Author: Meg Keller-Marvin

World Aquatics is excited to announce today that Fort Lauderdale, USA, will host the World Aquatics High Diving World Cup on 26-27 May 2023.

Written by:Torin Koos, World Aquatics Communication Manager / Shared from World Aquatics.com

The World Aquatics High Diving World Cup will see the world’s best high divers compete in the state-of-the-art Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center, following its recent USD 47 million in renovations. The venue, which boasts one of the highest diving platforms in the world, is a premier destination for global competitive swimming and diving, having hosted thousands of meets since its opening in 1965.

World Aquatics is committed to presenting exciting and engaging opportunities for all our athletes across all disciplines and today is no differentBy World Aquatics President, Captain Husain Al Musallam

“The Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center is the perfect setting for the world’s best high diving stars, the spectacular views of the Fort Lauderdale coastline will be enjoyed by the athletes and spectators alike.”

 Image Source: John Parra/Getty Images

“We are very proud to have the opportunity to host the world’s high diving stars in Fort Lauderdale,” said President of USA Diving Lee Michaud. “I have no doubt the world-class facilities and breathtaking location will provide the perfect environment for the divers to perform at their best.”

 Image Source: John Parra/Getty Images

The World Aquatics High Diving World Cup, the first international high diving event since the inaugural Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival 2021, will see men and women compete in the 27m and 20m events respectively. The event is open to all National Federations. Athletes who have not been to a World Aquatics High Diving event or the Reb Bull Cliff Diving World Series before are encouraged to submit videos of their dives for consideration. 

 Image Source: Nikon / Barcelona 2013

Global Event Before the World Aquatics Championships 

Following the sport’s 2013 world championships debut in Barcelona, high diving will once again be featured at the upcoming World Aquatics Championships – Fukuoka 2023. 24 male and 24 female divers, with a maximum of 3 per gender from each country, will qualify for the upcoming World Aquatics Championships in Japan, making this a global first for equal athlete representation in an international high diving competition.

“I couldn’t be more excited about today’s announcement. Having a global competition is a perfect lead-in to the upcoming World Aquatics Championships and ensures the most fairway for athletes to qualify for Fukuoka,” said 2013 world high diving champion and current World Aquatics High Diving Chair Orlando Duque. “Having Fort Lauderdale step up and host this top event is a high recognition for how we are developing this sport and give athletes an ideal opportunity to compete.”  

Legends Look back | American swimmer and diver Aileen Riggin

Written by: Meg Keller-Marvin

Aileen Riggin was born to be something special.

The daughter of a U.S. Navy Paymaster, the Riggin family moved around.  She was born in  Newport, Rhode Island, learned to swim in Manila Bay in the Philippines when she was six, and at age 11, she became a Charter Member of the famed Women’s Swimming Association (WSA) in New York, where her family was now living. 

Her first coach was 1904 double gold medalist and Hall of Famer, Louis de B. Handley of the New York Athletic Club. She took up diving in 1919 at 13, and her prior ballet training at the Metropolitan Opera School of Ballet helped with her form at diving. At that time in America, women did not have anywhere to practice, so Aileen had to create places to dive, including tidepools near her home.

She became the youngest U.S. Olympic champion, the tiniest anywhere Olympic Champion and the first women’s Olympic springboard diving champion.  All these honours were won at the Antwerp 1920 Olympic Games by Riggin, just as she had passed her 14th birthday. 

 Image Source: Scene from the Opening Ceremony of the Antwerp 1920 Olympic Games where Aileen Riggin competed (Getty Images)

The question, after a fourteen-year-old does something this monumental becomes, “But what can she possibly do as an encore?”

She did it. 

At the Paris 1924 Olympic Games, Riggin was and is the only woman in Olympic history to win medals in both diving and swimming by taking home the silver in the 3m springboard and bronze in the 100m backstroke.   

 Image Source: Aileen Riggin (left) with Paris 1924 Olympic swimming teammates Gertrude Ederle and Helen Wainwright (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-B2-1234])

She was the high-point woman (swimming and diving) in the U.S. National AAU Championships, won three outdoor and one indoor national springboard titles, was part of two national 800-meter and 400-yard freestyle relay team winners for W.S.A., with the New York Club that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017, with Riggin, a 1917 Charter Member. 

Her relay teammates were Hall of Famers, Gertrude Ederle, Helen Wainwright, Charlotte Boyle, Sybil Bauer, and another great diver/swimmer Helen Meany. Two other great relay teammates that are not Hall of Famers are Ethel McGary and Doris O’Mara.

The diving competitions at the Antwerp 1920 Olympics were held outdoors in a moat filled with cold, muddy water. The stress of competing was the least of Riggin’s worries. As she explained, “I had another mental block. It was about sticking in the mud at the bottom….I kept thinking, the water is black and nobody could find me if I really got stuck down there. And if I were coming down with force, I might go up to my elbows and I’d be stuck permanently, and nobody would miss me and I’d die a horrible drowning death.”By Aileen Riggin

She made her first underwater and the first slow-motion swimming and diving films for famed producer and writer Grantland Rice in 1922 and 1923.

If no woman started earlier as an amateur champion, certainly no woman pro stayed on the top longer.  Aileen Riggin turned pro in 1926, played the Hippodrome for three weeks, and toured with Gertrude Ederle six months after her famous English Channel Swim. 

She toured the world in 1930, including the Swedish World’s Fair, worked steadily, including many Hollywood pictures. Riggin helped interview, organize and coach Billy Rose’s first Aquacade in which she also starred, at the 1937 Cleveland Exposition.  Her articles on her adventures appeared in Colliers, Good Housekeeping and other national magazines.

 Image Source: The two youngest competitors at the Antwerp 1920 Olympics – USA’s Aileen Riggin, and Sweden’s Nils Skoglund, who was just 13 years old when he gained a Silver medal in the now discontinued Plain High Diving (Public Domain)

Aileen eventually retired, married twice and had a family.  Her first husband was killed in WWII.  With her second husband, Howard Soule, she moved to Honolulu where she lived for almost 50 years.

Later in life, Aileen was one of the most popular and sought-after Olympians and Celebrities in swimming in the U.S. and particularly in Hawaii, where she lived with her husband. 

She was Team USA’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremonies for the Los Angeles 1984 Games.

When the Olympics came back to the U.S. for the Atlanta 1996 Games, Riggin was given the honour of being invited to speak to Team USA prior to the start of the Games.

 Image Source: Lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the 1984 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (David Madison/Getty Images)

Aileen continued to swim for recreation, health and because she enjoyed it.  She even swam and competed in Master Swimming.  At the age of 85, she broke six world records in her age group, in the freestyle and backstroke events, and by the time she upped to the next age group she broke five more world records.

With the turn to the new century, Riggin was celebrated as the nation’s oldest living Olympic female gold medalist and she was the only surviving Champion of the 1920 Games. She passed away peacefully in 2002 in Honolulu and will always be remembered as a pioneer in women’s sports.

Stu Marvin retires after 15 years as Head Coach at Bloomsburg University; his second career after 20 years as Aquatic Complex Manager at Hall of Fame Pool

Stu Marvin who was the Hall of Fame Pool / Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex Manager and friend to ISHOF for almost 20 years, who hosted virtually every aquatic sports and every aquatic event including YMCA Nationals, USA Swimming Summer Nationals, International Age Group Meet, U.S. Masters National Championships, Synchronized Swimming’s America’s Cup V International Championships, and FINA’s Diving Grand Prix, has retired for the second time. Marvin left the Hall of Fame Aquatic Center in 2004 in the very capable hands of Laura Voet and went on to pursue a second career in coaching. In 2008, he took the job at his alma mater, Bloomsburg University, moved his family North, and began a new career. (Read the story below) Marvin made just as large an impact in Bloomsburg as he did here in Fort Lauderdale! Congratulations of your second retirement Stu!

The Dream Team ~ Stu Marvin, Mark Voet, Laura Hatfield Voet (early 1990’s)

End of an Era: Stu Marvin Announces Retirement From Bloomsburg University

Men’s Swimming | 3/23/2023 7:30:00 PM

By: Mary Raskob, Director of Athletic Communications & Marketing

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – After 15 years at the helm of the Bloomsburg men’s and women’s swimming teams, head coach Stu Marvin has announced his retirement, effective June 2.

Coach Marvin will no doubt leave behind a legacy of excellence. 

“I would like to congratulate long time Bloomsburg swimming coach Stu Marvin on his retirement following fifteen years at the helm of the BU swimming program,” remarked President Dr. Bashar Hanna. “Thank you to Coach Marvin for his dedication to our students and their success. The entire BU family wishes him the best in retirement.”For Marvin, the dream continued in large part where it started – at Bloomsburg, as the former Huskie student-athlete took the program to new heights as a coach.

“I want to thank former Director of Athletics, Mary Gardner, for giving me the chance to lead these programs in 2008,” remarked Coach Marvin. “It’s been a dream come true to do this – to coach the team that you swam for.”“Coach Marvin has provided outstanding leadership to our swim athletes,” said Dr. Diana Rogers-Adkinson, Senior Vice President and Provost. “His enthusiasm and commitment to our students will be greatly missed.”Marvin recently concluded his 15th season on the deck with the swimming teams after a prolific four-year career in the pool with the Huskies. During his time as coach, the women’s team achieved a .650 winning percentage in dual meets while the men posted a .613 winning percentage. They have a combined thirteen runner-up finishes at the PSAC Championships and finished as high as 15th at the NCAA Championships.As a swimmer, Marvin was an 11-time All-American performer in swimming, in addition to winning six Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference titles. He became the university’s first triple All-American award winner in 1975 and equaled that effort in 1977. He was a two-time Danny Litwhiler Underclass Athlete of the Year and was the Robert Redman Award winner as a senior in 1978. He was inducted into the Bloomsburg Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990.In addition to the Bloomsburg Hall of Fame, Marvin was inducted into the Pennsylvania Swimming Hall of Fame, Broward County Florida Sports Hall of Fame, Upper Dublin High School Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Florida Gold Coast Masters Hall of Fame.“It has been a pleasure to watch both teams return to the top of the PSAC,” continued Coach Marvin. “Sharing my enthusiasm and 50+ years of experience in competitive swimming has been very rewarding”.

Under his guidance, the Huskies have produced 41 PSAC champions, 109 PSAC All-Conference awards, eight PSAC all-time records and six PSAC meet records – five for the men and one for the women. Marvin won a PSAC title with the men’s team for the first time in program history in 2021 and completed the first undefeated season for the Huskies in 2017.The Huskies earned numerous PSAC postseason major awards over the last 15 years. Marvin was named the PSAC Coach of the Year six times while he guided six swimmers to PSAC Swimmer of the Year, Swimmer of the Meet, and Freshman Swimmer of the Year honors. His Huskies have earned a pair of PSAC Sportsmanship awards and produced one PSAC Champion Scholar.In the last 15 years, Marvin led eight student-athletes to Danny Litwhiler Underclass Athlete of the Year honors, six to Robert Redman Senior Athlete honors, four Joanne McComb Underclass Athlete of the Year honors, and four Eleanor Wray Senior Athlete honors. He has guided two individuals to Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year awards as well at Bloomsburg.As a team, the Huskies have made 10 NCAA Championships appearances which led to 19 individual All-Americans, earning 66 All-American honors under Marvin and 16 Scholar All-Americans between the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) and College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The Huskies earned six All-American Scholar Team awards as well under Coach Marvin.“On behalf of the entire Bloomsburg University community, I thank Coach Stu Marvin, and his family, for the many years of hard work and dedication he has put into continuing the success of our men’s and women’s swimming teams and upholding the tradition of excellence here at Bloomsburg as both coach and former Hall of Fame athlete,” said Dr. Michael McFarland, Director of Athletics. “Coach has made a positive impact on the lives of his swimmers and prepared them for the next chapter in their careers. He will certainly be missed.”“My wife Meg is an avid international traveler and now I will be able to join her on her many adventures,” concluded Coach Marvin. “I cannot wait to share these countless explorations all over the world!”

Look who visited ISHOF in March 2023

USA High Diver Ellie Smart is currently living and training in Fort Lauderdale at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center. She will be here training with the Ft. Lauderdale High Diving Team and World Champion Steven LoBue until the season begins in very early June. She recently came over to see the ISHOF Museum and had a great time clowning around a bit with some fellow aquatic stars! Seen here with Janet Evans and Don Schollander….. Of course, anyone who knows Esther Williams knows she had to get in the picture! That’s movie stars for you!

Welcome to Fort Lauderdale Ellie!!!

Another Olympian Visits ISHOF

Slovakian Olympian Martina Moravcova

5-time Olympian, Martina Moravcova, of Slovenia visited the ISHOF museum on a recent trip to South Florida. Here she is posing next to a photo of herself in an Olympic display in the museum. Martina won two silver medals in the 2000 Sydney Games. One in the 100 Butterfly and the other in the 200 Freestyle.

Remember, if you are in town, stop by and say hello. Our back museum is gone now but we are still in the front building with the all the Honoree panels and some displays to look at. The gift shop is open downstairs as well. We’d love to see you!

Water Polo Royalty drops in for a visit! Meet Jimmy Smith’s grandson!

On March 9, 2023, the grandson of ISHOF’s 1992’s Honor Contributor (Water Polo), Jimmy Smith stopped in to check out his Grandfathers display. Brent and Anne Smith were in South Florida and made a trip over to the Hall of Fame to see Jimmy’s display and to go through his file of water polo gems.

Jimmy was a pioneer in the sport, read his 1992 induction bio here:

The information on this page was written the year of their induction.

FOR THE RECORD: Father of modern water polo; Designer of modern water polo ball; 1955 PAN AMERICAN GAMES Coach; Author of first water polo textbook, 1936.

Jimmy Smith, father of modern water polo, knew more rules and history of the sport than anyone before or after him.  Smith introduced and wrote them, developing many of the modern rules which are used in competition today, including the use of the yellow rubberized ball adopted by FINA in 1956.

A native of Oakland, California, Jimmy began his athletic career at the University of Southern California in 1924.  Elected team captain of both the swimming and water polo teams, Smith earned an undergraduate degree in Business (1928) and a Masters degree in Education (1935).

Smith used his athletic experience to begin his professional career as a swimming and water polo coach and collegiate athletic director.  For over thirty years, Smith served as the athletic director of Fullerton Junior College and Fullerton High School.  His water polo and swimming teams amassed 164 team championships, including  five national, five AAU, and six California State Championship titles.  Internationally, Smith coached the United States Pan American Water Polo Team in 1955 at the second Pan American Games in Mexico City.

Smith was a mentor to many of America’s top coaches, including Hall of Famer Monte Nitzkowski, United States National and Olympic team water polo coach.  “He was the man who launched my career,” said Nitzkowski.  “It was Jimmy’s guidance, leadership, and undying love for the sport that inspired me.”

Smith authored several works on water polo mechanics and coaching.  His first book, Playing and Coaching Water Polo, published in 1936 and revised in 1948, was the world’s first complete textbook on the sport.  Smith also produced and edited The World Encyclopedia of Water Polo, published in 1989.  A member of the 1948 and 1952 United States Olympic Water Polo Committees, Smith was elected to the United States Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1976, and in 1985 received the highest honor in the United States Water Polo, the Peter Uebberoth Award, for his contributions to water polo.

Smith was an innovator and his creation of the modern day water polo ball was instrumental in the development of the above-the-water, faster-moving, ball-controlled game.  From the 1912 Olympics, the leather soccer ball absorbed water and became extremely heavy, slippery and out-of-control when wet.  Following the 1936 Olympic in Berlin, Jimmy developed a ball made with a cotton bladder, which later changed to nylon to improve performance, with a rubber fabric cover.  The new ball was red, but by 1948 yellow was adopted for better visibility.  It became an official Olympic ball in 1956, greatly increasing spectator interest.

Jimmy Smith is honored for his achievements, friendships, and trail-blazing accomplishments in the sport of water polo.  As competitor, coach, and author, water polo was his life.

M4Sport Water Polo Magazine of Hungary visits ISHOF during the TYR Grand Prix, March 7-8, 2023

Bruce Wigo, ISHOF Curator speaking to M4Sport’s Water Polo Magazine

Hungary’s M4Sport’s Water Polo Magazine was in Fort Lauderdale visiting ISHOF, doing a story on the water polo Honorees that have been inducted into ISHOF through the years. They interviewed Bruce Wigo, who told stories about the Honorees, including Tamas Fargo, who visited ISHOF and Fort Lauderdale in 1993, at his induction. Here is the story they showed in Hungary and the infomration that went with it.

Az M4Sport Vízilabda Magazinjának március 9-i adása.

Az ISHOF, azaz az Úszó Hírességek Csarnoka Fort Lauderdale-ben, Floridában található, amelyben 41 magyar úszót és vízilabdázót iktattak be. Az Egyesült Államok egyik legnagyobb vízilabda szakértőjével, Bruce Wigo-val készített a stáb interjút.

March 9 broadcast of M4Sport’s Water Polo Magazine.

The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF), is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in which 41 Hungarian swimmers and water polo players have been inducted. M4Sport’s crew interviewed one of the biggest water polo experts in the United States, Mr. Bruce Wigo, former Executive Director of USA Water Polo and President of the ISHOF.

ISHOF 1992 Honor Swimmer, Shiro Hashizume, Japan’s oldest living Olympic medalist dies at age 94

ISHOF Honoree, Shiro Hashizume, who up until his death on March 9, 2023, was Japan’s oldest living Olympic medalist.

Born in 1928, Shiro Hashizume of Japan should have been at his peak for the 1948 Olympics in London, but Japan was not yet permitted back into the Olympic Family of Nations following the end of World War II.  Shiro had to settle for breaking the world record at a time when he may also have won the Olympic Gold medal.  At the time the world assembled in London for the fifteenth Olympiad, Japan held its own national championships of Olympic events.  Hashizume swam the 1500-meter freestyle in 18 minutes, 37.8 seconds, faster than Jimmy McLane’s 19 minutes, 18.5 seconds gold medal swim halfway around the world in London.

Hashizume and Hall of Famer Hironoshin Furuhashi flip-flopped world records in the 1500-meter and 800-meter freestyles for the next three years.  In 1949 at the American Swimming Championships held in Los Angeles, Hashizume set world records in the 800-meter freestyle (9 minutes, 45 seconds) and the 1500-meter freestyle (18 minutes, 32.6 seconds).

In the preliminary heat of the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Hashizume established a new Olympic record of 18 minutes, 41 seconds to win the silver medal in the 1500-meter freestyle behind the USA’s Ford Konno.

More recently, in 1987, Hashizume, a 1951 graduate from Nihon University Faculty of Law, was awarded Japan’s prestigious Order of the Purple Ribbon “Shiju Hosho,” an order for a person meritorious in the field of art and science.  He was a member of the Board of Education in Yokohama City and Managing Director of the Hashizume Swimming School.

He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1992.

Speaking of National Women’s Month: Tomorrow, ISHOF friend and supporter, Marcia Cleveland begins her swim of the Cook Strait in New Zealand

UPDATE: Marcia swam the Cook Strait in 11 hours 54 minutes and 1 second

ISHOF friend, long-time supporter, and open water swimmer, Marcia Cleveland, of Wilmette, Illinois, is attempting to swim the famed Cook Strait, down under in New Zealand. Read her story here:

Greetings from Wellington, New Zealand!

Mother Nature and God-willing, tomorrow I will begin my swim of the Cook Strait around 7am NZ time – starting from the North Island.

The time difference between Chicago/Mexico City and Wellington, New Zealand is -6 hours but it’s tomorrow. If it’s Noon on Monday in Chicago, it’s 6am on Tuesday in NZ.

Cook Strait separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand, connecting the Tasman Sea with the South Pacific Ocean.

My tracking link is https://maps.findmespot.com/s/0SFW/WK

When the swim has begun, you will (hopefully) be able to see our progress.

Please feel free to share this information with others.

Despite a boatload of unknowns, these are the questions I can answer:

* The length of this swim is approximately 18 miles (29 km.)

* The water temperature ranges between the high 50°Fs to low 60°Fs (15°-18°C.)

* On the day of the swim, Mother Nature will decide which direction I will swim: North to South or South to North.

* The major factors are strong currents, strong winds, and unpredictable weather.

* My crew, Julia Green & Lee Harkleroad, will accompany me in an escort boat.

* During the swim, I will be thrown bottles of nutritional drinks from the boat approximately every 45 minutes. Each ~8 ounce (~250 cc) drink will be consumed in less than a minute, then I’m back at it.

* According to Channel Rules, I will wear a regular Speedo swimsuit, a bathing cap, goggles, and sunscreen. I will also wear Desitin at my chaffing points (neck and suit lines) and Sunscreen. I can be handed things, such as a feeding bottle but I can’t touch anything or anyone since that would be considered receiving “assistance.”

* To prepare for this crossing, I have swum 35,000 yards (32K) a week since October; plus a program of calisthenics, stretching, and weight lifting. 

* It took me 4 ½ years to get this opportunity.

If you want to know more about this swim and/or my swims, please visit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cook_Strait

https://longswims.com/events/cook-strait/                https://longswims.com/p/marcia-cleveland/

Let’s all wish Marcia GOOD LUCK and CHEER HER ON!

ISHOF and the world of diving loses one of the greats: Pat Keller McCormick (May 12, 1930 – March 7, 2023)

Pat Keller McCormick was the first diver inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, into its inaugural class of 1965.  She was the first diver, male or female, to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals on both boards in consecutive Olympic Games.  She was champion in 1952 and 1956 on both the 3-meter springboard and the 10-meter platform ~ A feat that has still only happened one other time, when Greg repeated it in 1984 and 1988.

Pat McCormick was born in Seal Beach, California, where she lived most of her life. She began by diving off bridges in Long Beach, but eventually moved on to the Los Angeles Athletic Club, where she became friends with diving stars, Sammy Lee, and Vicki Draves, who helped and encouraged her.

After taking a surprising second at the 1947 National Platform event, Pat headed to Detroit to compete in the 1948 Olympic Game Tryouts.  She missed the team by less than one point. It was a turning point for Pat.

In 1949, she married Glenn McCormick who not only became her husband, but also her coach. In 1949, she won the National Platform Event, in San Antonio, Texas, her first big meet. The following year, she shocked everyone by not only defending her title on the platform, but also by winning both springboard events: the 1 and 3-meter.  The very next year, in 1951, she scored an all-time first in diving.  She won all five national titles for women in the same year:  two indoor and three outdoor.

That same year, Pat competed at her first international competition at the Pan American Games, hosted in Buenos Aries.  She won the gold medal on the platform and the silver medal on the springboard.  In 1952, she finally qualified for the Olympic team and did not disappoint.  She won gold medals in both women’s events, the springboard and platform, competing in Helsinki, Finland.

Pat continued dominating the sport of diving for the next four years, winning a total of 27 national championships, as well as the gold medals at the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City on the springboard and platform.

In her second Olympic Games, in Melbourne, Australia, McCormick successfully defended her crown on both the 3-meter springboard and the 10-meter platform, becoming the only person, man or woman in diving history to score a “double-double” in Olympic competition. It was that feat that led the Swimming Hall of Fame’s 52 coach nominating committee to pick McCormick as the world’s premier woman diver, the first to be selected for induction into the Hall of Fame.

1964 Olympian gold medalist and friend, Micki King said of Pat, “ she opened the door for women athletes.”  Olympic Diver and longtime friend, Tom Gompf, who helped Pat in later life said ”Pat spent her life supporting the Olympic movement, especially during the ’84 Games when they came to her hometown.”

Pat McCormick ~ 1956 Sullivan Award Winner

In addition to being inducted into ISHOF, Pat McCormick has also been inducted into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum.  She won the 1956 Sullivan Award, the Babe Zaharia’s Woman Athlete of the Year, Helm’s Hall North American Athlete of the Year, Thurman Munson Award and the Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year ~ just to name a few.

Pat passed away March 7, in an assisted living home in Orange County, California.  She was 92 years old. She leaves behind a daughter, 1984 Olympic silver and 1988 bronze medalist, ISHOF Honoree, Kelly McCormick Robertson and son, Tim McCormick. Pat will also be missed by her many friends in her community of Seal Beach.

ISHOF and Marathon Swimming World suffers a great loss: Greta Anderson ~ May 1, 1927 – February 6, 2023

By: Bruce Wigo, ISHOF Historian

On February 6, 2023, the world of swimming lost a long-time ambassador, in 96-year-old, Greta Andersen.  One of the greatest swimmers of all time, Greta Andersen burst onto the world’s stage when she won the gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle at the 1948 London Olympics. When she returned home to Copenhagen Denmark, she was a national hero.

Greta Andersen wins gold, 1948 Olympic Games – 100m freestyle ~ Ann Curtis (USA): silver; Marie Louise Lissen Vaessen (NED): bronze

After moving from her native Denmark to Long Beach, California, in 1953, she found she needed to make a living. She met Tom Park, a record setting Catalina Channel swimmer, who convinced her she had what it took to be a successful marathon swimmer.

In 1956 Greta won the first of seven Around Atlantic City Marathons swims. She then won the 50-mile Lake Michigan race from Chicago to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Greta finished 10 miles ahead of her nearest competitor and captured the $25,000 first place prize money. The next year she entered her first Sir Billy Butlin Cross English Channel Marathon race. She won again in 1958 and after her third swim, in 1959, Sir Billy gave her the perpetual trophy.

Greta accepting the English Channel Trophy

During her career, Greta broke 18 world marathon records. She was the first woman to complete five crossings of the English Channel – set speed records in both directions – and the first person to swim the Santa Catalina Channel both ways … nonstop, a feat that took almost 27 hours! She earned first, second, or third place in every event competing with men head-to-head and never lost to another woman. She was the largest money winner in women’s professional swimming history.

Confident, personable, and talented, she made quite a splash on the pool deck when she opened the Greta Andersen Swim School in 1960 and has devoted her life teaching children how to be water-safe and confident swimmers. “Teaching toddlers to be unafraid of water,” she says, “and introducing them to the fun of swimming, has been her fondest ambition since earning her degree in physical education in Denmark in the 1940s.

Original Greta Anderson display in 1969 at ISHOF Museum in Fort Lauderdale

For her life in swimming as Olympic Champion, World Professional Marathon Champion, multiple world record holder from one-hundred yard to fifty miles, businesswoman, teacher and inspiration to men and women around the world.  She was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1964 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Swimmer in 1967, and in 2015, the International Swimming Hall of Fame honored her with the Lifetime Achievement Award

Greta receives ISHOF Lifetime Achievement Award with ISHOF CEO, Bruce Wigo

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