished second behind fellow American Adolph Kiefer and recorded a time of 1:07.7.[1][2] Like Kiefer, Vande Weghe never achieved his full potential as a swimmer after his competition career was interrupted by military service during World War II.
He was known for being the first man to swim the 100-yard backstroke in under a minute, and for the competitive advantage he gained in the turn by inventing the flip turn.
After the Olympics, Vande Weghe attended Princeton University, where he swam for the Princeton Tigers swimming and diving team. He swam for four years without ever losing a college dual meet, and won the NCAA national championship in the 150-yard backstroke three consecutive years. He graduated from Princeton with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1940.
Vande Weghe was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1990.[3]
See also[edit]
- List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
- List of Princeton University Olympians
- List of Princeton University people
References[edit]
- ^ a b Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Al Vande Weghe. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
- ^ Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Swimming at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games, Men's 100 metres Backstroke Final. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
- ^ International Swimming Hall of Fame, Honorees, Albert Vande Weghe (USA) Archived 2012-06-03 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
| Men's Team |  | |
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| Women's Team | ||
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- 1916 births
- 2002 deaths
- American male backstroke swimmers
- American military personnel of World War II
- American people of Flemish descent
- American people of Dutch descent
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming
- Princeton Tigers men's swimmers
- Swimmers from New York City
- Swimmers at the 1936 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics
- 20th-century American sportsmen
- American swimming Olympic medalist stubs