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Joe Bottom

Personal information
Full name	Joseph Stuart Bottom
Nickname	"Joe"
National team	United States
Born	(1955-04-18) April 18, 1955 (age 69) Akron, Ohio
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	192 lb (87 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Butterfly, freestyle
Club	Santa Clara Swim Club
College team	University of Southern California
Medal record Men's swimming Representing the United States Olympic Games 1976 Montreal 100 m butterfly World Championships (LC) 1973 Belgrade 4×100 m freestyle 1973 Belgrade 4×100 m medley 1978 Berlin 100 m butterfly 1978 Berlin 4×100 m medley 1973 Belgrade 100 m butterfly

Joseph Stuart Bottom (born April 18, 1955) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic silver medalist, and former world record-holder in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly and 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Born in Akron, Ohio, Bottom moved with his family at age 11 to Santa Clara, California, where he was a member of the Santa Clara Swim Club under noted swim coach George Haines. He attended Santa Clara High School, where he contributed to the Panthers numerous California Interscholastic Federation – Central Coast Section championships and set several Section records from 1971–73.

Bottom attended the University of Southern California (USC), where he was an All-American swimmer for the USC Trojans swimming and diving team from 1974 to 1977. He graduated in 1977 with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and was a member of Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi. In 1977, he was the first swimmer ever to crack 20 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, at 19.70. He held USC's record for 50-yard freestyle until the 2006–2007 season, and has the third fastest 100-yard freestyle and sixth-fastest 100-yard butterfly times in school history. He won five NCAA individual and 4 relay titles with the Trojans. He was the captain of the 1977 Trojans swim team. Known for an easygoing personality, Bottom was a fierce competitor during meets.

At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Bottom won the silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly and came in sixth in the 100-meter freestyle. He also won a gold medal as a member of the 4×100-meter medley relay team, swimming in the qualifying round. At the prime of his career, he was unable to compete at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow due to the U.S. boycott.

During the inaugural, 1973 World Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, Bottom took silver in the 100-meter butterfly and gold in both the 4×100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relay events. At the 1978 World Championships in Berlin he took gold in the 100-meter butterfly as well as the 4×100-meter medley relay. He won nine U.S. national championships between 1974 and 1980.

On August 27, 1977, at the East Germany-United States dual meet in East Berlin, Bottom broke Mark Spitz's five-year-old 100-meter butterfly world record with a time of 54.18 seconds. The night before the record-setting race, Bottom suffered from insomnia and took a sleeping pill only to oversleep and miss his usual pre-race warmup swim; incredibly, he broke Spitz's record anyway. He was also a part of the team that set the new 4×100-meter freestyle relay world record on September 1, 1974.

In 2007, Bottom was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame; several of his records set at USC remain unbroken. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2006.

Bottom currently resides in Chico, California, where he is a management consultant and serving as Senior Manager in Accenture's Marketing Sciences Practice within the Retail Products Industry. His younger brother, Mike Bottom, also swam at USC where he was a three-time All-American (1975–77); Mike is currently one of the world's top sprint coaches and coaches the University of Michigan swim team.

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
• List of University of Southern California people
• List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (men)
• World record progression 50 metres freestyle
• World record progression 100 metres butterfly
• World record progression 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay
• World record progression 4 × 100 metres medley relay

References

1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Joe Bottom". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
2. Santa Clara High School Reunion Event to Include Multiple Classes, Business Wire, March 19, 2008, Accessed August 13, 2008.
3. Historical Record of CCS Boys Swimming and Diving Championship Results Archived September 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, CIF – Central Coast Section, Accessed August 13, 2008.
4. ^ USC Mens Swimming & Diving All-Americans Archived November 28, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, USC Trojans Athletic Department, Accessed August 13, 2008.
5. ^ Joseph Bottom, LinkedIn, Accessed August 13, 2008.
6. ^ Jerry Kirshenbaum, Bottom Was Up To Topping A Mark, Sports Illustrated, September 5, 1977, Accessed March 23, 2018.
7. ^ "Joe Bottom (USA)". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
8. ^ 2007 Inductees For USC Athletic Hall of Fame Announced Archived November 4, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, USC Trojans Athletic Department, October 13, 2006, Accessed August 13, 2008.
9. "Official Report 1976 v.3 page 1" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2007.
10. Accenture Marketing Sciences: Retail & Sales Optimization — Leadership, Accenture, Accessed August 13, 2008.
11. Duncan Scott, "Fred Bousquet, the Barrier Basher: Can You Say, 'Déjà vu, All Over Again?' Archived December 3, 2005, at the Wayback Machine," Swimming World Magazine, March 24, 2005, Accessed August 13, 2008.
12. Player Bio: Mike Bottom :: Men's Swimming Archived September 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Cal Bears Athletic Department, Accessed August 13, 2008.
13. "Mike Bottom - Men's Swimming & Diving Coach".

External links

• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Joe Bottom". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011.
• Joe Bottom (USA) – Honor Swimmer profile at International Swimming Hall of Fame at the Wayback Machine (archived April 2, 2015)

v t e 1976 USA Olympic swimming team
Men's Team	Jack Babashoff Joe Bottom Mike Bruner Rick Colella Casey Converse Lawrence Dowler Bill Forrester Bruce Furniss Steve Furniss (team captain) Brian Goodell Steve Gregg Bobby Hackett Gary Hall Sr. (team captain) Dan Harrigan Paul Hartloff John Hencken Bob Jackson Charles Keating Tim McKee Jim Montgomery John Naber Doug Northway Peter Rocca Tim Shaw Rod Strachan Matt Vogel Chris Woo
Women's Team	Shirley Babashoff Melissa Belote Wendy Boglioli Brenda Borgh Lelei Fonoimoana Maryanne Graham Jeanne Haney Janis Hape Kathy Heddy Jennifer Hooker Linda Jezek Nicole Kramer Renee Laravie Renee Magee Marcia Morey Kim Peyton Lauri Siering Miriam Smith Jill Sterkel Karen Thornton Tauna Vandeweghe Wendy Weinberg Donna Lee Wennerstrom Camille Wright
Coaches	John Bogert Doc Counsilman (men's head coach) Lawrence Dowler Frank Elm Carolyn Finneran Don Gambril George Haines Jim Montrella Jack Nelson (women's head coach) Charlotte Piper Albert Schoenfield

• 1955 births
• Living people
• American male butterfly swimmers
• American male freestyle swimmers
• World record setters in swimming
• Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming
• Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming
• Sportspeople from Santa Clara, California
• Swimmers from Akron, Ohio
• Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics
• USC Trojans men's swimmers
• World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
• Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics
• 20th-century American sportsmen