The American took to the water at twelve, when the peer group in a new neighborhood were all
swimmers. He placed in the meets, but a desire to be better made him decide to swim all year
round. By ninth grade, he was a skinny kid who lacked technique, but he believed he could win. He
found a coach who saw the potential in his angular frame and feel for the water. This combination
set him on a course for a marvelous swimming career that he hopes to continue through to the 2008
Olympics.
Davis doesn't use any secret formula in his plans to continue as an active athlete into his thirties.
`What I do has worked for centuries,' he says. `I have my priorities in order: God, family and then
vocation.' Even with this mindset, he is aware that past Olympic victories won't guarantee him a
spot in his specialty, the 200m freestyle, which is his qualifying hope.
Coach Eddie Reese has witnessed the things that define Davis as an athlete and a person. `He has
great habits outside the pool and is a consistent hard worker. He's very intense. There are only good
things to say about him. He combines physical, mental and spiritual effort with what the coaches
know, and confidence to get where he wants to go.'
Eddie Reese has coached Davis since he joined the University of Texas team in 1990, both in
college and on the national team where Reese serves as an assistant. He has seen him win: six US
national championships, a 1993 Pan-Pacific title in 200m and four golds and a bronze at the World
University Games in 1995. He has also seen Davis qualify in the 1996 Olympic trials and then go
on to win triple titles in the actual Games.
The coach has also seen him lose. Davis had a awesome freshman year at the University of Texas
in swimming, but wanting to see all and do all led to a rebellion against the standards taught by his
parents, Mike and Joan Davis, back in San Antonio. When he should have been resting, he chose to
stay out late partying. At the end of the finals, he was very ill and went home to lay in bed for two
weeks. The illness was never diagnosed and went away, but Josh remembers this as a time when he
reconsidered a lot in his life.
'I did a lot of thinking,' says Davis, remembering feeling very low. 'I said a simple prayer, just
admitting to God that I didn't know what I was doing. I asked him to take control and make me the
kind of man he wanted me to be.'
That was fine for the summer, but friends back on campus expected Josh to continue to be the party
animal. However, his newfound relationship with Jesus Christ was more important.
The guys on the swim team saw basically the same athlete with the killer edge as he worked hard in
the pool. Texas was expected to win a fifth consecutive National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) title in 1992 and Davis competed at the Olympic trials, finding the competition extremely
intense. He came in tenth and his team lost the national title. The next year, he won his first
individual title (200 yard freestyle - scholastic and collegiate meets are measured in yards in the
United States), and was a finalist in the 200 yard individual medley and 200 yard butterfly, after
posting an undefeated dual meet season in collegiate competition.
One of the most exciting races of his college career was in 1994 when Texas won and broke the
400 yard relay record, barely edging ahead to touch out Stanford who had led until the last twentyfive
yards. The time of 2:51.0 was awesome. Before this Josh experienced an upset in his best
event, the 200-yard freestyle. He explains: `It was a time when God was able to teach me some
things. I finished fifth, though I was ranked number one in the nation. God was more concerned
about my character than my aquatic success. It would have been easy to sulk, but I came back and
did a lifetime best on the relay (42.1) by almost a second.'
As an American national team member, Davis represented the US in the Pan American Games and
in Rome in 1994, where he swam with the relay team that set a new meet record of 3:16.9, barely
missing the world record by four-tenths of a second.
Training in 1995 included more yardage and greater intensity. `Coach Reese's philosophy is to do
something harder each year to increase your speed. This approach gave me some of my fastest
times,' says Davis. He won his first national titles at the Spring Nationals in the 200m and 400m,
and swam one of the fastest times in 200m freestyle history (1:48.41) when leading off the US
800m freestyle relay at the World University Games in Fukuoka, Japan. He earned golds in two
other relays and the 400m freestyle, and a bronze in the 100m freestyle. He was named team
captain and chosen to carry the flag for the US delegation.
1995 was also a great year for Davis personally, as he married Shantel Cornelius in May, whom he
had been dating for two years. Shantel made an impression on Josh when she came to Texas to play
volleyball. They wound up spending a lot of time together in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes -
both serving as president - in church activities and in the athletes dining hall.
Josh felt the timing was right, though, as he faced the pressures of the 1996 Olympic trials in March
in Indianapolis. `My marriage was well-established,' says Davis. `I felt making the Olympic team
was a realistic goal and I was ranked first in the 200 free at the time. The adrenaline rush and level
of excitement and the really high stakes are different at the Olympic trials every four years. You get
less than two minutes on one night to prove yourself.'
He qualified with forty-three other swimmers to represent the United States in Atlanta, earning an
individual spot in the 200m freestyle and positions in the 4x100m and 4x200m relay teams. No one
anticipated what this would mean to Davis.
At the Centennial Games, he wound up seventh in his individual specialty (200m), but garnered
more gold medals than any American male in the Games. His 400m medley relay team captured the
gold and broke the world record for the event, while the 400m freestyle team set an Olympic record
with its win. The third medal for Davis came in the 800m freestyle relay.
`Not everyone notices when relays win golds,' Davis observed. `Hardly anyone recognises me in
Austin. However, I was hailed an immediate hero in my hometown, San Antonio.' That's where a
state-of-the-art Josh Davis Aquatic Center honours his accomplishments.
Davis claims that not much has changed since the 1996 Olympics, and that may be true of his
continued focus to be the kind of person who emulates in life what he achieves in the pool. But as a
Christian who also happens to be an ambassador for swimming, opportunities have increased
dramatically for him to travel around the country - to endorse his corporate sponsors, encourage
young swimmers and speak to all types of audiences. He has spoken to over 50,000 youth about
making good decisions and pursuing excellence. To explain the story of the Olympics, he brings
out his hard-won gold medals, often to a standing ovation.
Lay Witnesses for Christ voted Davis the International Christian Athlete of the Year in 1998. This
recognition is only bestowed on those who are recommended by three people and whose life
measures up to one's profession. `There is no question about Josh Davis when it comes to his
personal and spiritual integrity. I'm grateful for how he has spoken out. Josh will continue to grow.
His best days are ahead,' founder Sam Mings says.
Josh and Shantel became parents in 1997. The adjustments to marriage and parenthood have not
been easy for the young, elite athletes. Josh knows his wife understands the hard work and need for
the rigorous training schedule he still maintains at the University of Texas pool. But he is sensitive
to her needs, too, and regards his work as a parent as the hardest, yet most important task he has.
Shantel coached volleyball part-time in the fall of 1998 and has adjusted to being out of athletic
competition for a time. `It's a reality check of where you place your significance,' she says. `It's
been good for me to watch Josh. He separates his sport from his worth. He'd be sad if he couldn't
compete, but not devastated.' Shantel sees possibilities on the horizon to play volleyball again,
maybe on the club level or in Europe, since Josh could train almost anywhere.
Davis feels a particular responsibility to the young people he meets and talks with. The younger
swimmers he trains with notice this in particular. Neil Walker, a fellow University of Texas elite
athlete, admires his incredible work ethic and his model as a husband and father. He says Davis is
always ready to answer questions about swimming or life. A Christian leader in Austin, Dan
Gardner, has observed Davis interacting with various age groups, all successfully. `He is
remarkable in being able to adapt to an audience,' he says.
When asked about what he would have Davis improve, Coach Reese says he could use a little more
strength to help increase speed, so Davis is spending more time in the weight room. And if the
World Cup and US Open meets in College Station, Texas in December 1998 are any indication, it's
working. He won medals in nine events, five of them gold. (Winning the 200m at the Open in a
time of 1:45.24, his best ever.)
At home, Shantel will continue to encourage and support her husband. `I've never seen a person
who is always the same. Josh doesn't see race, age, gender or religion as something to make a
judgment about. As his wife, I can see his weaknesses, but they are gradually being tackled like
every other aspect of his life.'
Davis is sure that God is in control of his success, but it is not his primary concern. `As a child of
God, I recognise God won't give me a platform I'm not ready to handle. Character is more
important than success. Whatever he gives me, I will use for his glory, because I know it can all be
taken away in the blink of an eye.'
Josh Davis
