Jack Wardrop

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameJohn Caldwell "Jack"•Wardrop
Used nameJack•Wardrop
Born26 May 1932 in Motherwell, Scotland (GBR)
AffiliationsMotherwell AS&WPC, Motherwell (GBR)
NOC Great Britain

Biography

Glasgow-born Jack Waldrop starting his swimming at Motherwell Baths at an early age, after being given a season ticket for the baths on his fifth birthday. Barely a teenager, he started breaking Scottish junior records, and in 1949 won four senior individual Scottish titles, and the national relay title, with Motherwell. The following year, Waldrop became the first male swimmer to win three British titles at one meeting. As at the end of 1952, he had won British titles at all freestyle distances, and broken 32 British and Scottish records. Having competed at the 1948 London Olympics as a 16-year-old, Waldrop was captain of the British men’s swimming team at Helsinki four years later.

Shortly after the 1952 Olympics, Jack and his twin brother Bert, headed to the University of Michigan where they studied for four years. Jack soon started breaking US swimming records, and at New Haven, Connecticut in April 1954, he became the first Briton to break a swimming world record for 21 years, and the first Scot ever to do so, when he set a time of 4:41.7 for the 400 yards individual medley. Later that year, Waldrop went on to win his only international medals, at the Vancouver British Empire and Commonwealth Games, when, representing Scotland, he won silver in the 440 yards freestyle and a bronze medal as part of the 3 x 110 yards medley relay with his brother Bert and John Service. In 1955 Jack lowered his own 400 individual medley record to 4:36.9, and also set a new world record for the 220 yards freestyle at 2:03.9, reducing it by half a second, at Columbus, Ohio, a week later. He won NCAA 220 yard freestyle titles in 1954 and 1955.

Waldrop returned from the United States in September 1956, and was originally selected for his third Olympics at Melbourne, then dropped, and then days later, re-instated. Amidst all the mayhem Waldrop announced his retirement from swimming, before announcing his comeback. Having graduated from Michigan with a degree in creative writing, Jack returned to the USA and took a three-year law degree, before opening his own advertising agency with just $40 in his pocket. When he retired, and sold the company, it had a $10 million turnover and employed 27 people. Jack spent more than 50 years living in the United States, mostly in the Chicago area,

After setting his first world record, Jack Wardrop was widely hailed as being the “world’s best swimmer” but, modestly, Jack maintained he wasn’t even the best swimmer “in his house”, as that honour belonged to brother Bert. Jack Waldrop was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004, and into the Scottish Swimming Hall of Fame in 2010.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1948 Summer Olympics Swimming (Aquatics) GBR Jack Wardrop
1,500 metres Freestyle, Men (Olympic) 3 h1 r1/3
1952 Summer Olympics Swimming (Aquatics) GBR Jack Wardrop
100 metres Freestyle, Men (Olympic) =15
400 metres Freestyle, Men (Olympic) 5
4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men (Olympic) Great Britain 6
1956 Summer Olympics Swimming (Aquatics) GBR Jack Wardrop
400 metres Freestyle, Men (Olympic) 11
4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men (Olympic) Great Britain 6

Olympic family relations

Special Notes