Tom Wilkens
American swimmer, Olympic bronze medalist, world champion

Thomas Peter Wilkens (born November 25, 1975) is an American former competitive swimmer who competed for Stanford University and was a 2000 Sydney Olympic bronze medalist in the men's 200-meter individual medley. After retiring from swimming around 2004, he had a career in insurance with AIG and McGowan Insurance, and served as a Middletown Township committee member in his hometown. He coached swimming with Greater Monmouth County's YMCA beginning in 2016, and later at Fordham University beginning in 2023.
Early life and swimming
Wilkens was born November 25, 1975, in Middletown Township, New Jersey to father Peter, a Viet Nam veteran, and mother Laney Wilkens. Growing up in Middletown Township, he began swimming around eight, training and competing first at the Middletown Swim and Tennis Club, and later for the nearby Red Bank YMCA, where he was coached by Mark Riker. In YMCA competition, he was a three-time national champion.
Christian Brothers Academy
Graduating in 1994, he attended Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) in Lincroft, New Jersey, near his native Middletown Township. Representing the Christian Brothers Colts, Wilkens swam for Coach Mike Sullivan and gained recognition as one of the top high school swimmers in New Jersey. Consistently dominant in their region, the CBA Colts swim team won the Shore Conference Championship all four years of Wilkens's tenure with the team and continued winning the regional meet in consecutive years through 2020. Wilkens began swimming with the CBA team from their inaugural year in 1991 through 1994, earning All-American honors and state titles.
“Tom Wilkens” enters the record as american swimmer, Olympic bronze medalist, world champion. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Wilkens, American and swimmer can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Tom Wilkens” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Wilkens, American and swimmer provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2270670. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1975, 2000, 2004 and 2016.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tom Wilkens”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tom Wilkens primary sources, Tom Wilkens archive and Wilkens research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tom Wilkens”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tom Wilkens” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.