Rick Colella

Rick Colella

Personal information
Full name	Richard Phillip Colella, Jr.
Nickname(s)	Rick, Ricardo
Nationality	United States
Stroke(s)	Breaststroke
Club	Totem Lake Swim Club
College team	University of Washington
Date of birth	December 14, 1951 (1951-12-14) (age 58)
Place of birth	Seattle, Washington
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Medal record Men's swimming Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Bronze 1976 Montreal 200 m breaststroke Pan American Games Gold 1971 Cali 200 m breaststroke Gold 1975 Mexico City 100 m breaststroke Gold 1975 Mexico City 200 m breaststroke Gold 1975 Mexico City 4x100 m medley relay Summer Universiade Gold 1970 Turin 200 m breaststroke

Richard Phillip "Rick" Colella, Jr. (born December 14, 1951 in Seattle, Washington)^[1] is a former international breaststroke swimmer from the United States, who participated for his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1972.

After having claimed three gold medals at the 1975 Pan American Games, Colella won the bronze medal in the Men's 200m Breaststroke at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Colella graduated from the University of Washington and later competed for the Totem Lake SC. He also won three AAU titles, but his Olympic bronze fell short of the efforts of his sister, Lynn Colella, who brought home a silver in women's swimming.

In 1971, Rick and Lynn were co-winners of the Seattle P-I's Man of the Year award.^[2]

Rick and his wife Terry have raised four children, Elise, 26, Mariel, 24, Brian, 22, and Angie, 19, who have spread out across the globe. Elise currently lives in Washington, DC; Mariel lives in Philadelphia, PA; Brian is in South Korea; Angie is in Tucson, AZ.

For the past six years, the Colellas have dedicated themselves to fundraising efforts for dealing with facioscapulohumeral disease (FSHD), a non-fatal form of muscular dystrophy that affects their son, a graduate of University of Wisconsin. They formed FSH Friends, an organization that they run out of their home. They've co-sponsored local workshops, bringing researchers together from around the world, the latest such gathering taking place last weekend.^[3]

References

v • d • e 1976 USA Olympic Swimming Team Men's Team Jim Babashoff  •  Joe Bottom  •  Mike Bruner  •  Rick Colella  •  Casey Converse  •  Lawrence Dowler  •  Billy Forrester  •  Bruce Furniss  •  Steve Furniss  •  Brian Goodell  •  Steven Gregg  •  Bobby Hackett  •  Gary Hall, Sr.  •  Daniel Harrigan  •  Paul Hartloff  •  John Hencken  •  Bob Jackson  •  Charles Keating  •  Tim McKee  •  Jim Montgomery  •  John Naber  •  Douglas Northway  •  Peter Rocca  •  Tim Shaw  •  Rodney Strachan  •  Matt Vogel  •  Chris Woo Women's Team Shirley Babashoff  •  Melissa Belote  •  Wendy Boglioli  •  Brenda Borgh  •  Lelei Fonoimoana  •  Maryanne Graham  •  Jeanne Haney  •  Janis Hape  •  Kathy Heddy  •  Jennifer Hooker  •  Linda Jezek  •  Nicole Kramer  •  Renee Laravie  •  Renee MaGee  •  Marcia Morey  •  Kim Peyton  •  Laurie Siering  •  Miriam Smith  •  Jill Sterkel  •  Karen Thornton  •  Tauna Vandewghe  •  Wendy Weinberg  •  Donnalee Wennerstrom  •  Camille Wright Staff John Bogert  •  Doc Counsilman  •  Lawrence Dowler  •  Frank Elm  •  Carolyn Finneran  •  Don Gambril  •  George Haines  •  Jim Montrella  •  Jack Nelson  •  Charlotte Piper  •  Albert Schoenfield

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