Robert Bennett

Who is Robert Bennett?

Robert Earl Bennett is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder.

Bennett attended the University of Southern California, where he competed for the USC Trojans swimming and diving team from 1963 to 1965. He received All-American honors for three consecutive years, and graduated in 1965.

Bennett represented the United States at the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics. At the 1960 Rome games, he won the bronze medal in the 100 meter backstroke. He also swam for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the heats of the 4×100-meter medley relay, setting a new world record in the process.

Four years later at the 1964 Tokyo games, he won a second bronze medal in the men's 200-meter backstroke. He again swam for the first-place U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the 4×100-meter medley relay.

Bennett set a new world record of 1.01.3 in the 100-meter backstroke on August 19, 1961; the record survived for twelve months until broken by American Tom Stock.