Jeff Farrell

In 1959-60 Jeff Farrell was a six-time national 100- and 200-meter freestyle champion and held 25 national and world records. He was co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic swimming team and anchored the 4 x 100-meter medley and 4 x 200-meter freestyle relays, both breaking Olympic and world records and winning gold in Rome.

Olympian Jeff Farrell and his son Marco
Olympian Jeff Farrell and his son Marco

Jeff qualified for the American team swimming in the trials less than a week after undergoing an emergency appendectomy. A book about his qualifying experience, “Six Days To Swim”, was written by Jean Henning (read more about this story – part 1part 2). Jeff is currently writing his own version of this special story.

Jeff was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame; he is the only swimmer to be honored in both. He was a winning Masters swimmer from 1980 to 2012.

Today, Jeff is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Santa Barbara, California, where he lives with his wife, Gabrielle, and near their son (Jeff’s real estate partner), Marco and daughter, Caroline.

In 2012 Jeff spoke to the students of Oak Valley Elementary School in Buellton, California about the World Fit program, accompanied by Gary Hall, Jr. Jeff stressed the importance of being fit and about how easy it is to become and stay fit, whether it be through organized team sports, individual sports or just making regular exercise a part of your life.


Competes in: Swimming
Participed in the following Games: Rome 1960
Currently inspiring students at the following schools:
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