Rick DeMont

Rick DeMont (born April 21, 1956) was a swimmer who set a record for the 1500m freestyle. He joined the US Olympic team to compete in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.

In 1973, at First swimming championship in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia, DeMont became the first man to swim the 400m freestyle in under 4 minutes (3.58,18).

The International Olympic Committee [http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-OLY-IOC-Meetings.html?hp took] Rick DeMont's gold medal from the 400-meter freestyle at the 1972 Munich Games after he tested positive for a banned substance contained in his asthma medication. The US Olympic Committee subsequently admitted that it had mishandled DeMont's medical information at the 1972 Olympics, and appealed in 2001 to the IOC to reinstate the medal, but the IOC refused to offer any official acknowledgement of DeMont's innocence. [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/news/2001/02/06/ioc_demont_ap/] Unfortunately, the positive test also deprived DeMont of a chance at multiple medals, as he was not permitted to swim in any other events at the Games, including the 1500 freestyle, for which he was the then current world record holder.

At the University of Arizona, he is associate head coach of the Wildcat coaching staff. DeMont was named an assistant coach to the South African men’s swim team at the 2004 Olympic games in Athens, Greece and the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, China. Considered a world-renowned sprint freestyle coach, DeMont has been the subject of feature stories and up-and-coming swimming technique articles in numerous publications, such as Swimming World, Swim Technique and Splash magazines. In the late 1980s, DeMont was inducted into the World Swimming Hall of Fame. During his tenure with the University of Arizona program, he has coached 21 U.S. Swimming and NCAA individual national champions, as well as numerous national champion relay squads. In September of 1999, DeMont was inducted into the University of Arizona Athletic Hall of Fame.

DeMont is also an artist whose paintings have been shown in local and national galleries, and some of his work can be seen on the walls of offices in Arizona's athletics department. DeMont has one daughter Angela, 22, who is a junior at the UA, and a daughter Tierra, who will turn 3 in the spring. He and his wife, Carrie, reside in Tucson.