Joseph Stuart Bottom (born April 18, 1955) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic silver medalist, and former world record-holder in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly and 4×100-meter freestyle relay.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Bottom moved with his family at age 11 to Santa Clara, California, where he was a member of the Santa Clara Swim Club under noted swim coach George Haines. He attended Santa Clara High School, where he contributed to the Panthers numerous California Interscholastic Federation – Central Coast Section championships and set several Section records from 1971–73.
Bottom attended the University of Southern California (USC), where he was an All-American swimmer for the USC Trojans swimming and diving team from 1974 to 1977. He graduated in 1977 with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and was a member of Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi. In 1977, he was the first swimmer ever to crack 20 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, at 19.70. He held USC's record for 50-yard freestyle until the 2006–2007 season, and has the third fastest 100-yard freestyle and sixth-fastest 100-yard butterfly times in school history. He won five NCAA individual and 4 relay titles with the Trojans. He was the captain of the 1977 Trojans swim team. Known for an easygoing personality, Bottom was a fierce competitor during meets.
At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Bottom won the silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly and came in sixth in the 100-meter freestyle. He also won a gold medal as a member of the 4×100-meter medley relay team, swimming in the qualifying round. At the prime of his career, he was unable to compete at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow due to the U.S. boycott.
During the inaugural, 1973 World Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, Bottom took silver in the 100-meter butterfly and gold in both the 4×100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relay events. At the 1978 World Championships in Berlin he took gold in the 100-meter butterfly as well as the 4×100-meter medley relay. He won nine U.S. national championships between 1974 and 1980.
On August 27, 1977, at the East Germany-United States dual meet in East Berlin, Bottom broke Mark Spitz's five-year-old 100-meter butterfly world record with a time of 54.18 seconds. The night before the record-setting race, Bottom suffered from insomnia and took a sleeping pill only to oversleep and miss his usual pre-race warmup swim; incredibly, he broke Spitz's record anyway. He was also a part of the team that set the new 4×100-meter freestyle relay world record on September 1, 1974.
In 2007, Bottom was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame; several of his records set at USC remain unbroken. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2006.
Bottom currently resides in Chico, California, where he is a management consultant and serving as Senior Manager in Accenture's Marketing Sciences Practice within the Retail Products Industry. His younger brother, Mike Bottom, also swam at USC where he was a three-time All-American (1975–77); Mike is currently one of the world's top sprint coaches and coaches the University of Michigan swim team.
Lasīt vairāk...1955. gada 18. aprīlis bija pirmdiena zem zvaigznes zīmes ♈. Tā bija 107 diena gadā. ASV prezidents bija Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Ja esat dzimis šajā dienā, jums ir 70 gadi. Jūsu pēdējā dzimšanas diena bija piektdiena, 2025. gada 18. aprīlis, pirms 154 dienām. Jūsu nākamā dzimšanas diena ir sestdiena, 2026. gada 18. aprīlis pēc 210 dienām. Jūs esat dzīvojis 25 722 dienas jeb aptuveni 617 332 stundas, vai aptuveni 37 039 922 minūtes vai aptuveni 2 222 395 320 sekundes.
Date: 19 April 1955
Special to The New York Times
strike leaders conf with non-striking unions; agree to resume talks with publishers; Free Press Soc plans fund drive to buy printing plant and hire staff pledged never to strike; would make presses available to all
Date: 19 April 1955
Greenspun acquitted
Date: 18 April 1955
By WILLIAM S. WHITE
William WHITE
Truman holds to views, int; includes certain Dems in criticism; tired of 'mealy-mouthed Sens who kiss Dee on both cheeks'; disavows personal attack on Pres; did not mean to include all newspapers in attack; cues NY Times and Washington Star as 'fair,'
Date: 18 April 1955
By JUNE OWEN
June OWEN
Date: 19 April 1955
Date: 18 April 1955
USCG advises wooden craft in distress to hoist metal object to aid radar search by rescue craft