Mike Burton

Who is Mike Burton?

Michael Jay Burton is an American former swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder who specialized in freestyle events.

When he was an eighth grader he was hit by a furniture truck while riding a bicycle with a friend. The accident caused injuries that made him have to quit contact sports. He loved to play football and basketball, but the accident made him want to be the best swimmer in the world.

Burton graduated from El Camino Fundamental High School. At the 1967 University Games swimming competition in Tokyo, Japan, he won a gold medal in the 1,500-meter freestyle, ahead of Russian Semyon Belits-Geiman.

Burton won two gold medals in individual events at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City: the men's 400-meter freestyle and men's 1,500-meter freestyle. Four years later at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, he became the only American ever to repeat as the 1,500-meter freestyle gold medalist, and he also recaptured the world record in the process. Burton's repeat proved a stunning win: in the spring of 1972, Burton had been diagnosed with a vitamin deficiency, and at the U.S. Olympic Trials had barely made the Olympic Team, qualifying eighth for the final and then finishing third to make the team.