Josh Watson

Josh Watson (born July 31 1977 in Newcastle, New South Wales) is an Australian backstroke swimmer, who won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Training at the Kingscliff club near the Queensland border, and coached by Greg Salter, Watson became Australian champion in the 50 m backstroke in 1996. However, as it was not an Olympic event, he did not gain national selection until 1997, when he competed at the 1997 FINA Short Course World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. In 1998, he made his international long-course debut at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, where he won a silver medal in the 100 m backstroke and a gold medal in the medley relay. He also won bronze in the 100 m backstroke at the 1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Sydney.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Watson swum the backstroke leg in the heats of the 4 × 100 m medley relay, before being replaced by Matt Welsh in the team that trailed the United States home in the final. Watson was also a finalist in the 100 m backstroke, where he was narrowly beaten into fourth place. Watson continued to be selected in the same role (except for a self-imposed break in 2002) until the 2004 Athens Olympics, when he failed to qualify for the semifinals of the 100 m backstroke. This enabled him to collect a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

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