World Record Holder

Chris Woo added another chapter to Hawaii’s rich swimming history with record-setting performances in high school and on the Olympic stage.

In 1976, while attending Punahou School, Woo set a national high school record in the 100-yard breaststroke at 55.99 seconds. That record would stand for 14 years, until broken by Nelson Diebel, who went on to win gold in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Only months after his record-setting performance at Punahou, Woo was at it again, representing the United States as the youngest member of the US Swim Team at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Woo helped set the World Record in heat 2 as a member of the Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay with a time of 3:47.28.  This record was short-lived as the final Men’s U.S. team broke Woo’s record the following night.  As was the practice at the time, Woo did not receive an actual medal because he did not swim in the final.

Chris Woo also competed in the Olympic final of the men’s 100-meter breaststroke and finished eighth in a time of 1:05.13 while in Montreal, Canada.

Woo went on to a stellar collegiate career, winning the Pac-10 championship in the breaststroke, and then studied dentistry at Indiana University, eventually becoming a dentist in Honolulu.

Woo was inducted into the Punahou Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Hawaii Swimming Hall of Fame in 2005.

Born December 1957