Although he was an age-group swimming champion before he was ten, Gaines gave it up for other sports, including baseball, basketball, and football, and didn't resume competitive swimming until his junior year in high school...>>> Book for Rowdy Gaines Your Event

At Auburn University, Gaines won NCAA championships in the 50-yard freestyle in 1979 and in both the 100- and 200-yard freestyles in 1980 and 1981. He was the AAU long-course champion at 100 meters from 1979 through 1983 and at 200 meters from 1979 through 1982, and he won short-course championships in the 100- and 200-yard freestyles in 1980 and 1982.

Gaines was considered likely to win medals in both freestyle sprints and in one or more relays at the 1980 Olympics, but the U. S. boycotted the Moscow games that year because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. In 1984, he finished second in the 100-meter freestyle and only seventh in the 200-meter at the U. S. Olympic trials. However, he won three gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics, in the 100-meter and as a member of the winning 4 by 100-meter freestyle and 4 by 100-meter medley relay teams.

Gaines set world records of 49.36 seconds in the 100-meter in 1981 and 1:49.93 in the 200-meter event in 1982. He won the 100-meter freestyle at the Pan-American Games in 1979 and 1983 and was a member of both winning freestyle relay teams in 1979.

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