fullname club birth_place weight height birth_date article_title strokes name nicknames
richard james demont marin aquatic club san francisco , california 152 lb kg on 5 ft 11 in m on 21 april 1956 rick demont
 freestyle rick demont `` rick ''
rick demont

richard james demont -lrb- born april 21 , 1956 -rrb- is an american former competition swimmer , world champion , and former world record-holder in multiple events .
demont is often remembered for the controversy arising from his disqualification at the 1972 summer olympics because he tested positive for a prohibited substance present in his prescription asthma medication .
demont was born in san francisco , california , and he attended terra linda high school in suburban san rafael , california .
he trained with the marin aquatic club .
as a 16-year-old , demont qualified to represent the united states at the 1972 summer olympics in munich , germany .
he won a gold medal for his first-place finish -lrb- 4:00.26 -rrb- in the men 's 400-meter freestyle .
following the race , the international olympic committee -lrb- ioc -rrb- stripped demont of his gold medal after his post-race urinalysis tested positive for traces of the banned substance ephedrine contained in his prescription asthma medication .
the positive test following the 400-meter freestyle final also deprived him of a chance at multiple medals , as he was not permitted to swim in any other events at the 1972 olympics , including the 1,500-meter freestyle for which he was the then-current world record-holder .
before the olympics , demont had properly declared his asthma medications on his medical disclosure forms , but the u.s. olympic committee -lrb- usoc -rrb- had not cleared them with the ioc 's medical committee .
at 1973 world aquatics championships in belgrade , yugoslavia , demont became the first man to swim the 400-meter freestyle in under four minutes -lrb- 3:58.18 -rrb- .
in 2001 the usoc admitted that it had mishandled demont 's medical information at the 1972 olympics and appealed to the ioc to reinstate the medal .
to date , the ioc has not officially changed the race results nor overturned his ban .
demont was an assistant coach for the south african men 's swim team at the 2004 summer olympics in athens , greece , and the 2008 summer olympics in beijing , china .
in 2014 , after being a member of the coaching staff for 24 seasons , demont was named the head coach of the arizona wildcats men 's and women 's swimming and diving teams at the university of arizona .
