Craig Oppel

Richard Craig Oppel (born August 10, 1967) is an American former competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, winning a gold medal in the 4x200 freestyle relay. After graduating the University of California at Los Angeles in 1989 where he competed in swimming, he completed a JD Degree at Drake University in 1995 in Des Moines and practiced law in Muscatine, Iowa.

Like his father, Craig would successfully focus on both athletics and education in his early life. He began to swim at age six, and while competing for Ram Swim Club of Ralston, outside Omaha, Nebraska in March, 1976, he set an age group record in the 50-yard freestyle for eight-year-olds. During his early years, he also represented the Omaha Westside Swim Club. Swimming at age 12 for the West Des Moines Dolphins in August, 1980, he set three Iowa age group records, and one state-wide record to qualify for the Regional AAU age-group meet. Swimming for West Des Moines Valley High School as a Freshman at the Metropolitan Conference Swimming Championships in 1982, he won the 200 and 500-yard freestyle events, and was the first swimmer on the 4x100 yard freestyle relay which set a meet record of 3:19.20. Oppel helped lead West Des Moines to their third successive title in the Metro conference. At Valley High, he competed and trained under Coach Mark Wagner. Primarily a short to middle-distance freestyle competitor in individual competition as a High School swimmer, he held first place state championship rankings in events that included the 100 butterfly in :51.49, the 50 freestyle in :21.95, the 100 freestyle in :47.44, the 200 freestyle in 1:41.56, and the 500 freestyle in 4:34.66.

He attended the 1984 Olympic trails in Indianapolis, Indiana, but did not qualify for the U.S. Olympic team.

Swimming as a High School Senior on April 4, 1985 representing West Des Moines High School, he placed fourth in the Men's 200-meter freestyle at the U.S. Short Course National Championships at Monterey Park, California, with a time of 1:36.53.

Opel qualified to swim in the 400, 200, and 100-meter freestyle events and the 200 and 100 butterfly at the Senior National meet in Mission, Viejo, California in early August 1985.

Swimming for UCLA Oppel enrolled in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) beginning in the Fall of 1985, and swam for coach Ron Ballatore's UCLA Bruins swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition.

1988 Seoul Olympics Oppel finished fifth in the 200-meter freestyle final with a time of 1:49.52 at the August, 1988 Olympic trials at the University of Texas in Austin and qualified as an alternate, though he was somewhat disappointed with his performance, as it was several seconds off his personal best time. In a few weeks of preliminary training for the Seoul Olympics, he was coached by U.S. Men's 1988 Olympic Head Coach Richard Quick.

Oppel earned a gold medal by swimming for the winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. Two days later, the U.S. team's winning time in the 4x200 relay finals was 7:12.51, though Oppel did not swim in the final. Oppel swam a 1:51.24 for his 200-meter freestyle lead off leg of the U.S. team's Heat One 4x200 preliminary, which recorded a combined time of 7:18.76. Oppel was diagnosed with bronchitis, and his time was around three seconds slower than his personal best. His time and diagnosed illness prevented his chances of swimming in the 4x200 relay final, and he was not selected to swim in the 4x100 freestyle relay final.

Post-swimming career Subsequent to his swimming career, he completed a JD Degree in 1995 from Drake University Law School.