Ken Merten Explained

Ken Merten
Fullname:Kenneth Owen Merten
Nicknames:"Ken"
National Team:United States
Strokes:Breaststroke
Club:Los Angeles Athletic Club
Collegeteam:Southern Methodist University
Birth Date:May 4, 1945
Birth Place:Akron, Ohio
Height:6feet
Weight:176lb

Kenneth Owen Merten (born May 4, 1945) is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Pan American Games medalist, and former world record-holder.

Merten won three medals in his breaststroke specialty at the Pan American Games.[1] At the 1963 Pan American Games in São Paulo, Brazil, he won a silver medal for his runner-up finish in the 200-meter breaststroke.[1] Four years later at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he received a pair of bronze medals for his third-place performances in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke.[1]

Merten represented the United States at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.[2] He competed in the semifinals of the men's 100-meter breaststroke, finishing with a time of 1:11.6.[2] [3] He also swam in the preliminary heats of the men's 200-meter breaststroke, clocking a time of 2:37.0, but did not advance.[2] [4]

Merten was born in Akron, Ohio,[2] but grew up in Los Angeles, California.[5] He attended Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, where he swam for the SMU Mustangs swimming and diving team in national Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition.[5] While he was an SMU swimmer, he won NCAA individual national championships in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, the first ever in the history of the SMU swim team, and set new American records in doing so.[5]

Merten helped set a new world record of 3:57.2 in the 4×100-meter medley relay as a member of the winning U.S. relay team at the 1967 World University Games on August 31, 1967.[6] The record was broken by an East German relay team a little over two months later. At the University Games, he also gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events.[5]

He is now retired after a 32-year career as a teacher, school administrator and coach.[5] He actively competes in windsurfing within his age group, and is an active participant in Swim Across America, a non-profit organization that uses Olympic swimmers to raise funds for cancer research.[5] He lives in Dallas, Texas.[5]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: HickokSports.com . Pan American Games: Men's Swimming Medalists . October 22, 2012 . dead . https://archive.today/20121205182144/http://www.hickoksports.com/history/panammswim.shtml . December 5, 2012 .
  2. Ken Merten . https://web.archive.org/web/20200418111356/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/me/ken-merten-1.html . dead . April 18, 2020 . October 21, 2012.
  3. Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Breaststroke Semi-Finals . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417055152/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1968/SWI/mens-100-metres-breaststroke-semi-finals.html . dead . April 17, 2020 . October 21, 2012.
  4. Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Breaststroke Round One . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417165309/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1968/SWI/mens-100-metres-breaststroke.html . dead . April 17, 2020 . October 21, 2012.
  5. Swim Across America, Olympians, Ken Merten. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
  6. A Roundup Of The Sports Information Of The Week . Sports Illustrated . September 11, 1967 . September 24, 2012.