|
Peter Maxwell Evans (born 1 August 1961) is an Australian former breaststroke swimmer of the 1980s, who won four Olympic medals, most notably a gold in the 4×100 m medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as part of the Quietly Confident Quartet. He also won consecutive bronze medals in the 100 m breaststroke at the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics. The son of prominent Western Australian businessman and politician Max Evans, Evans had a late start to his swimming career, making his debut at the Australian championships aged 17. Despite placing second in the 100 m breaststroke, he was not selected for Australia, and instead travelled to the United Kingdom to train under David Haller. During this period, he quickly improved his times and rose from outside the top 200 into the top 25 in the world rankings. Evans returned to Australia in 1980 and qualified for the Olympics in both the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke. A sprinter, he won the 100 m in an Australian record time and showed a preference for shorter events, which required less training mileage. Evans gained a reputation for often doing fewer training laps than his coach asked of him.〔〔 Having rebuffed Australian government pressure to boycott the Moscow Olympics in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Evans won bronze in the 100 m breaststroke. His career peak came in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, when he outsplit his opponents in the breaststroke leg of the relay, bringing Australia into contention for its eventual win, which remains the only time that the United States has not won the event at Olympic level. After the Olympics, Evans moved to the United States to study business and compete for the University of Arizona. He was less successful in the short-course format used at college level, which placed more reliance on efficient turns. Evans returned to Australia for the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, winning silver in the 100 m breaststroke and gold in the medley relay. He competed in his second Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984, winning bronze in both the 100 m breaststroke and the medley relay. Evans retired after missing selection for the 1986 Commonwealth Games and attempted to follow his father into politics. He unsuccessfully stood as the candidate for the Liberal Party of Australia in the electoral district of Perth at the 1986 state election, before pursuing a career in business. == Early years == The second of four children, Evans was born into an affluent family in Perth, Western Australia. His father Max was a chartered accountant who went on to become a politician for the Liberal Party in the state's Upper House.〔 Max was the president of the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a senior partner in the accounting firm founded by Sir Charles Court, then premier of Western Australia,〔Howell, p. 241.〕 who was credited with modernising the state and transforming its lucrative mining industry. Max was an honorary member of the Australian Chamber of Commerce. The Evans family had a sporting pedigree. Max had been a state champion athletics sprinter at youth level and won a gold, a silver and three bronze medals as part of Western Australian relay teams at the Australian Championships. Evans' mother Barbara, a physiotherapist, was a capable swimmer and won a half-blue in netball at the University of Western Australia.〔 Evans attended the exclusive Scotch College in Perth for his entire primary and high school years. He was initially a self-taught swimmer, having observed his father in the water. He recalled that "As I didn't like to get up early, I didn't get swim instruction until my sixth grade at Scotch College".〔 Evans later trained and competed for the school swimming team in summer as well as the field hockey team. Evans enjoyed success in all four strokes at school level, but was most proficient at breaststroke and chose to specialise in it, commenting that "I'd rather be good at one stroke than mediocre in four".〔 Thereafter, he was undefeated in breaststroke at school level. Evans learned the "whip kick" from Ian Dickson, brother of Olympic freestyle swimming medallist David Dickson. Evans later honed his endurance ability under Kevin Duff and his sprinting ability under Bernie Mulroy.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Peter Evans (swimmer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|