Jim Montgomery

Montgomery owns a piece of history that can never be taken from him: the first man ever under 50 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle, clocking 49.99 in Montreal in 1976. I find that kind of barrier-breaking far more compelling than any single medal count, though three golds and a bronze are no small thing. What I respect most is the second act. A lot of record-holders fade once the records fall, but Montgomery turned to coaching and kept giving back to the sport. That arc, from pioneer to teacher, is the mark of someone who genuinely loved the water rather than just the spotlight.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Jim Montgomery

Name (Japanese)

ジム・モンゴメリー

Reading

じむ・もんごめりー

Born

January 24, 1955 (age 71)

Origin

Madison, Wisconsin, United States

Height

191 cm

Occupation

swimmer / coach

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aquarius / Goat

High school

Madison East High School

University

Indiana University Bloomington

Awards & achievements

• International Swimming Hall of Fame

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim%20Montgomery%20(swimmer)
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B4%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q626152

Tags

• Wisconsin
• swimmer
• coach

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.