Carl Robie

Infobox Swimmer
swimmername=Carl Robie


imagesize=
caption =
fullname = Carl Joseph Robie III
nicknames = "The Philadelphia Flyer"
nationality = USA
strokes = Butterfly
club = Suburban Swim Club
collegeteam = University of Michigan
birthdate = birth date and age|1945|5|12
birthplace = Darby, Pennsylvania
deathdate =
deathplace =
height = height|m=1.78
weight = convert|73|kg|lb
medaltemplates=

Carl Joseph Robie (born May 12, 1945) is a former butterfly swimmer from the United States, who competed in two consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. There he won the silver medal in the men's 200m butterfly, followed by the gold four years later in Mexico City, Mexico. During the early 1960s he broke the world record in that event four times.

Nicknamed "The Philadelphia Flyer", Robie also won national titles in freestyle and individual medley in a long career of national and international swimming; he won his first nationals in 1961 and his last in 1968. When he finished second to Australia's Kevin Berry in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the silver medal to him was a symbol of failure rather than success.

When Robie graduated from the University of Michigan in 1967, he was expected to retire. But Robie kept on. During his freshman year in law school, he worked out by himself at a YMCA without a coach and came back to make the 1968 Olympic Team as "the old man of swimming" at age 23. His gold medal was considered to be the most popular come back victory of the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Robie has a civil trial practice in Sarasota, Florida and is admitted to nine bars in six states. His interest in swimming continued as his children (Mandy and C.J.) pursued their own swimming goals at the national and international level. In 1976 he was inducted as an honoree in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

References

* [http://www.ishof.org ISHOF]
* [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ro/carl-robie-1.html sports-reference]