Who is your favorite male breaststroker?

David Wilkie of Scotland/GBR was a fantastic breaststroker - he won the '76 Olympics at Montreal with a still-impressive 2:14. Wilkie swam USMS too.....late 70s

as a matter 'o fact I think I remember Wilkie swimming against John Henken at USMS nationals...Ft Lauderdale '77...200 ***..maybe a reenactment of an Olympic race..

Bruce: I knew that both David Wilkie and John Hencken could not have swam in 1977 at the Nationals because they would have been 23 and to young to swim. I remember they were both born in 1954. To be eligible to swim you had to be 25. I did notice that David Wilkie swam at the 1980 USMS SC Nationals and was a featured story in the USMS swim publication. He pretty much dominated the 4 out of 5 events he swam. He swam the 50 Fly as a warm up and did :28.19 and got 34 out of 37. He won the 100 and 200 *** and also the 100 IM. He was swimming for a club called McEwan's Export Masters which was out of Scotland. He did not swim 50 *** because in those days there were no 50's of stroke except 50 Fly because there was no 200 Fly at National meets. He went :58.51 and 2:08.41 for the *** events. His 100 IM time was :53.89. All these swims were listed as Open Records because he was not registered as a USMS swimmer and could not hold USMS records. His 100 *** time was the fastest time in the 25-29 age group until Rick Hofstetter went :58.48 in 1985. His 200 time was the fastest until Bruce Howell did a time of 2:08.13 in 1987. I remember Bruce because he swam age group and HS in Michigan and his brother Andy is one of the USA officials here in Michigan.

mark_varney47: I can add some more to your list. Nick Gillingham Ian Edmond James Gibson

Glenn Mills and Brian Job, I agree. Two great swimmers from the Cleveland area.

I knew that both David Wilkie and John Hencken could not have swam in 1977 at the Nationals because they would have been 23 and to young to swim. I remember they were both born in 1954. To be eligible to swim you had to be 25. I did notice that David Wilkie swam at the 1980 USMS SC Nationals and was a featured story in the USMS swim publication. He pretty much dominated the 4 out of 5 events he swam. He swam the 50 Fly as a warm up and did :28.19 and got 34 out of 37. Frank....I stand corrected..(thanks for not berating me and my poor memory) and maybe it was just Wilkie swimming...not with Henken...People were quite excited though, standing 2 deep around the Hall of Fame pool to see this amazing 200 *** by a masters swimmer

Wasn't it Diebel who was every coaches nightmare? Drank, smoked, liked to party. Didn't start swimming until 'relatively' late for a swimmer (Ion?) If so (or who ever that was) is definately my favorite guy. Showed you can do it, and don't have to be a swimming GEEK at it.

Chet Jastremski, Indiiana University, first man to swim a 100-yard breaststroke under a minute.

Well, I would definitely have to vote for one of the following: David Wilkie Adrian Moorhouse Duncan Goodhew. Maybe it's because they are all British,lol!!!!!!!!!!!

Nelson Diebel's bio on the Delaware Otters site says he competed for 6 years in US Swimming before retiring after winning gold at the 1992 Olympics. I believe he was around 20 or so when he won in Barcelona. If that is the case, he then started in his teens and made it to the pinnacle...not bad.