Jack Medica

Who was Jack Medica?

Jack Chapman Medica was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in two events.

At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Medica won a gold medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle in a new Olympic record time of 4:44.5. He received a silver medal for his second-place performance in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle, recording a final time of 19:34.0. Medica also received a second silver medal as a member of the runner-up U.S. team in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay, together with American teammates Ralph Flanagan, John Macionis and Paul Wolf. The American relay team finished with a time of 9:03.0, behind the winning Japanese team.

After his retirement from competition swimming, brought on by World War II, Medica taught water survival for the U.S. Navy after his impaired vision kept him from enlisting. He went on to teach at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also coached the Penn Quakers swimming and diving team.

Medica was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1966.