Carl J. Robie III, 66, Olympic swimming champion

Carl J. Robie III, the Drexel Hill swimmer who rebounded from disappointment in 1964 to capture an Olympic gold medal at the Mexico City Games four years later, died Tuesday of cancer at his home in Sarasota, Fla.

Mr. Robie, 66, had been an attorney, specializing in trust and estate litigation.

A freshman all-American at Michigan, Mr. Robie was a heavy favorite to win gold entering the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo. But after qualifying first in the 400-meter individual medley, he finished fourth in the final.

Then, though he had held the world record in his signature event, the 200 butterfly, for the three previous years, he finished second to American teammate Kevin Berry.

"I choked," Mr. Robie told the Washington Post in 1980. "I had been above the world so long, and by so much, that I hadn't learned to be a competitor. I was just a mechanical superstar. The pressure jumped up and got me."

But, he said, that silver-medal heartache benefited him. And in 1968, when his Suburban Swim Club coach, Frank Keefe, suggested he give the Olympics another shot, Mr. Robie used that loss as motivation.

"It was the best thing that ever happened to me," he told the Post. "They say an athlete dies twice. And it's true that a certain amount of your identity dies when you retire. . . . I just wasn't ready to die as a swimmer."

In Mexico City's thin air, he qualified for the 200 butterfly final with only the fifth-fastest time. But this time, in the final, he triumphed in a time of 2 minutes, 8.7 seconds.

Mr. Robie said he had been ill the night before that race. "I watched [teammate] Don McKenzie drink a quart of tequila the night before, then go out and win the 100-meter butterfly," he said. "He never tasted the water."

Born in Upper Darby, Mr. Robie learned to swim at the Vesper Boat Club, where he was tutored by future Hall of Famer Mary Freeman Kelly Spitzer. He went on to swim for Keefe at Monsignor Bonner High before transferring to Peekskill (N.Y.) Academy.

"Carl was a fun-loving guy," said Chuck Wigo, a Philadelphian and a Peekskill teammate. "But he operated at a different level than everyone else. He really was 'Mr. Cool.' He had an ability to look at things, block out static, and focus on doing what he needed to do."

Mr. Robie graduated early from Peekskill and went on to Michigan. There he continued setting world records in the 200 butterfly and qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in 1964.

After his graduation in 1967, he enrolled at Dickinson College's law school. Though most imagined his competitive days were over, Mr. Robie kept working out by himself at a Carlisle YMCA.

Then Keefe, knowing the swimmer had always done well at high altitudes, suggested he attempt to become an Olympian.

"After qualifying fifth, my family asked me how I felt, with a look of concern on their faces," Mr. Robie recalled years later. "When I told them I was going to win, they looked even more concerned in view of my qualifying performance. When I did [win], it was the happiest moment of my life."

In his career, Mr. Robie, who earned the nickname the "Philadelphia Flyer," captured nine AAU championships, several NCAA titles, led Michigan to a pair of NCAA team championships, and won a gold medal at the 1963 Pan-American Games. He set the 200 butterfly world record four times, including two times on the same day at the national championships in August 1962.

He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1976.

In his later years, Mr. Robie was often critical of swimmers who he felt relied too much on technique and not enough on guts and instincts.

"Swimming has so many robots - so many guys who seem to train every minute that they're awake," he said in 1980. "It seems less human. You lose the clutch performance. Technique and dedication and methodology have taken their place.

"But should they be everything?"

Mr. Robie is survived by his wife of 43 years, Chris; a daughter, Amanda; and a son, C.J.

A Catholic Mass, to be said at St Martha's Catholic Church, 200 Orange Ave., Sarasota, Fla., is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Sarasota YMCA Benefit of Sharks Swim Team in care of Sarasota Sharks Swimming, 1 South School Ave., Suite 302, Sarasota, Fla. 34237 or Tidewell Hospice of Sarasota, 5955 Rand Blvd., Sarasota, Fla. 34238.