Jan 3, 2009 8:45 am US/Central
Olympic Gold Medalist Swimmer, Roy Saari Dies
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
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Roy Saari, who won nine NCAA individual titles at the University of Southern California, died Tuesday in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., USC announced Friday.
AP
Roy Saari, a former world record-holding swimmer and gold medalist at the 1964 Olympics, has died.
He was 63.
Saari, who won nine NCAA individual titles at the University of Southern California, died Tuesday in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., USC announced Friday.
No cause of death was given.
Saari set four world records in his career, including a time of 16 minutes, 58.7 seconds in the 1500-meter freestyle that was the first mark below 17 minutes in the event.
He swam on the United States' Olympic champion 800-meter freestyle relay team at the 1964 games in Tokyo and earned a silver
medal in the 400 individual medley.
He also finished fourth in the 400 freestyle and seventh in the 1500 freestyle.
A member of three NCAA championship swim teams at USC from 1964-66, he also was a three-time All-American on the Trojans' water polo team.
Saari was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1976 and the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1982.
Following his swimming career, he became an attorney and later a real estate agent and planning commissioner in the resort community of Mammoth Lakes.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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