Juan Carlos Bello

Juan Carlos Bello (born 6 January 1949) is a Peruvian former butterfly, freestyle and medley swimmer. He was an outstanding competitor for the University of Michigan swim team and represented Peru at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics. He later worked as a coach and served as the President of the National Swimming Foundation of Peru. He now owns the Johnny Bello Swimming Academy, which competes in national swim tournaments as “Club Surco.” Michigan came in a close second to Indiana in the final point scoring. That year Bello had won three gold medals in the South American games.

1968 National AAU championships A versatile swimmer, on August 2, 1968, he came in third with a time of 1:57.7, in the Men's 200-meter freestyle at the AAU National Swimming Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska, qualifying him for the Olympic trials in the event. His time was only .7 of a second behind the eighteen-year old first place finisher Mark Spitz, who would later set a world record in the event in 1972. He edged out 1964 four-time American Olympic gold medalist Don Schollander by 1.4 seconds. Schollander had a bad turn at the 100 meter wall. Bello also won another of his signature events, the 200-meter medley, in 2:14.1, just under a career best. He would significantly improve his time in the 1972 Olympics. In the trying 400-meter individual medley, Bello recorded a 4:53.3.

1971 Division I NCAA Championships At the NCAA Division I Championship in 1971, he finished first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.70.

Olympic competition

1968 Olympics At the 1968 Olympic preliminaries in Mexico City, Belo won the seventh heat in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:01.3, and qualified for the finals. Coach for the Peruvian team in the 1968 Olympics was American Ron Ballatore, who was coaching at Pasadena City College at the time.

He competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City in October, in the 200 meter freestyle and the 200-meter individual medley, though he did not medal in stiff international competition.

By 1978, Bello had done some coaching in his native Peru, and had served as the coach for Peruvian swimmer and 1980 Olympic prospect Ernesto Dominack, who swam in the 1975 Pan Am Games. He referred Dominack to Coach Flip Darr, Director of Southern California's Saddleback Aquatics, though Dominack was coached by Darr at Darr's Irvine NOVA Swim Club.

President, Peru National Swimming Foundation Taking on roles in the swimming community, by 1997, Juan Carlos Bello was President of the National Swimming Federation of Peru. He authored a recommendation for Peruvian swimmer Luis Gayoso to swim for Pennsylvania's Shippensburg University. At the time Gayoso was being considered for the Peruvian National team.