Doug Gjertsen

Doug Gjertsen

Personal information
Full name	Douglas Seneca Gjertsen
Nickname	"Doug"
National team	United States
Born	(1967-07-31)July 31, 1967 Phillipsburg, New Jersey,U.S.
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
College team	University of Texas at Austin
Medal record Men's swimming Representingthe United States Olympic Games 1988 Seoul 4 × 100 m freestyle 1988 Seoul 4 × 200 m freestyle 1992 Barcelona 4 × 200 m freestyle World Championships (LC) 1991 Perth 4 × 100 m freestyle 1991 Perth 4 × 200 m freestyle Pan Pacific Games 1989 Tokyo 200 m freestyle 1989 Tokyo 4 × 100 m freestyle 1989 Tokyo 4 × 200 m freestyle 1989 Tokyo 100 m freestyle

Douglas Seneca Gjertsen(born July 31, 1967) is an American former competitionswimmer,Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.

Gjertsen was the third member of the record-setting U.S. team in themen's 4×200-meter freestyle relayat the1988 Summer OlympicsinSeoul, South Korea.The American team ofTroy Dalbey,Matt Cetlinski,Gjertsen andMatt Biondiset a new world record with a time of 7:12.51. He also received a bronze medal for swimming for the third-place U.S. team in the preliminary heats of themen's 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Four years later at the1992 Summer Olympicsin Barcelona, Spain, he was the fourth member of the third-place U.S. team in themen's 4×200-meter freestyle relay;the American team ofJoe Hudepohl,Mel Stewart,Jon Olsenand Gjertsen won the bronze medal with a time of 7:16.23. Individually, he finished eighth in the final of themen's 200-meter freestyle,recording a time of 1:50.57.

He attended theUniversity of Texas at Austin,and swam for coachEddie Reese'sTexas Longhorns swimming and divingteam. He was a three-time individual NCAA champion and a nine-time relay NCAA champion. He was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor in September 2006.

Gjertsen is formerly the head coach of SwimAtlanta and is currently the head coach for Alamo Area Aquatics Association in San Antonio, Texas. He has served as the personal coach for one of the bestLatvianswimmers,Andrejs Dūda.He currently serves as the personal coach for former American record holderAmanda Weir.

Gjertsen has been instrumental in the orchestration of theAtlanta Swim Across Americaevent which he helped kickstart in 2015. Since 2015, the Atlanta event has raised over $3 million for cancer research, treatment, and development.

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
• List of University of Texas at Austin alumni
• List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (men)
• World record progression 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay