Bruce Furniss
Encyclopedia
Bruce MacFarlane Furniss (born May 27, 1957) is an American
swimmer
. He won two gold medals in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal
in the Men's 200 metre freestyle and the Men's 4x200 metre Freestyle Relay, both in world record time.
He attended Foothill High School and the University of Southern California
.
During an illustrious swimming career spanning seventeen years, Bruce Furniss broke ten world and nineteen American records, and won 11 AAU and six NCAA titles. He was a member of the 1976 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team, a team regarded by most sports historians as the most dominating Olympic sports team ever assembled, winning 12 of 13 (92%) possible Gold Medals and 28 of 35 (80%) possible total medals. Furniss won Olympic Gold in the 200 meter Freestyle, (one of only three Americans to ever win this Olympic event; Mark Spitz
in 1972 and Michael Phelps
in 2008 being the other two), and the 4×200 meter Freestyle Relay, setting world records in each event. In the 200 meter Freestyle he led a U.S.A. sweep finishing ahead of fellow Americans John Naber
(Silver) and Jim Montgomery (Bronze). He teamed up with Naber, Montgomery and Mike Bruner
on the 4 × 200-meter Freestyle Relay.
Furniss also garnered two Gold and two Silver Medals in the 1975 World Aquatics Championships
in Cali, Colombia and 1978 World Aquatics Championships
in West Berlin, FRG. However, the highlight of his aquatic accomplishments came in April 2000 when Furniss was selected to "USA Swimming
’s Swim Team of the 20th Century", an honor bestowed on only 26 U.S. male swimmers deemed to be the best of the best in the twentieth century. In January 2004, Furniss was one of six former collegiate athletes in the nation recognized as recipients of The NCAA's Silver Anniversary Award. This award is given annually to six individuals in recognition of their 25 years of post-graduate career achievements, contributions to professional organizations, and charitable and civic activities within their community.
As a seven year old in 1964, Furniss was inspired by the four Gold Medal performance of American swimmer Don Schollander
, who broke the 200-meter Freestyle World Record an astonishing ten times during his career and to this day is deemed the event’s greatest performer. A mere eleven years later, Furniss became the twelfth of only fourteen Americans in history to break the 200-meter Freestyle World Record. During his career he broke the 200 meter Freestyle world record four different times (only Schollander (10), Australia’s Ian Thorpe
(6), and Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamanaka
(5) have broken the event's record more times). Furniss laid claim to the 200 meter Freestyle World Record from 1975 to 1979. His 1976 Olympic Gold Medal performance would last eight Olympic Quadrennials before being equaled by another American, Michael Phelps
, in 2008.
Notably, Furniss's dream of winning a third, and, quite possibly, a fourth Olympic Gold Medal was thwarted when the International Olympic Committee
removed the 200 meter Individual Medley and the 4x100 meter Freestyle Relay (an event the United States had never lost) from the 1976 Olympic Games
. As the reigning 200-meter Individual Medley World Record holder from 1975 through 1977 (the twelfth of only eighteen Americans to ever hold the record), Furniss unquestionably was deemed the favorite for the event’s 1976 Olympic Gold Medal. Furniss was also U.S.A.'s third fastest in the 100 meter Freestyle in 1975, and was a member of the World Champion and World Record-holding quartet in the 4 × 100-meter Freestyle Relay, an event the U.S. was favored to win in 1976 had the race been swum. Ironically both events were permanently reinstated into the Olympic program eight years later.
A 1975 graduate of Tustin, California’s Foothill High School, Furniss is the third of four highly successful aquatic brothers, often referred to as “Orange County California’s First Family of Swimming”. Older brother Steve Furniss
, a two-time swimming Olympian (1972 Olympic Bronze Medallist and 1976 Olympic Team Captain), and Bruce are among a rare group of siblings, in any sport, to make the same Olympic Team. Unfortunately the decision by the International Olympic Committee
to remove the 200-meter Individual Medley from the 1976 Olympic Games
robbed Bruce and Steve of the unique opportunity to compete against each other in an Olympic swimming event. However, Bruce and Steve share the distinction as the only known brothers ever to have held and broken one another’s world records consecutively. Bruce broke Steve’s 200 meter Individual Medley World Record in August 1975, while competing in the U.S. Sr. National Championships in Kansas City, Kansas
. In that same meet, Bruce and Steve, swimming for Long Beach Swim Club, shared the equally unique accomplishment, (along with teammates Tim Shaw
and Rex Favaro), as the last club team to break a swimming relay World Record (4×200 meter freestyle relay). Earlier that same summer at the World Swimming Championships
Team Trials in Long Beach, California
, Furniss also accomplished the rare feat of breaking the same World Record twice in the same day (June 18, 1975) in the 200 meter freestyle.
Furniss was twice named World Swimmer of the Year, once in 1975 and again in 1976. In 1974 and 1975, he won the Robert J. H. Kiphuth Award as the high point winner at the U.S. National Outdoor Championships. He was inducted into the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame in 1984 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame
in 1987. In May 2001, Furniss was inducted into the University of Southern California Athletic Hall of Fame; the fourth male swimmer in the school’s 125-year history awarded the honor. Furniss also participated in carrying the Olympic flame as a participant of the 1984, 1996 and 2004 Olympic Torch Relays in the Los Angeles area.
In the midst of these extraordinary athletic accomplishments, and throughout much of his prime swimming career, Furniss became noted for achieving athletic success in spite of waging a quiet and very personal battle against the crippling arthritic disease, Ankylosing Spondylitis
.
Furniss graduated in 1979 from the USC
Annenberg School of Communications, where he received his B.A. degree in Journalism.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
swimmer
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
. He won two gold medals in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal
Swimming at the 1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montréal, Canada, 26 events in swimming were contested. There was a total of 471 participants from 51 countries competing.-Medal table:-Men's events:-Women's events:-References:...
in the Men's 200 metre freestyle and the Men's 4x200 metre Freestyle Relay, both in world record time.
He attended Foothill High School and the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
.
During an illustrious swimming career spanning seventeen years, Bruce Furniss broke ten world and nineteen American records, and won 11 AAU and six NCAA titles. He was a member of the 1976 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team, a team regarded by most sports historians as the most dominating Olympic sports team ever assembled, winning 12 of 13 (92%) possible Gold Medals and 28 of 35 (80%) possible total medals. Furniss won Olympic Gold in the 200 meter Freestyle, (one of only three Americans to ever win this Olympic event; Mark Spitz
Mark Spitz
Mark Andrew Spitz is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement only surpassed by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics....
in 1972 and Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...
in 2008 being the other two), and the 4×200 meter Freestyle Relay, setting world records in each event. In the 200 meter Freestyle he led a U.S.A. sweep finishing ahead of fellow Americans John Naber
John Naber
John Phillips Naber is a former American swimmer who specialized in the backstroke and five-time Olympic medallist .-Career:...
(Silver) and Jim Montgomery (Bronze). He teamed up with Naber, Montgomery and Mike Bruner
Mike Bruner
Mike Bruner is an American swimmer, world champion and olympic champion. He competed at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, where he received a gold medal in 200 m butterfly , and a gold medal in 4 × 200 m freestyle relay...
on the 4 × 200-meter Freestyle Relay.
Furniss also garnered two Gold and two Silver Medals in the 1975 World Aquatics Championships
1975 World Aquatics Championships
The 1975 World Aquatics Championships took place in Cali, Colombia between July 19 and July 27, 1975, with 682 participating athletes.- Medals table :-Diving:MenWomen-Swimming:MenWomen-Synchronised swimming:-Water polo:Men...
in Cali, Colombia and 1978 World Aquatics Championships
1978 World Aquatics Championships
The 1978 World Aquatics Championships took place in West Berlin, West Germany between August 20 and August 28, 1978.-Medals table:-Diving:MenWomen-Swimming:MenWomen-Synchronised swimming:-Water polo:Men-External links:***...
in West Berlin, FRG. However, the highlight of his aquatic accomplishments came in April 2000 when Furniss was selected to "USA Swimming
USA Swimming
USA Swimming is the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. It is charged with selecting the United States Olympic Swimming team and any other teams which officially represent the United States, as well as the overall organization and operation of the sport within the...
’s Swim Team of the 20th Century", an honor bestowed on only 26 U.S. male swimmers deemed to be the best of the best in the twentieth century. In January 2004, Furniss was one of six former collegiate athletes in the nation recognized as recipients of The NCAA's Silver Anniversary Award. This award is given annually to six individuals in recognition of their 25 years of post-graduate career achievements, contributions to professional organizations, and charitable and civic activities within their community.
As a seven year old in 1964, Furniss was inspired by the four Gold Medal performance of American swimmer Don Schollander
Don Schollander
Donald Arthur Schollander is a former Olympic swimmer for the United States. He won total of five gold medals and one silver medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics...
, who broke the 200-meter Freestyle World Record an astonishing ten times during his career and to this day is deemed the event’s greatest performer. A mere eleven years later, Furniss became the twelfth of only fourteen Americans in history to break the 200-meter Freestyle World Record. During his career he broke the 200 meter Freestyle world record four different times (only Schollander (10), Australia’s Ian Thorpe
Ian Thorpe
Ian James Thorpe OAM , nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most...
(6), and Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamanaka
Tsuyoshi Yamanaka
is a Japanese freestyle swimmer. He never won an Olympic gold medal, but he has won four silver medals.In college in the U.S. at the University of Southern California, he broke the 200 m Freestyle World Record three times in less than two months .In addition to his numerous Japanese records,...
(5) have broken the event's record more times). Furniss laid claim to the 200 meter Freestyle World Record from 1975 to 1979. His 1976 Olympic Gold Medal performance would last eight Olympic Quadrennials before being equaled by another American, Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...
, in 2008.
Notably, Furniss's dream of winning a third, and, quite possibly, a fourth Olympic Gold Medal was thwarted when the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
removed the 200 meter Individual Medley and the 4x100 meter Freestyle Relay (an event the United States had never lost) from the 1976 Olympic Games
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
. As the reigning 200-meter Individual Medley World Record holder from 1975 through 1977 (the twelfth of only eighteen Americans to ever hold the record), Furniss unquestionably was deemed the favorite for the event’s 1976 Olympic Gold Medal. Furniss was also U.S.A.'s third fastest in the 100 meter Freestyle in 1975, and was a member of the World Champion and World Record-holding quartet in the 4 × 100-meter Freestyle Relay, an event the U.S. was favored to win in 1976 had the race been swum. Ironically both events were permanently reinstated into the Olympic program eight years later.
A 1975 graduate of Tustin, California’s Foothill High School, Furniss is the third of four highly successful aquatic brothers, often referred to as “Orange County California’s First Family of Swimming”. Older brother Steve Furniss
Steve Furniss
Steven "Steve" Furniss is a former American Olympic swimmer from Madison, Wisconsin. He won the bronze medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich in the men's 200-meter individual medley. He attended Foothill High School in Santa Ana, California...
, a two-time swimming Olympian (1972 Olympic Bronze Medallist and 1976 Olympic Team Captain), and Bruce are among a rare group of siblings, in any sport, to make the same Olympic Team. Unfortunately the decision by the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
to remove the 200-meter Individual Medley from the 1976 Olympic Games
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
robbed Bruce and Steve of the unique opportunity to compete against each other in an Olympic swimming event. However, Bruce and Steve share the distinction as the only known brothers ever to have held and broken one another’s world records consecutively. Bruce broke Steve’s 200 meter Individual Medley World Record in August 1975, while competing in the U.S. Sr. National Championships in Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...
. In that same meet, Bruce and Steve, swimming for Long Beach Swim Club, shared the equally unique accomplishment, (along with teammates Tim Shaw
Tim Shaw (swimmer)
Timothy Andrew Shaw is a former Olympic medal-winning swimmer and water polo player from the United States. He swam at the 1976 Summer Olympics and played on the USA's team at the 1984 Games...
and Rex Favaro), as the last club team to break a swimming relay World Record (4×200 meter freestyle relay). Earlier that same summer at the World Swimming Championships
Swimming at the 1975 World Aquatics Championships
These are the results of the swimming competition at the 1975 World Aquatics Championships.-Medal table:-Men:Legend: WR – World record; CR – Championship record-Women:...
Team Trials in Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, Furniss also accomplished the rare feat of breaking the same World Record twice in the same day (June 18, 1975) in the 200 meter freestyle.
Furniss was twice named World Swimmer of the Year, once in 1975 and again in 1976. In 1974 and 1975, he won the Robert J. H. Kiphuth Award as the high point winner at the U.S. National Outdoor Championships. He was inducted into the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame in 1984 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame
International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of swimming in the United States and around...
in 1987. In May 2001, Furniss was inducted into the University of Southern California Athletic Hall of Fame; the fourth male swimmer in the school’s 125-year history awarded the honor. Furniss also participated in carrying the Olympic flame as a participant of the 1984, 1996 and 2004 Olympic Torch Relays in the Los Angeles area.
In the midst of these extraordinary athletic accomplishments, and throughout much of his prime swimming career, Furniss became noted for achieving athletic success in spite of waging a quiet and very personal battle against the crippling arthritic disease, Ankylosing Spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis , previously known as Bekhterev's disease, Bekhterev syndrome, and Marie-Strümpell disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the axial skeleton with variable involvement of peripheral joints and nonarticular structures...
.
Furniss graduated in 1979 from the USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
Annenberg School of Communications, where he received his B.A. degree in Journalism.