Bill Mulliken, a once little-known US college swimmer who outpaced national champions and the then-world-record holder in the 200m breaststroke to win gold in the 1960 Olympic Games, died on Thursday in Chicago. He was 74.
He died after having a stroke, his wife, Lorna Filippini-Mulliken, said.
Mulliken was a student at Miami University in Ohio who had won the 200m breaststroke at the Pan-American Games in 1959 when he went to Rome for the summer Games. He was ranked 17th in the event, well below stars like Yoshihiko Osaki of Japan, Georgi Prokopenko of the Soviet Union and Australian Terry Gathercole, who held the world record in the event.
Even his father held little hope, Mulliken told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2004.
“My dad had made this comment to me: ‘It really would be good if you could beat one Russian,’” Mulliken told the newspaper.
Mulliken beat Prokopenko in the semi-finals, setting an Olympic record at 2 minutes, 37.2 seconds. He went on to face the heavily favored Osaki in the final.
“We all kind of assumed that Osaki was going to rule the day,” Mulliken said. “Coming off the third turn, headed home, I realized I could not only beat the guy, but I could probably break the world record.”
He beat Osaki by 0.6 seconds with a time of 2 minutes, 37.4 seconds, short of the world record. He was the first American swimmer to win the event since Joe Verdeur won at the 1948 Games in London.
Other American gold medalists that year included the sprinter Wilma Rudolph and boxer Cassius Clay (the future Muhammad Ali).
William Danforth Mulliken was born Aug. 27, 1939, in Urbana, Illinois. He graduated from Miami in 1961 and received a law degree from Harvard.
His marriage to Julia Neavolls ended in divorce.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Cynthia Lazzara and Julia DeNapoli, and a son, John, from his first marriage; a sister, Sallie Olsen; a brother, John; and six grandchildren.
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Roger Federer on Wednesday said that staying involved with tennis in retirement helped him avoid feeling “like an alien” ahead of this week’s Laver Cup in Berlin. Federer, who helped create the tournament, retired at the Laver Cup in London two years ago and has since stayed involved with the competition as an ambassador. “I’m happy I went back right away to some tournaments,” the 43-year-old told reporters. “I feel I ripped the Band-Aid off quite quickly and when I walk around the tennis sites I still feel I belong there,” he said. “I don’t feel like an alien, which is a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two