Mike Burton

Michael Jay "Mike" Burton (born June 3, 1947 in Des Moines ) is a retired American swimmer .

At the age of twelve, Burton was hit by a truck on his bike and afterwards was unable to do any sport except swimming due to hip injuries. As a swimmer, he became one of the best long-distance swimmers of his time. He set seven world records and 16 US records, ten times he was US champion. Burton was the first swimmer to swim the 1650 yard distance in under 16 minutes, and also the first to swim 800 meters in under 8:30 minutes.

At the Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968 , he was Olympic champion in the 400 m and 1500 m freestyle . In Munich 1972 he was able to repeat his Olympic victory in the 1500 m freestyle. In 1977 he was inducted into the international swimming sports hall of fame .

Web links

• Mike Burton in the International Swimming Hall of Fame (English)
• Short biography of Michael Burton ( memento from January 25, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) at Hickok Sports (English)