Stephen CLARKE

British-born Stephen Clarke moved to Brampton, Ontario when he was four years old and began swimming with the city’s COBRA Swim Club at an early age. His first major international tournament as a senior was the 1991 Pan American Games, where he won a silver medal in the 4x100 metre freestyle relay alongside Stephen Vandermeulen and the non-Olympians Reggie Lacoursiere and Ronald Page. In the same month Clarke also competed in the Pan Pacific Championships, where he won a silver medal in the 4x100 metre medley relay alongside Jon Cleveland, Marcel Gery, Tom Ponting, and Mark Tewksbury. The quintent followed up with bronze in that event at the 1992 Summer Olympics, while Clarke placed 18th in the 100 meters freestyle and 40th in the 50 metres freestyle. By then Clarke was a student at the University of Florida, where he would remain until his 1997 graduation in sports sciences. Along the way he had great success at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, winning gold in the 100 m freestyle and silver in the 100 m butterfly and 4x100 m relay (with Cleveland, Rob Braknis, and Chris Renaud). He also won bronze in the 4x100 m relay at the 1993 Pan Pacific Championships and attended the 1996 Summer Olympics, where he finished 15th, 7th, and 12th in the 100 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, and 4x100 m relay (with Braknis, Cleveland, and Eddie Parenti) respectively. After taking bronze in the 4x100 m relay at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships (alongside Parenti, Morgan Knabe, and Mark Versfeld), the quartet was 10th at the 1998 World Championships (with Craig Hutchison substituting for Parenti). At that tournament, Clarke was 15th in the 100 m freestyle, 19th in the 100 m butterfly, and 24th in the 50 m freestyle. His final major international appearance was the 1998 Commonwealth Games, where he won silver in the 4x100 metre freestyle relay (with Hutchison and the non-Olympians Garret Pulle and Robert Taylor) and bronze in the 4x100 m medley relay (alongside Hutchison, Pulle, Shamek Pietucha, and the non-Olympians Andrew Chan, Jason Flint, and Mark Versveld). He has been inducted into the City of Brampton Sports (1992) and Ontario Aquatic (2003) Halls of Fame.