Austin Clapp

Austin Clapp

Clapp in 1928
Personal information
Full name	Austin Rhone Clapp
National team	United States
Born	(1910-11-08)November 8, 1910 Farmington, New Hampshire, U.S.
Died	December 22, 1971(1971-12-22) (aged 61) Woodside, California, U.S.
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle, water polo
Club	Los Angeles Athletic Club
College team	Stanford University
Medal record Men's swimming Representing the United States Olympic Games 1928 Amsterdam 4x200 m freestyle 1932 Los Angeles Water polo

Austin Rhone Clapp (November 8, 1910 – December 22, 1971) was an American competition swimmer and water polo player who represented the United States at the 1928 Summer Olympics and 1932 Summer Olympics.^[1]

Clapp grew up on the small island of Nauru, one of three sons of parents who served as medical personnel for the British phosphate mining operations on the island.

At the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Clapp won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay, together with Walter Laufer, George Kojac and Johnny Weissmuller.^[1][2] The Americans set a new world record of 9:36.2 in the relay event. Individually, he placed fifth overall in the men's 400-meter freestyle and also competed in the preliminary heats of the men's 1,500-meter freestyle.^[1]

He attended Stanford University, where he was a member of the Stanford Cardinal swimming and water polo teams in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition. As a college swimmer, Clapp won two NCAA national championships: the 1931 title in the 220-yard freestyle (2:18.0), and 1932 title in the 1,500-meter freestyle (20:02.2).^[3] After completing his undergraduate degree at Stanford in Political Science, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley's law school.

At the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, California, he was a member of the third-place U.S. water polo team that received the bronze medal.^[1]

In 1976, he was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.^[4][5]

See also

• List of athletes with Olympic medals in different disciplines
• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
• List of Olympic medalists in water polo (men)
• List of Stanford University people
• World record progression 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay

References

1. Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Austin Clapp Archived 2007-03-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
2. Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, United States Swimming at the 1928 Amsterdam Summer Games. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
3. HickokSports.com, Sports History, NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Champions Archived 2002-02-23 at the Library of Congress Web Archives. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
4. "Austin R Clapp (1976)". usawaterpolo.org. USA Water Polo. Archived from the original on April 4, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
5. "Hall of Fame Inductees". usawaterpolo.org. USA Water Polo. Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2020.

External links

• Austin Clapp at World Aquatics
• Austin Clapp at the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame
• Austin Clapp at Olympics.com
• Austin Clapp at Olympedia