Craig Russell Beardsley (born 1960) is an American former competition swimmer who was a world record-holder in the 200-meter butterfly for three years in the early 1980s.

Sports, like music, is one of those great things that bind people together.Beardsley won the gold medal in his signature event, the 200-meter butterfly, at the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

[5] After the United States-led a boycott of the Moscow Olympics, Beardsley continued to train and participate in competitive swimming.

Beardsley was a two-time NCAA champion in the 200-meter butterfly and received eight All-American honors while swimming for the Gators.

Taking advantage of the hard feelings created by the American-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries had pushed for and received Olympic rules changes limiting each country to only two participants in each swimming event.

[6] Beardsley is a veteran celebrity swimmer for Swim Across America (SAA), a charitable organization that raises funds for cancer research.