Background
Geoff Gaberino was born in Dallas, Texas in 1962.
Geoff Gaberino was born in Dallas, Texas in 1962.
Gaberino attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he swam for coach Randy Reese"s Florida Gators swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (National Collegiate Athletic Association) competition from 1981 to 1984.
He was a standout swimmer at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and led the team to an Eastern Preparatory School Championship in 1980. Gaberino graduated from Florida with his bachelor"s degree in 1984 and his master"s degree in business administration in 1988. Gaberino qualified to represent the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Los Angeles
He earned a gold medal by swimming for the winning United States. team in the preliminary heats of the men"s 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
The American team of David Larson, Bruce Hayes and Richard Saeger set a new world record in the Olympic preliminary heat (7:1887), only for the Americans to break the record again in the event final later on the same day. Gaberino has been inducted into the Tennessee Swimming Hall of Fame, Chattanooga Sport Hall of Fame, Baylor School Sport Hall of Fame, and the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1996.
He has served on The Waterway Commission in addition to coaching youth baseball and serving as a Boy Scout leader. Gaberino is also a veteran celebrity swimmer for Swim Across America, a charitable organization that uses former Olympians to raise funds for cancer research, in which he has participated for the past decade.
His role in the "Olympic Day in the Middle School" program earned him the honor of being asked in the 1996 Olympics opening ceremony to be one of the eight bearers of the Olympic flag at the beginning of the games.
Men"s 4×200-meter medley relay.
Gaberino serves on an Alabama City of Excellence (American Council on Exercise) Economic Development Committee, and is a board member of The Academy of Arts & Sciences.