Tom Dolan

Olympic medal record
Men’s swimming

Tom Dolan (born September 16 1974, in Arlington, Virginia) is a swimmer from the United States, who won a gold medal and silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He swam for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, under the guidance of coach Jon Urbanchek, just like two of his main rivals Eric Namesnik and Marcel Wouda.

Started with the Curl-Burke Swim Club, Dolan held the world record in the 400m individual medley longer than any other swimmer in history (eight years), including Tamás Darnyi, Alex Baumann, Jesse Vassallo, Charles Hickcox, Dick Roth and Ted Stickles. He is only the second swimmer to win successive 400m I.M. Olympic gold medals (1996, 2000), along with Hungary's Darnyi.

At 6'6" tall and with 3% body fat, Dolan was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma and a 20% windpipe obstruction, which would side-line the normal person. He only trained harder and exhaustion, dizziness and occasional blackouts never stopped him from swimming. Coached by Rick Curl and later Urbancheck, Dolan also set two world records, won two gold medals in World Championship swimming, won nine NCAA National Championships and fourteen U.S. National Championships. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) in 2006.