Mark Henderson

Who is Mark Henderson?

Mark Andrew Henderson is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. He is an Olympic gold medalist, three-time World champion, two-time Pan American Games champion, four-time Pan Pacific champion and five-time U.S. National champion. He competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where he was the butterfly leg of the gold medal 4 x 100 medley relay, which set the world, Olympic, American, and U.S. Open records.

While in high school, Henderson swam for Curl-Burke Swim Club and was coached by Jeff King. He attended college at the University of California, Berkeley where he swam for Nort Thorton and alongside Matt Biondi, Sean Killion, Roque Santos, and Scott Jaffe.

At the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1992, Mark entered the meet ranked 2nd in the world in the 100m butterfly, but concentrated too much on his competition and took out his race much too fast. He led the race to the final 5 meters where he "bonked" and dropped from first to seventh place.

Mark returned to competition after an 8-month retirement with a vengeance.