fullname club birth_place weight height collegeteam birth_date article_title strokes name nicknames
richard william roth santa clara swim club palo alto , california 185 lb kg on 6 ft 0 in m on stanford university 26 september 1947 dick roth
 individual medley dick roth `` dick ''
dick roth

richard william roth -lrb- born september 26 , 1947 -rrb- is an american former competition swimmer , olympic champion , and former world record-holder in two events .
he swam in the 1964 olympic games in tokyo , japan , where he won the gold medal for his first-place finish in the men 's 400-meter individual medley , setting a new world record of 4:45.4 in the event final .
shortly before the individual medley final , roth suffered an appendicitis , but refused an immediate operation .
he insisted the surgeons delay to allow him to swim in the final , and won the gold medal as a result .
roth attended stanford university .
he was a two-time individual ncaa champion for the stanford cardinal swimming and diving team , winning the 200 - and 400-yard individual medley .
