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 "title": "Dan Sherry",
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 "excerpt": "Dan Sherry (Daniel John Sherry, born 1946), Canadian swimmer for the North York Lions Club; eighth in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic 200 m butterfly, two 1963 Pan Am bronzes, 1965 110-yard butterfly world record. Same name: 1986 Commonwealth Games boxing champion.",
 "snippet": "Dan Sherry (Daniel John Sherry, born 1946), Canadian swimmer for the North York Lions Club; eighth in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic 200 m butterfly, two 1963 Pan Am bronzes, 1965 110-yard butterfly world record. Same name: 1986 Commonwealth Games boxing champion.",
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 "markdown": "# Dan Sherry\n\n**Dan Sherry** (Daniel John \"Dan\" Sherry, born 1946) is a Canadian swimmer who competed for Canada at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, finishing eighth in the men's 200 meter butterfly, and who set a world record in the 110-yard butterfly at the 1965 British swimming championships. A different Dan Sherry, also Canadian, was a light middleweight boxer who won gold at the 1986 [Commonwealth Games](https://www.edgepedia.org/commonwealth-games).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Full name / born | Daniel John \"Dan\" Sherry, born 1946<sup>[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/46024)</sup> |\n| Measurements | 180 cm / 76 kg<sup>[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/46024)</sup> |\n| Club | North York Lions Club, North York, Toronto (CAN)<sup>[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/46024)</sup> |\n| Olympic Games | Tokyo 1964, five events for Canada<sup>[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/46024)</sup> |\n| Best Olympic finish | 8th in the 200 m butterfly final, 2:14.6<sup>[2](https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/timesdocuments/meet-results/olympic-games/1964-olympic-games.pdf)</sup> |\n| Pan American Games | Two bronze medals at São Paulo 1963: 100 m freestyle and 4×100 m medley relay<sup>[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/46024)</sup> |\n| World record | 56.1 seconds, men's 110-yard butterfly, British championships, Blackpool, August 1965<sup>[3](https://digitallibrary.uleth.ca/digital/api/collection/herald2/id/118320/download)</sup> |\n\n## Olympic career, Tokyo 1964\n\nSherry swam five events at the 1964 Summer Olympics, where the swimming program was held at the Kokuritsu Yoyogi Kyogijo in Tokyo from 11 to 18 October<sup>[4](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/16/sports/SWM)</sup>. His individual events were the 100 meter freestyle, in which he tied for 12th, and the 200 meter butterfly, in which he reached the final and placed eighth<sup>[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/46024)</sup>.\n\nThe 200 meter butterfly final was one of the fastest races of the meet. Australian [Kevin Berry](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-berry) won in 2:06.6, breaking his own world record, with [Carl Robie](https://www.edgepedia.org/carl-robie) of the United States second in 2:07.5 and [Fred Schmidt](https://www.edgepedia.org/fred-schmidt) third in 2:09.3; Sherry touched eighth in 2:14.6<sup>[2](https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/timesdocuments/meet-results/olympic-games/1964-olympic-games.pdf)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://www.olympedia.org/results/5710)</sup>. In the heats he had swum 2:12.9 and in the semi-final 2:12.9, advancing fourth in his semi-final<sup>[2](https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/timesdocuments/meet-results/olympic-games/1964-olympic-games.pdf)</sup>.\n\nHe also swam on all three Canadian men's relay teams. Canada placed 11th in the 4 × 100 meter freestyle relay, with Sherry leading off in 56.1 seconds; 9th in the 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay, where the quartet of Ron Jacks, Ralph Hutton, Sherry, and [Sandy Gilchrist](https://www.edgepedia.org/sandy-gilchrist) swam 4:15.5 in the heats; and 10th in the 4 × 100 meter medley relay<sup>[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/46024)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/timesdocuments/meet-results/olympic-games/1964-olympic-games.pdf)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.olympedia.org/countries/CAN/editions/16)</sup>.\n\n## Pan American Games and the 1965 world record\n\nSherry was a member of the Canadian team at the 1963 [Pan American Games](https://www.edgepedia.org/pan-american-games) in São Paulo, listed by Swimming Canada among the men's squad alongside Ed Cazalet, John Gilchrist, Ralph Hutton, John Kelso, and Alowin Meinhardt<sup>[7](https://www.swimming.ca/past-olympic-program-national-teams/)</sup>. There he won two bronze medals, in the 100 m freestyle and the 4×100 m medley relay<sup>[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/46024)</sup>.\n\nHis world record came in August 1965. At the British swimming championships in [Blackpool](https://www.edgepedia.org/blackpool), the 19-year-old high school student from [Hamilton, Ontario](https://www.edgepedia.org/hamilton-ontario) swam 56.1 seconds in the men's 110-yard butterfly, breaking the listed world mark of 58 seconds set by Kevin Berry in Sydney in January 1963<sup>[3](https://digitallibrary.uleth.ca/digital/api/collection/herald2/id/118320/download)</sup>. The record swim followed a dispute with British officials over a warm-up swim: officials had warned swimmers that training at unspecified times would cost them their passes to the championship, and Sherry continued swimming several laps before leaving the water when asked<sup>[3](https://digitallibrary.uleth.ca/digital/api/collection/herald2/id/118320/download)</sup>. Thirty minutes after the record, he returned to win a heat of the 110-yard freestyle in 55.5 seconds, a Canadian record<sup>[3](https://digitallibrary.uleth.ca/digital/api/collection/herald2/id/118320/download)</sup>. Ron Jacks and Tommy Arusoo, both Canadian Olympic swimmers, finished behind him in the butterfly<sup>[3](https://digitallibrary.uleth.ca/digital/api/collection/herald2/id/118320/download)</sup>.\n\n## Context in Canadian swimming\n\nSherry's eighth place in the 1964 Olympic 200 meter butterfly stood for decades as a Canadian benchmark in the event; among Canadian men in the Olympic 200 meter butterfly, only [Tom Ponting](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-ponting)'s fourth place in 1988 and Ilya Kharun's bronze in 2024 rank higher in Olympedia's event listing<sup>[8](https://www.olympedia.org/event_names/578/countries/CAN)</sup>. The 1964 Games themselves were dominated by the United States, which won 13 of 18 swimming gold medals and 29 of 54 available medals<sup>[4](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/16/sports/SWM)</sup>.\n\n## The boxer of the same name\n\nHe retired with a professional record of 22 wins and 6 losses, 10 by knockout, and was named the 1984 Burlington Post Athlete of the Year<sup>[9](https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Dan_Sherry)</sup>.\n\n## References\n\n1. [Olympedia – Dan Sherry](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/46024)\n2. [1964 Olympic Games Results, USA Swimming](https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/timesdocuments/meet-results/olympic-games/1964-olympic-games.pdf)\n3. [The Lethbridge Herald, 13 August 1965 – Sherry Sets World Mark](https://digitallibrary.uleth.ca/digital/api/collection/herald2/id/118320/download)\n4. [Olympedia – Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/16/sports/SWM)\n5. [Olympedia – 200 metres Butterfly, Men](https://www.olympedia.org/results/5710)\n6. [Olympedia – Canada at the 1964 Summer Olympics](https://www.olympedia.org/countries/CAN/editions/16)\n7. [Swimming Canada – Past Olympic Program National Teams](https://www.swimming.ca/past-olympic-program-national-teams/)\n8. [Olympedia – Results for Canada in 200 metres Butterfly, Men](https://www.olympedia.org/event_names/578/countries/CAN)\n9. [Dan Sherry, BoxRec](https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Dan_Sherry)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Individual sports and outdoor recreation › Water sports › Swimmers (biographies and medalists) › Butterfly swimmers › Canadian butterfly swimmers*\n\n*Initially written Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n",
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 "credit": "\"Dan Sherry\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/dan-sherry. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.",
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 "speakable": "Dan Sherry, Canadian swimmer for the North York Lions Club; eighth in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic 200 m butterfly, two 1963 Pan Am bronzes, 1965 110-yard butterfly world record."
}