1. Davis Edward Tarwater was born on March 24,1984 and is an American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist.
64 Facts About Davis Tarwater
1. 2.
Davis Tarwater grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee and began competitive swimming at age seven.
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Davis Tarwater was a three-time NCAA national champion and thirteen-time All-American.
4.
Davis Tarwater set three Big Ten conference and six school records en route to six Big Ten titles.
5.
Davis Tarwater has won three individual and five relay national titles, and has finished in the top three more than fifteen times.
6.
Michael Phelps elected to scratch the 200-meter freestyle from his Olympic schedule allowing Davis Tarwater to make the team.
7.
Davis Tarwater was born March 24,1984, to Dwight and Mary Davis Tarwater in Knoxville, Tennessee.
8.
Davis Tarwater grew up in Knoxville, where his father worked as a lawyer.
9.
Davis Tarwater was reluctant to put his face underwater at first, but after 15 minutes he was swimming freely.
10.
The family's doctor encouraged Davis Tarwater to keep swimming, and he eventually outgrew the condition.
11.
In 1993, Davis Tarwater won the 10-year-old and younger 50-meter butterfly at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.
12.
The next year, Davis Tarwater joined the Pilot Aquatic Club and began to compete on the national stage.
13.
Davis Tarwater played baseball and basketball, and ran track before deciding the concentrate on swimming during seventh grade.
14.
At the Trials, Davis Tarwater finished 32nd in the 400-meter freestyle and 30th in the 1500-meter freestyle.
15.
In 2001, Davis Tarwater finished third at the Summer Nationals in the 1500-meter freestyle.
16.
Davis Tarwater represented the United States at the 2001 Goodwill Games and was named "Athlete of the Year" by Southeastern Swimming Local Swimming Committee.
17.
At the US Spring National Championships, Davis Tarwater made the finals in four events.
18.
Davis Tarwater placed third in the 200-meter butterfly, sixth in the 1500-meter freestyle, and eighth in both the 400- and the 800-meter freestyle events.
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Davis Tarwater was a nine-time high school All-American and was the 2002 High School Swimmer of the Year.
20.
Davis Tarwater attended the University of Michigan from 2002 to 2006, where he earned a bachelor's degree in political science.
21.
Urbanchek's decision and Davis Tarwater's training started to pay dividends in 2004.
22.
That year, Davis Tarwater set his first conference record by swimming the 200-yard butterfly in 1:43.46 en route to the Big Ten title.
23.
In individual events, Davis Tarwater took fourth place in the 200-meter butterfly and eighth in the 100-meter butterfly.
24.
Davis Tarwater made the final in the 100-meter butterfly, finishing seventh.
25.
Davis Tarwater put Tarwater on a new training program, with a greater focus on speed training and less on distance.
26.
Davis Tarwater wants to know the theory behind what he's doing.
27.
Davis Tarwater's time of 1:42.30 was a Michigan and Big Ten record, and the third fastest time in NCAA history.
28.
At the 2005 Duel in the Pool, Davis Tarwater won the silver medal in both the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly events.
29.
In 2006, Davis Tarwater repeated as NCAA champion in the 200-yard butterfly, swimming the race in 1:41.84 and improving his own Big Ten record.
30.
Davis Tarwater narrowly missed the NCAA record, coming up six-hundredths of a second short.
31.
Davis Tarwater was a first team All-Big Ten member all four years of college, and received Academic All-Big Ten honors in 2004,2005, and 2006.
32.
Davis Tarwater was part of three additional school records for relay performances.
33.
At the World Championships in March 2007, Davis Tarwater turned in the second-fastest time in the opening round of the 200-meter butterfly.
34.
Later in 2007, Davis Tarwater won his second national championship in the 200-meter butterfly.
35.
Davis Tarwater led the race from start to finish, beating Gil Stovall by 1.1 seconds.
36.
Davis Tarwater won the 200-meter butterfly at the 2007 Duel in the Pool with a time of 1:57.12, and placed second in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 52.76 at the same event.
37.
Davis Tarwater captured the silver medal in 100-meter butterfly at the event, and won the 200-yard butterfly title with a time of 1:41.94.
38.
Davis Tarwater finished the year ranked 11th in the 200-meter butterfly and 22nd in the 100-meter.
39.
In preparation for the 2008 US Olympic Trials, Davis Tarwater trained at Michigan with Phelps, Peter Vanderkaay, and Erik Vendt, coached by Bowman and Urbanchekf.
40.
Davis Tarwater entered the trials as the fourth seed in the 100-meter butterfly and qualified for the 100- and 200-meter freestyle.
41.
Davis Tarwater stayed near Phelps for 150 meters before fading on the last 50.
42.
Davis Tarwater finished eighth in the 100-meter butterfly; earlier, he failed to make the finals in the freestyle events.
43.
Davis Tarwater told his parents that he could not stand hearing coverage of the Olympics, so his father quickly organized a vacation to Costa Rica.
44.
Davis Tarwater took Flowers' advice to heart and started to look into other possibilities for his future.
45.
Davis Tarwater applied to graduate school to study public policy, and on a friend's advice sent some of his undergraduate work to Oxford University.
46.
Davis Tarwater placed fourth in the 100-meter butterfly, and fifth in the 200-meter butterfly.
47.
Davis Tarwater described the year at Oxford as the best time of his life.
48.
In October 2010, responding to what he describes as a clear call from God, Davis Tarwater returned to swimming full-time.
49.
At his first major meet after his return, the May 2011 Charlotte UltraSwim, Davis Tarwater placed third in the 200-meter butterfly behind China's Wu Peng and Phelps.
50.
Davis Tarwater placed eighth in the 100-meter freestyle during the meet.
51.
At the 2011 Duel in the Pool in December, Davis Tarwater broke the American record in the 200-meter butterfly, completing the race in 1:51.90.
52.
Davis Tarwater finished second in the event, behind world record-holder Laszlo Cseh, and tied for third in the 100-meter butterfly during the meet.
53.
Davis Tarwater entered the June 2012 US Olympic Trials with a new perspective: "I want to swim as fast as I can, be the best man I can be, and let the chips fall where they may", he said.
54.
Davis Tarwater chose to scratch the 100-meter freestyle to concentrate on the 200-meter butterfly and freestyle.
55.
Davis Tarwater missed making the Olympic team by fourteen one-hundredths of a second.
56.
Phelps passed him in the third 50-meter stretch, but Davis Tarwater held off the rest of the field until the final 25 meters when both Bollier and Tyler Clary surged ahead, dropping Davis Tarwater to fourth.
57.
The next morning Davis Tarwater boarded a plane and headed home.
58.
Phelps' decision allowed Davis Tarwater to move up into the sixth spot in the 200-meter freestyle and be added to the relay team.
59.
Davis Tarwater said he was "shocked" by the news and called it a "storybook ending" to his career.
60.
Davis Tarwater immediately boarded another plane and flew back to Omaha, where the Trials were held, for a team meeting and practice.
61.
Davis Tarwater's time of 1:46.33 was a personal best, and the second-fastest leg for Team USA, which turned in the fastest preliminary swim, and third-fastest among all 64 swimmers.
62.
Davis Tarwater attributed his performance to concentrating exclusively on the freestyle during the two months between Trials and the Games.
63.
Davis Tarwater was raised in a Christian home, but growing up he "sort of went through the motions" and didn't really hold strong beliefs.
64.
Davis Tarwater has engaged in fundraising for Mott Children's Hospital in Michigan, and has donated his time visiting patients there.