American swimmer

David Berkoff

David "Dave" Charles Berkoff is an American former competition Hall of Fame swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in two events. Berkoff was a backstroke specialist who won a total of four medals during his career at the Olympic Games in 1988 and 1992. He is best known for breaking the world record for the 100-meter backstroke three times, beginning at the 1988 Olympic trial preliminaries, becoming the first swimmer to go under 55 seconds for the event. He is also remembered for his powerful underwater backstroke start, the eponymous "Berkoff Blastoff" which after a strong push-off from the side of the pool used a horizontal body position with locked arms outstretched overhead and an undulating or wavelike aerodynamic dolphin kick to provide thrust and build speed.

Born

1966

November 30

Died

Living

Era

1960s

Country

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About

David, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1966 Born

Also on November 30

What else happened on this day, through history

883 Abu al Abbas celebrates a victory parade in Bagdhad following the surpression of the Zanj Rebellion, the largest slave revolt in the Arab world.
978 Franco-German war of 978–980: Holy Roman Emperor Otto II lifts the siege of Paris and withdraws.
1707 Queen Anne's War: The second Siege of Pensacola comes to end with the failure of the British Empire and their Creek allies to capture Pensacola, Spanish Florida.
1718 Great Northern War: King Charles XII of Sweden dies during a siege of the fortress of Fredriksten in Norway.

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The world in 1966

When David arrived

april 21 Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
april 22 American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D crashes on approach to Ardmore Municipal Airport in Ardmore, Oklahoma, killing 83.
april 23 Aeroflot Flight 2723 crashes into the Caspian Sea off the Absheron Peninsula, killing 33 people.
april 26 The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (Very strong). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15–200 are killed.

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on November 30

Beatrice Kerr 1887– Australian swimmer and diver (died 1971) Bobby Abel 1857–1936 English cricketer (born 1857) Chris Weitz 1969– American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Christophe Beck 1972– Canadian television and film score composer and conductor Clyfford Still 1904–1980 American painter and academic (born 1904) Firpo Marberry 1898–1976 American baseball player and umpire (born 1898) Gary Lineker 1960– English footballer and sportscaster Mark Twain 1835–1910 American novelist, humorist, and critic (born 1835) Paul Nuttall 1976– British politician

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1966

Jimmy Wales 1966– American-British entrepreneur, co-founder of Wikipedia Allan Donald 1966– South African cricketer and coach Andrew Adamson 1966– New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter Andrew Wood 1966–1990 American singer-songwriter (died 1990) Ben Folds 1966– American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Bill Ranford 1966– Canadian ice hockey player and coach Calvin Borel 1966– American jockey Charles Hazlewood 1966– English conductor Cynthia Nixon 1966– American actress

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More to explore

David's birthday November 30 David's zodiac Sagittarius When David arrived 1966