About Jim Montgomery
James Paul Montgomery (born January 24, 1955) is an American former competition swimmer, four-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. Montgomery was the first man to break the 50-second barrier (49.99) in the 100-meter freestyle, at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, where he won three gold medals and one bronze. == Early swimming == Montgomery was born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Montgomery in Madison, Wisconsin, on January 24, 1955. He began swimming competitively around the age of nine at the Madison Central YMCA pool. He swam for Madison East High School, and held four Wisconsin state freestyle records by his High School Junior year, including the 50, 100, 200, and 400 freestyle. He was coached by Don Moerke at Madison East, and in club swimming by Pat Berry at the Madison Swim Club, switching to the Badger Dolphins the summer before his Junior year. While swimming with the Badger Dolphins Club during summers, Jim credited his coach Jack Pettinger with greatly improving his speed and conditioning. Jim helped lead Madison East to the 1971 Big Eight Conference title, and was voted a most valuable competitor at Madison's City Swimming Banquet in March 1971.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.