Mike Burton, 3-time Olympic swimming gold medalist, dies at 79

Mike Burton, who won three Olympic swimming gold medals between 1968 and 1972, has died at age 79, according to USA Swimming.

“My heart is broken this morning. My Dad, Mike Burton has passed away after a grueling battle with Alzheimers and Dementia,” was posted on son Eric’s social media on Friday. “My dad was by far the toughest man to have ever lived. He always inspired me to greatness. I will forever miss him, his stories and just having him around. He will definitely live on through all of us. This is not goodbye, but see you later.”

The International Swimming Hall of Fame — which inducted Burton in 1977 — also confirmed Burton’s death “after a long battle with Alzheimer’s and dementia.”

Burton was the first man to win two Olympic gold medals in the 1500m freestyle, the longest event in the pool. He also won the 400m free, the second-longest men’s event at the time, at his first Games in 1968.

Burton was also a preliminary heat swimmer on the 4x200m free relay that later took gold in 1972, before prelim swimmers started receiving medals in 1984.

He broke the 1500m free world record five times — the most of any man in the last 100 years, according to Olympic sports historian Bill Mallon of Olympedia.org — and the 800m free world record two times, decades before the latter became an Olympic event on the men’s side in 2021.

At age 13, Burton was hit head-on by a furniture truck while riding a bike, dislocating his right hip and tearing ligaments in his right leg. During an eight-week hospital stay, he was told that swimming was the only sport he could pursue, according to Olympics.com.