Douglas Albert Russell (born February 20, 1946) is an American former competitive swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three different events.
Career
Russell was born in New York City,[1] but raised in Midland, Texas. He began swimming in high school for Midland High School, in the new 50-meter "Alamo" pool built by the city in 1962. It was later renamed in his honor: the "Douglas Russell Swimming Pool."[2] He was an all-around swimmer in high school—swimming competitively in butterfly, backstroke, and individual medley events. Other school swimmers of the era remember him as a tough competitor who was hard to beat but who brought out the best in swimmers around him.[3]
He attended The University of Texas at Arlington, where he swam for coach Don Easterling's UT Arlington Mavericks swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition. During his swimming career, one of his coaches, was SMU Hall of Fame coach Red Barr, who also coached the Pepsi Swim Club in Dallas and was an alternate coach for the 1968 Summer Olympics which Russell attended.[4][5] Doug Russell Park, part of the southern edge of the UT Arlington campus, is named in his honor. At the 1967 Pan American Games, he won a gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley. He also won an NCAA national championship in the 100-yard butterfly in 1968, and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national outdoor title in the 100-meter butterfly.[5]
At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Russell won the first-ever gold medal awarded in the men's 100-meter butterfly—an event which made its debut at the 1968 Olympics–in an upset over teammate and favorite Mark Spitz. He won another gold medal swimming the butterfly leg for the winning U.S. team in the 4×100-meter medley relay. Russell, together with relay teammates Charlie Hickcox (backstroke), Don McKenzie (breaststroke), and Ken Walsh (freestyle), set a new world record of 3:54.9 in the event final.
Russell was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1985.[5] He was the head coach of the Austin Trinity Aquatic Club up until it was disbanded in 2020. Currently, he is coaching at Trinity Aquatics in Spring Valley, California.
