Shaw, Timothy A.
Swimming
b. Nov. 8, 1957, Long Beach, CA
One of the few athletes to win Olympic medals in two different sports, Shaw peaked as the world's best freestyle swimmer in 1974 and 1975. At the 1974 AAU national outdoor meet, he set world records of 1:51.6 in the 200-meter, 3:54.6 in the 400-meter, and 15:31.6 in the 1,500-meter freestyle, becoming only the second man to hold world records in those three events.
Shaw won gold medals in the 200-, 400-, and 1,500-meter freestyles and was a member of the gold medal 4 by 200-meter freestyle relay team at the 1975 world championships, lowering his world record to 3:53.9 in the 400-meter. He also repeated as the AAU outdoor 400-meter champion and won the indoor 200- and 500-yard titles.
The winner of the 1975 Sullivan Award as the nation's outstanding amateur athlete, Shaw entered Long Beach State University that year and won NCAA titles in the 500-yard freestyle in 1976 and 1977 and in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 1976. He won his first two Olympic medals, both silver, in the 400-meter freestyle and as a member of the 4 by 200-meter freestyle relay team in 1976.
He retired from competitive swimming after the 1977 season, but later became a member of the U. S. water polo team that won the gold medal in the 1983 Pan-American Games and a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics.