Bill Woolsey
American swimmer (1934–2022) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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William Tripp Woolsey (September 13, 1934 – June 25, 2022) was an American competition swimmer for McKinley High School and Indiana University, who captured an Olympic gold medal in Helsinki in 1952, and a silver medal in Melbourne in 1956.[1]
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | William Tripp Woolsey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | (1934-09-13)September 13, 1934 Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | June 25, 2022(2022-06-25) (aged 87) California, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 185 lb (84 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Hawaii Swim Club Intermediate (HSC) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College team | Indiana University | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coach | Tai Hi Lim Bernard Koseki (McKinley High) Robert A. Royer Doc Counsilman (Indiana) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Born on September 13, 1934, Woolsey was raised in Oahu's scenic Manoa Valley three miles East of downtown Honolulu, near the Pacific shoreline and after taking to the water by six, he was swimming competitively by nine.[2]
In his youth he met Hall of Fame Coach Soichi Sakamoto, then a Boy Scout master on Maui, who also taught school. Sakamoto established the Three-year School dedicated to producing outstanding swimmers of Olympic caliber in three years.[2] As a highly innovative coach, he was one of the earliest advocates of interval training in swimming. Though the method could be challenging and uncomfortable, in the school's early years Sakamoto's students trained in irrigation ditches, swimming against the current,[3] a form of resistance training. Sakamoto would work as an Assistant Coach for the American Olympic team from 1952 through 1956, the years of Woolsey's Olympic participation, and[3] would become Woolsey's primary swimming coach and mentor in his early years, though his High School coaches would also be highly instrumental in his development.[2]