Tom Ponting


Thomas Harold Ponting is a Canadian former competitive swimmer who specialized in the butterfly stroke. Ponting competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics for Canada starting with the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California. At every occasion he won a medal with the men's 4 × 100 m medley relay team: two silver and one bronze.
At the Canadian Interuniversity Sport swimming championships in 1989, Ponting broke the world and Canadian records in the 100-metre butterfly, with a time of 52.62 seconds, which still stands as the CIS record. According to the Team Canada Web site in 2025, Ponting is one of only two swimmers in Canadian history to win three Olympic medals in three different Olympic Games.
World Record Short Course:
  • 4 × 100 m medley relay
  • 4 × 100 m medley relay
  • 100 m butterfly - 52.62