Lyndon Ferns

Lyndon Ferns (born 24 September 1983 in Pietersburg, South Africa) is a retired Olympic gold-medalist and former world record swimmer from South Africa who attended the University of Arizona. He swam for South Africa at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

University of Arizona He attended the University of Arizona from 2002-2006, where he competed and was trained and mentored by Hall of Fame Head Coach Frank Busch and former Olympian and sprint coach, Rick DeMont, who also coached Ferns's South African team at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. Overall, Ferns was a four time NCAA champion during his time at Arizona. Lyndon completed his eligibility as a 24-time All-American, a PAC-10 champion, an NCAA record holder, 3-time relay national champion as well as national champion in the 100y butterfly. He had six top-five finishes at NCAA tournaments. While at UA, he completed a Bachelors of Science degree in Accounting.

Swimming for Arizona, Ferns set a school record of 45.89 seconds as an NCAA champion in the 100-meter butterfly. He was a member of the 400 freestyle, 400 medley and 800 freestyle NCAA Championship relay teams that helped lead Arizonas to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships. While at Arizona, he earned eight individual First Team All- America honors and All- American honors in 15 relays.

2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing Olympics At the 2004 Olympics, he was a member of South Africa's Men's 4×100 m freestyle relay that won the event in a world record. Ferns's 100-meter swim leg helped South Africa upset the United States and Russia in the 400 meter freestyle relay at the 2004 games, an historic upset over two teams that had dominated the event. As their fastest swimmer, Ferns's University of Arizona team mate Roland Schoeman's opening leg in the 4x100 relay, opened up a lead that remained throughout the race defeating the teams from both the Netherlands and the United States by over a second.

Lyndon later won a bronze medal in the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay in what would become a signature event for the sprinter.

Personal bests Event Time Date 50 lcm Freestyle 22.22 April 2008 100 lcm Freestyle 47.79 July 2009 100 lcm Butterfly 51.69 June 2009

Event Time Date 50 scm Freestyle 21.28 July 2006 50 scm Butterfly 22.83 July 2006 100 scm Freestyle 46.00 October 2009 100 scm Butterfly 50.17 November 2009

Event Time Date 50 y Freestyle 19.22 December 2003 100 y Freestyle 42.34 March 2005 100 y Butterfly 45.89 March 2006

Affiliations TuksSport – University of Pretoria, South Africa Northern Tigers University of Arizona, USA