Charlie Houchin

Charles "Charlie" Houchin (born November 3, 1987) is an American former competition swimmer who has had his greatest international success in freestyle relay events. He earned a gold medal as a member of the winning United States team in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He is the CEO and founder of Swimmingly®. The Swimmingly® app can operate an entire swim meet from iPhones or Android devices.[1][2]

Charlie Houchin
Personal information
Full nameCharles Houchin
Nickname(s)"Charlie"
National team United States
Born (1987-11-03) November 3, 1987
Lake Forest, Illinois
Height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight185 lb (84 kg)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
ClubIX3[sports]
College teamUniversity of Michigan

Early years

Houchin graduated from William G. Enloe High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Both of his parents were All-American swimmers for North Carolina State University. Houchin attended the University of Michigan, where he swam for the Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 2006 to 2010. He graduated from Michigan with a bachelor's degree in sports management in 2010. He currently swims for IX3[sports] in Jacksonville, Florida.

Professional career

Houchin used the money he earned from his gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics to found Swimmingly®.[3] Adamant about increasing the value of participation for young swimmers, Houchin innovated a better swim meet experience for athletes, parents, and coaches. Swimmingly® operates an entire swim meet from mobile devices, creating a fun & simple swim meet for officials, volunteers, families, and swimmers. Using Swimmingly®, swim clubs can operate a meet in less time, with fewer volunteers, no paper, and less stress.[4][5]

Swimming career

At the 2010 FINA Short Course World Championships, Houchin won a silver medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay for his contributions in the heats.[6]

At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, China, Houchin competed in one event, the 400-meter freestyle. Houchin posted a time of 3:48.80 in the heats and did not advance to the final, finishing fourteenth overall.[7]

At the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, Houchin won two gold medals in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, the qualifying meet for the 2012 Olympics, Houchin made the U.S. Olympic team for the first time by finishing sixth in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:46.88,[8] which qualified him to swim in the 4×200-meter freestyle as a member of the U.S. relay team. Houchin also competed in the 400-meter freestyle at the trials, and finished fourth overall (3:48.32). At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Houchin earned a gold medal by swimming for the winning U.S. team in the preliminaries of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

At the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Houchin combined with Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte, and Ricky Berens in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, with the team finishing in first place for the gold medal. Swimming the third leg, Houchin recorded a split of 1:45.59, and the team finished with a final time of 7:01.72.

Personal life

Houchin is a Christian. Houchin has spoken about his faith saying, "I like to think I carry a quiet confidence into the water because of my relationship with Christ.[9] He created a swimming timing system called Meet Central, a system that helps swim meets go faster and have more accurate times. This allows swim teams to use mobile devices to start, time, judge, and score very quickly.[10]

See also

References
  1. Burkhart, Jessie (January 6, 2014). "Olympian Swimmer from Raleigh Tests Entrepreneurial Waters". American City Business Journals. Triangle Business Journal. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  2. "Summer Swimming's, Simple Mobile App, HydroXphere / Meet Central™ Announces Rebrand to Swimmingly™". Swimmingly. November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  3. Jones, Colleen Michele (January 16, 2014). "feature[23] helps Olympian 'jump into deep end' with app". American City Business Journals. Jacksonville Business Journal. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  4. Havey, Joeseph (January 16, 2014). "New app streamlines the swim meet scoring process". Technician. Technician Online. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  5. "Summer Swimming's, Simple Mobile App, HydroXphere / Meet Central™ Announces Rebrand to Swimmingly™". Swimmingly. November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  6. "2010 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) – Men's 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay (heats)" (PDF). Omega Timing. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
  7. "2011 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 400-metre freestyle (heats)" (PDF). Omega Timing. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
  8. OmegaTiming.com, 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming, Men's 200m Freestyle (final). Retrieved July 16, 2012.
  9. "Charlie Houchin".
  10. "Summer Swimming's, Simple Mobile App, HydroXphere / Meet Central™ Announces Rebrand to Swimmingly™". Swimmingly. November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
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