American Swimmer Breaks 120-Year-Old Olympic Record, Medals At 31 While Holding Full-Time Job

 American swimmer Nic Fink broke a 120-year-old Olympic record on Sunday when he tied British champion Adam Peaty for the silver medal in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke: he competed — and medaled — in the Olympic Games at the age of 31 while also holding down a day job.

In a finish that was almost too close to call, Italian swimmer Nicolo Martinenghi took the gold medal with a time of 59.03 and Fink — a New Jersey native — touched the wall at 59.05 seconds, exactly at the same time as the British defending champion.

“It’s kind of strange splitting a medal, but I’ve actually split a silver medal before in the 100 breast. It’s kind of funny how it’s happened again,” Fink said, referencing a three-way tie in the event that had occurred at the World Aquatics Championships in Japan in 2023.

“With Adam, he’s a legend in the sport, and it’s awesome to see his comeback and his return, and to share the podium with him — let alone the silver medal — is an awesome experience,” Fink added, giving a nod to Peaty’s recent break from competition to focus on his mental health. “To see Nicolo there as well, we’ve been racing together quite a while, so it’s really cool to share the podium with all those guys.”

But what made the event a record-breaker was neither the impressively fast time nor the fact that in a race where hundredths of a second count, there was a tie. It wasn’t even the fact that Fink holds a full-time job in addition to his rigorous training and competition schedules. On Sunday, at the age of 31, Fink became the oldest American swimmer to medal in the Olympic Games since 1904.

“At 31 years old, Fink became the oldest first-time U.S. Olympic swimming medalist in modern history — and the oldest in 120 years if you count 36-year-old Edgar Adams and his silver medal in the ‘plunge for distance’ from the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis,” SwimSwam reported.