John David Gillanders (born May 18, 1939) is an American competition swimmer, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. He still competes in masters swimming in the 75–79 age group.[1]
Early life
Originally from Schenectady, New York, Gillanders graduated from Dondero High School in Royal Oak, Michigan in 1957. While there, he earned state and national honors swimming the individual butterfly and as a member of the medley relay team. He was inducted into the Royal Oak High School Hall of Fame in 1996.[2]
Gillanders represented the United States as a 21-year-old at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. He qualified for the team by finishing second to Mike Troy at the 1960 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:14.[6] At the Olympics, Gillanders won a bronze medal in the 200-meter butterfly (2:15.3), again finishing behind Troy (2:12.8) and Australian Neville Hayes (2:14.6).[7] Recounting the race, Gillanders said he was "quite disappointed" with the result because he was over a second slower than his trials time.[8] He also swam for the winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the men's 4×100-meter medley relay, but did not receive a medal because prelim swimmers were not awarded medals for their contributions at the time. Notably, the prelim team Gillanders was a part of broke the world record, but it was later broken by the starting American team in the final.[1]
Gillanders was a professor of electrical engineering at Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University–Kingsville) and Arkansas State University before retiring after over 30 years of teaching.[1] He still continues to swim in U.S. Masters Swimming competitions where has been in the top ten of his age group for most of the last 35 years.[9] In 1986, he set a Masters world record in the short course 100-meter butterfly for the 45–49 age group. Most recently, he placed in the top ten in the 200-meter backstroke (short course) in 2011, and in the top ten of several events during the 2010 USMS Spring National Championships in May and in the Summer Championships in August.[10]
