Passages: Hall of Fame Coach Nort Thornton Dies after Battle With Heart Condition
by ANDY ROSS
22 April 2021, 09:54am
Hall of Fame coach Nort Thornton passed away Thursday morning in California after being hospitalized in March with a heart condition. His son, Marc, wrote in a public Facebook group:
Hello “Nort’s” extended family. I am sad to notify you that Dad passed away at 8 AM this morning. The good news is that he passed peacefully. We are in the process of grieving and planning. I will continue to update this group. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers truly inspiring!! Go Bears (and Go Owls from those of you from the Foothill days)
Nort Thornton while at Cal. Photo Courtesy: ISHOF Archives
Thornton coached at Cal Berkeley from 1974 to his official retirement in 2007 where he won two national titles in back to back years in 1979 and 1980. He also served as a coach for the United States’ 1992 Olympic team which was littered with current and former Cal swimmers Matt Biondi, Scott Jaffe, Ron Karnaugh, Sean Killion, Roque Santos and Joel Thomas. Thornton also coached many individual Olympic medalists in his career including backstroker Peter Rocca (USA); freestylers: Pelle Holmertz, Bengt Baron, Par Arvidsson, and Thomas Lejdstrom, (Sweden); and Graham Smith of Canada. Later in his Cal career after his Hall of Fame induction, he coached Anthony Ervin to shared gold in the 50 freestyle in 2000, and nearly repeated that feat with Croatia’s Duje Draganja grabbing silver in 2004.
Nort Thornton was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Coach in 1995.
Thornton started his Cal career during the 1974-75 season. For 28 of the 33 years he coached the Bears, Thornton’s teams finished ranked in the top 10 in the national polls. The veteran coach was named National Coach of the Year twice and was the Pac-10 Coach of the Year four times, most recently in 1999.
Photo Courtesy: ISHOF Archives
Nort Thornton also helped Cal become a national powerhouse in men’s swimming as the school’s first national champion came during his tenure in 1977 with Graham Smith winning the NCAA titles in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke. A year later, the program had its first relay NCAA title with Peter Rocca, Smith, Par Arvidsson and Jim Fairbank winning the 400 medley relay in 1978.
On the international scene, the Cal men had only one Olympic medalist in program history before Thornton stepped on the deck – a silver from Ludy Langer in the 400 free in 1920. Peter Rocca won double silver in the 100 and 200 back while swimming for Thornton in 1976 as Sweden’s Bengt Baron and Par Arvidsson became Cal’s first Olympic gold medalists in men’s swimming by winning the 100 back and 100 fly respectively at the Moscow Games in 1980.
Thornton was also key in helping bring current Cal men’s coach and 2020 Olympic head coach Dave Durden to Berkeley to continue the Golden Bear tradition of excellence.
“Nort has been fantastic in helping me get up to speed with our athletes, the traditions at Cal, and the campus,” said Durden at the beginning of the 2007-08 season. “I always leave each day with a nugget of information from Nort, whether through a technical aspect of swimming or the psychological make-up of developing a team. His presence on the deck in working with the guys is tremendously appreciated.”
Before Cal Berkeley, Nort Thornton began coaching at Los Altos High School in California where his team broke thirteen out of twenty national records. At Foothill Junior College, he built the school into the top junior college program in the nation.
“I’m saddened by the loss of Nort Thornton, a legend who impacted our program, our Cal community and the sport of swimming as a whole in so many tremendous ways. Nort will be remembered as one of our sport’s greatest coaches, but his legacy extends much further than the accolades he received throughout his career. He was a passionate leader who made a difference in the lives of everyone who spent time with him on the pool deck. Nort will be greatly missed, and I join all members of our Cal community in sending condolences and prayers to his family.” – Cal Men’s Swimming & Diving Head Coach David Durden
Bob Steele Joins ISHOF’s One in a Thousand Campaign As One of Swimming’s Long-Time Contributors
by ANDY ROSS
20 April 2021, 09:00am
Bob Steele, who is known as one of swimming’s great motivational speakers, has joined the One in a Thousand Campaign, designed to help the Hall of Fame prosper during the COVID pandemic.
“The Hall of Fame has been a favorite since the 50’s when Buck Dawson was there. When I was a swimmer, we trained in Fort Lauderdale and we used the old Casino Pool, which just had ocean water in it. It was old school.”
Steele had first swum down in Fort Lauderdale in January 1958 with coach Rob Casey when he was a freshman at Southern Illinois University. Steele has since contributed about eight paintings to the Swimming Hall of Fame that were on display in the museum over the years and was “on a first name basis” with ISHOF CEO Buck Dawson.
“We always used the Fort Lauderdale Casino Pool for training during Christmas time and the thing that made Christmas training in Fort Lauderdale so good was sub-standard housing. In my coaching, we trained in Fort Lauderdale probably 10 or 15 times. We could spend money elsewhere and enjoy the sunshine.”
Bob Steele has been out of coaching for a couple of decades, but is looking forward to the grand opening of the new facility when it is finished.
“I’ve been to the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies three or four times. When Sam Freas was the director, he had me come down and I had a certificate for training at the Hall of Fame pool because we came there so many times.”
Bob Steele was a long-time coach at Southern Illinois University as he helped the Saluki men finish 12th at NCAAs in 1982 and 1983. Steele received the Distinguished Alumni award from Southern Illinois in 2016 and was also inducted to the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) Hall of Fame that same year.
Join the One in a Thousand Club by helping ISHOF on a monthly or one-time basis.
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The International Swimming Hall of Fame wants to know if you are one in a thousand? We think you are! Show how special you are and become a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s “One In A Thousand” Club. Help keep the International Swimming Hall of Fame moving forward toward a new vision and museum by joining now!
During these unprecedented times, the ISHOF Board is calling on every member in the aquatic community to make a small monthly commitment of support to show how special you are and how special the International Swimming Hall of Fame is to everyone.
“Our goal is simple. If we get 1,000 people to simply commit $10, $25 or $50 per month, we will generate enough revenue to go beyond this Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis.” – Bill Kent – Chairman of the ISHOF Board
“Those that believe in our vision, mission, and goals can join us in taking ISHOF into the future and be a part of aquatic history.” – Brent Rutemiller – CEO and President of ISHOF
Since 1965, ISHOF has been the global focal point for recording and sharing the history of aquatics, promoting swimming as an essential life-skill, and developing educational programs and events related to water sports. ISHOF’s vision for the future is to build a new museum and expand its reach by offering its museum artifacts digitally through a redesigned website.
The ISHOF Board of Directors is calling on all members of the aquatics community to make a small monthly commitment to show their dedication to aquatics and how special the International Swimming Hall of Fame is to everyone.
Happy Birthday Danyon Loader !!!
DANYON LOADER (NZL) Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (200m butterfly); 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (200m, 400m freestyle); FOUR WORLD RECORDS: 3-200m butterfly (s.c.), 1-400m freestyle (s.c.); 1994 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (200m butterfly), bronze (200m, 400m freestyle); 1994 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (200m butterfly), silver (400m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle), bronze (200m freestyle); 1993 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (200m butterfly), bronze (100m butterfly); 1995 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (200m freestyle), silver (400m freestyle); 58 NZL NATIONAL RECORDS.
At the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Danyon Loader’s first-place finish in both the 400m and 200m freestyles distinguished him as his country’s first Olympic gold medallist in swimming since New Zealander Malcolm Champion swam on a combined Australasia Team (New Zealand and Australia) in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. Loader was his country’s first swimmer to break world records (short course) in two different strokes, butterfly and freestyle. (New Zealander Pip Gould had set world backstroke records in the 100y, 220y, 100m and 200m events in 1957 and 1958.) He won gold medals in Commonwealth Games and Pan-Pacific Championships and won silver and bronze medals at World Championships. Unwantingly, he became a New Zealand hero and his country’s most successful international swimmer ever.
As a child, Danyon loved being in the water. He would voluntarily take up to four baths a day. His dad, Peter, taught him to swim at the Forbury Indoor Swimming Pool in South Dunedin. At age ten he joined the Zenith Amateur Swimming Club in Dunedin, but spent all of his time trying to get out of training, playing video games and hanging out. “I can remember that before Mom came to pick me up I’d wet my hair and togs and towel so that she thought I had been training,” he would say.
Then, in 1988, at age 12, he joined Coach Duncan Laing’s squad and his swimming career never looked back. Duncan became his mentor. He guided Danyon through a career in which Loader became the fastest swimmer in the world in his events. By age 13 he had won medals in the New Zealand National Age Group Championships and he soon began winning events on the national level. At the young age of 14, he represented New Zealand at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games. Only 2-1/2 years later, as still a young 17-year-old, at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, he surprised the world when he won the silver medal behind USA’s Melvin Stewart in the 200m butterfly. His international dominance was breaking through, and in his humble fashion he was swimming because he enjoyed it and not because he was addicted to the thrill of being number one. The world was now watching this up-and-coming athlete from New Zealand.
Improvement and success were in play each year. In 1993, he set the 200m butterfly short course world record three times in eight days during the European World Cup Tour. The next year, at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, he won gold in the 200m butterfly, silver in the 400m freestyle and both freestyle relays and bronze in the 200m freestyle behind the established Kieren Perkins of Australia. He medaled in the same events at the Rome World Championships later that year.
In 1995, Loader won eight gold medals on the World Cup circuit in Europe, breaking the 400m freestyle short course world record in the process. But this was only the prelude to the next year’s 1996 Atlanta Olympic performance where he won gold medals in both the 200m and 400m freestyles, an Olympic feat accomplished only once before by Evgeni Sadovy of the Russian Unified Team in 1992.
Loader did all of his training with Duncan Laing at their hometown Moana Pool and later while attending Otaga University. Danyon was very low key and never pursued the limelight. According to Coach Laing, “He is a normal Kiwi lad at heart. He just does and gets results. He’s just one of those guys who goes into action and swims to win. Beneath the laid-back exterior is a steely determination, an absolute commitment to fulfill his potential. He does not speak of it, he just does it.” Australian Coach Don Talbot called him “The Quiet Assassin.”
All totaled, he set four world records – three in the 200m butterfly, short course, and one in the 400m freestyle, short course. The 400m freestyle record held for 3-1/2 years until broken by Australian Ian Thorpe.
After Atlanta, Danyon continued swimming for another 2-1/2 years. He attended two semesters at the University of California Berkeley (1997). Without a whole lot of specific training, he competed at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, winning a bronze medal as a member of the 4 x 200m freestyle relay. By the time he retired, he had set a record 58 New Zealand national records. But he preferred to go about his business with a minimum of fuss, Danyon Loader the person, not Danyon Loader the great swimmer. He practices Tai Chi for relaxation and is an accomplished SCUBA diver. Three months before the 1998 Commonwealth Games, he joined the New Zealand Army Territorial Force for service experience and to maintain his level of fitness. He has received the prestigious Lonsdale Cup by the New Zealand Olympic Commonwealth (1992) and was twice named Sportsman of the Year (1992, 1997) at the Halberg Awards. In 2000, he was named New Zealand Sportsperson of the Decade (1990s).
Danyon Loader is both ordinary and extraordinary, a quiet achiever who is an inspiration to thousands of his compatriots. He has most definitely raised the level of sport in New Zealand and around the world.
Happy Birthday Rick DeMont !!!
RICK DEMONT (USA) 1990 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: WORLD RECORDS: 3 (400m, 1500m freestyle; relay); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1973 gold (200m freestyle), silver (1500m freestyle); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1975 gold (relay), silver (200m freestyle); AMERICAN RECORDS: 4 (400m, 1500m freestyle; 2 relays); AAU RECORDS: 5 (400m, 1500m freestyle; relays); First under 4 minutes for 400m freestyle.
Rick DeMont was born in San Rafael California, April 21, 1956. It did not take him long to become a record breaker, as seen by his 10 and under age group national record. Rick developed as a dominant middle distance swimmer, leading to his first world mark of 15:52.91 in the 1500 meters freestyle at the age of 16.
Then it was the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. At age 16, Rick DeMont became the youngest male swimmer ever to win the Olympic 400 meter freestyle, and he was favored to win the 1500 meter event too. He had already qualified for the finals. Then, suddenly he was removed form the pool, stripped of his medal and disqualified from any further competition. It seemed grossly unfair at the time, and times have not changed the feeling in most of us. It seems that Rick’s asthma medication included a trace of a substance called ephedrine, which was banned by the Olympic Medical Commission. When he was tested, it showed up in his sample. He made no attempt to hide it, for he had written it on his medical questionnaire form. The U.S. team doctors, not the 16 year old kid, were guilty. There was no way this trace of medication could have affected the outcome of DeMont’s race performance, even though he had been using medication to enable him to exercise with asthma since the age of four. However, the rule was innocently broken, and Rick is still hoping someday his case will be reviewed.
In 1973, at the first World Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, DeMont won the 400 meter freestyle, without the banned substance, beating Brad Cooper, the Australian who had won DeMonts’s Olympic gold medal by default. Cooper, who wanted to win it in the pool, was magnificent, but he lost by .52 seconds as Rick won in a new world record of 3:58.18 the first man to break the four minute barrier for the distance. Cooper was also under the four minute barrier, but lost by a touch.
1973 is the same year Rick was voted World Swimmer of the Year.
Today, Rick is an artist living in Arizona. His achievements as the best in the world will always remain.
Happy Birthday Alex Baumann !!!
ALEX BAUMANN (CAN) 1992 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1984 gold (200m & 400m individual medley); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1979 bronze (400m individual medley); FINA CUP: 1979 gold (400m individual medley); WORLD RECORDS: 5 (200m individual medley), 5 (400m individual medley); COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold, 2 (200m individual medley), 2 (400m individual medley); CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 34 titles, 32 national records; WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1986 silver ( 200m individual medley), bronze (400m individual medley).
It was in 1912 that Canadian Olympian George Hodgson won gold medals in swimming for Canada. It was not until 72 years later that Alex Baumann of Sudbury, Ontario won the next gold medal for Canada in swimming. Baumann won the 200m and 400m individual medley, establishing world records in both. Bauman joins only two other Canadians to win in a summer Olympics before him–Hodgson and runner Percy Williams in 1928. Teammates Victor Davis and Ann Ottenbrite joined Alex as Olympic champions in 1984, winning the men’s and women’s breaststroke.
From 1978-1987, Baumann won 34 Canadian National Championships, establishing 32 national records in the sprint freestyle as well as both individual medley events. He swam all events: backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. He started as an age group swimmer who reached every young swimmer’s goal–the Olympic gold. Baumann won five golds in Commonwealth Games competition and established a total of three world records in the 200 I.M. and two world records in the 400 I.M.. Undefeated from 1981 through 1986, Alex’s records stood for six years.
Alex, known as Sasa to his family and close friends, was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia and came to Canada with his parents as a young boy. He learned how to swim at age five and soon after joining the Laurentian University Swim Club, which he would coach 20 years later, showed talent for the sport. His large hands and feet worked like paddles and his intense training turned swimming into his life.
Through long-term collaboration with his coach of fourteen years, Dr. Jeno Tihanyi, Alex overcame obstacles which would have defeated a lesser champion. He had repeated bouts of tendonitis and shoulder problems which prevented him from competing for most of 1982, including having to miss the World Championships. The deaths of his father and older brother left profound gaps in his life, but Tihanyi played a major role in keeping him focused on his goals. Perhaps his single most admired quality was his disciplined approach to swimming. He always gave 100 percent. Every swim was a race. Nothing was wasted. Alex was a bit of a prankster, but never lost his humbleness and feel for his teammates and others. His self-determination to excel, coupled with a swimming program geared to his style, were the keys to his success.
Following his retirement, Alex became a sports broadcaster for CBC television at the 1988 Olympic Games. Among his many honors, he was the Canadian Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1984 and was chosen as the flag bearer at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, 1983 World University Games and the 1984 Olympic Games.
Eddie Reese to Receive ISHOF’s 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award
20 April 2021, 10:30am
The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) is proud to announce that it has selected Coach Eddie Reese as this year’s recipient of the ISHOF Lifetime Achievement Award for 2021. The ISHOF Lifetime Achievement Award is an award not given every year, but only when someone is deemed worthy.
The award has only been given out four other times in ISHOF’s history. The ISHOF Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the lifetime dedication and achievements in the swimming/aquatics community. ISHOF felt that Coach Reese was the perfect selection for our award in 2021, particularly after his recent announcement of his retirement last month, the timing is perfect.
Eddie Reese & Brendan Hansen. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
The ISHOF Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Coach Reese on Friday, October 8, 2021, during the occasion of the 2021 Honoree Induction and Awards Ceremony Weekend in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home of ISHOF. It will be an added bonus that one of Reese’s most prolific swimmers, Brendan Hansen, will be inducted into ISHOF as an Honor Swimmer, this same weekend as well.
Past Recipients of the ISHOF Lifetime Achievement Award, include:
2019: Jim Wood
2015: Greta Anderson
2014: John McLaughlin
2008: Bob and Norma Maxwell.
Please plan to attend the ISHOF Awards Ceremony on Friday, October 8, 2021, and celebrate this great honor with Coach Reese. For more information please visit the ISHOF website: https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/international-swimming-hall-of-fame-announces-2020-induction-class-and-annual-ceremony-2/
Or call Meg Keller-Marvin at: 570.594-4367 or e-mail: meg@ishof.org
In addition to the ISHOF and Paragon Awards on Friday, October 8, 2021, The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) will induct it’s prestigious Class of2021.
This year ISHOF will induct thirteen honorees from seven countries; five swimmers, two coaches, one diver, one water polo player, one synchronized swimmer, one open water swimmer, and two contributors. ISHOF Honoree and Sullivan Award Winner, Debbie Meyer, and double Olympic gold-medalist and everyone’s favorite Olympic swimming broadcaster, Rowdy Gaines will be co-emcees and hosts of the induction on Saturday, October 9, 2021 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Brendan Hansen and coach Eddie Reese. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
This year’s International Swimming Hall of Fame Honorees include:
HONOR SWIMMERS: Brendan Hansen (USA), Michael Klim (AUS), Jon Sieben (AUS), Rebecca Soni (USA), and Daichi Suzuki (JPN)
HONOR DIVER: Matthew Mitcham (AUS)
HONOR SYNCHRONIZED (ARTISTIC) SWIMMER: Elvira Khasyanova (RUS)
HONOR WATER POLO: Mirko Vičević (YUG/MON)
HONOR OPEN WATER SWIMMER: Marilyn Bell (CAN)
HONOR COACH: Ursula Carlile (AUS) and David Marsh (USA)
HONOR CONTRIBUTOR: Bob Duenkel*(USA) and Peter Hürzeler (SUI)
Get more information about this year’s induction class here and more information about Otylia Jedrzejczak and Li Ting.
*deceased
The Induction Weekend Schedule
Friday, October 8, 2021
Paragon & ISHOF Awards Night
5:30 pm Cocktails
6:30 pm ISHOF and Paragon Awards
Saturday, October 9, 2021
Honoree Induction Day Luncheon – Meet Rowdy Gaines and go on a behind the scenes tour of the Aquatic Complex construction
12-1:30 pm Luncheon
Official 56th Annual International Swimming Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner
5:30 pm VIP Reception
6:30 –10:00 pm Induction Ceremony & Dinner
Ticket Information
October 8-9th Complete Weekend Package (Includes Paragon/ISHOF Awards Night, Saturday Luncheon, and Induction Ceremony)
ISHOF Members $350
ISHOF Non-Members $425 BEST PRICE!!
October 8th Paragon Awards and ISHOF Awards Night (Hors D’oeuvres and Open Bar) 5:30 pm
ISHOF Members $75
ISHOF Non-Members $100
October 9th Saturday Luncheon 12:00-1:30 pm
ISHOF Members $35
ISHOF Non-Members $50
October 9th Induction Ceremony and Dinner5:30 pm
ISHOF Members $275
ISHOF Non-Members $300
10 Person Table $3,500 and $5,000 (Prime location) options
*See all ticket options here.
HOTEL INFORMATION
Host Hotel: Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa
Upscale retreat with private beach access, two pools, four restaurants, full service spa and oceanside bar. Location of the Saturday evening induction ceremony. ¼ mile south of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
3030 Holiday Drive, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 (954) 525-4000
Special ISHOF Guest Rate of $259 per night
Book your group rate for International Swimming Hall of Fame
NOTE: RESORT FEE IS INCLUDED in the $259 rate
Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale Beach
440 Seabreeze Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 (954) 524-8733
Special ISHOF Guest Rate of $169 per night
Honoree Ceremony October 9, 2021Start Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2021End Date: Tuesday, October 12, 2021Last Day to Book: Friday, September 15, 2021
Book your group rate for Honoree Ceremony October 2021
Questions: contact Meg Keller-Marvin at meg@ishof.org or 570-594-4367
Happy Birthday Dara Torres !!!
Dara Torres (USA) 2016 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100 m freestyle); 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (4×100 m medley), bronze (4×100 m freestyle); 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100 m freestyle); 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100 m freestyle, 4×100 m medley), bronze (50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (50 m freestyle, 4×100 m freestyle, 4×100 m medley); 1986WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): silver (4×100 m freestyle); 1987 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100 m freestyle, 4×100 m freestyle, 4×100 m medley); 1983 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (4×100 m freestyle); SIX WORLD RECORDS: three individual (50m free), three relays (4x100m free, 4x100m medley)
Dara Grace Torres grew up in Beverly Hills, California, where she learned to swim in her family’s backyard pool. At the age of seven, she followed her brothers to swim practice at the local YMCA. During her junior year of high school, Torres moved to Mission Viejo, CA, to train with Hall of Fame Coach Mark Schubert, and in 1983 she broke the world record in the 50-meter freestyle. The next year, while not yet a senior in high school, she won her first Olympic gold medal as a member of the USA’s 4×100 freestyle relay team.
Swimming for Randy Reece at the University of Florida, Torres earned 28 NCAA All-American swimming awards and at the 1988 Olympic Games, she won two silver medals swimming on relays. She finished her collegiate athletic career playing volleyball and took two years off before returning to win her second Olympic relay gold medal in Barcelona, Spain during the summer of 1992.
After 1992, Torres lived what appeared to be a glamorous life. She moved to New York City, worked in television, and as a Wilhelmina model she became the first athlete model in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Then in the spring of 1999, despite not having trained in a pool for seven years, she decided to give the Olympics one more try.
Training with coach Richard Quick in Palo Alto and Santa Clara, Dara made the Olympic team for the fourth time, at the age of 33. She returned home with five medals, more than any other member of the team, including three in individual events, and retired.
In 2005, while pregnant with her first child, Dara began swimming three or four times a week at the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex, to keep fit. After giving birth to her daughter, Tessa Grace, in April 2006, she entered two Masters meets and posted times that emboldened her to try another comeback. She asked Coral Springs coach Michael Lohberg if he would coach her, and a little over a year later, she won the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Three days later, she broke the American record in the 50-meter freestyle for the tenth time – an amazing 24 years after setting it for the very first time. In 2008, Dara qualified for her fifth Olympic team and at the 2008 Beijing Games, she became the oldest swimmer to compete in the Olympics. Dara returned home with three silver medals, including the heartbreaking 50-meter freestyle race where she missed the gold by 1/100th of a second.
In 2009, Dara won the ESPY award for “Best Comeback,” was named one of the “Top Female Athletes of the Decade” by Sports Illustrated magazine and became a best selling author with the release of her inspirational memoir, Age is Just a Number.
Dara continued swimming after recovering from reconstructive knee surgery and with the encouragement of coach Lohberg, she set her sights on making a record sixth U.S. Olympic swim team. When she just missed making the London Olympics by nine-hundredths of a second in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2012 US Swimming Olympic Trials, she announced her retirement with a smile on her face and her six-year old daughter Tessa in her arms.
Olympian, television personality, fitness guru, Queen of the Comeback, best-selling author and mother. Dara Torres is many things to many people, but above all, she is an inspiration.
Happy Birthday Enith Brigitha !!!
Enith Brigitha (NED) 2015 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 1972 OLYMPIC GAMES: 8th (100m freestyle), 6th (100m backstroke), 6th (200m backstroke), 5th (4x100m freestyle); 1976 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (100m freestyle), bronze (200m freestyle), 4th (4x100m freestyle relay), 5th (4×100 medley relay), 10th (100m backstroke); FIVE SHORT COURSE WORLD RECORDS: 2 (100m freestyle), 2 (200m freestyle), 1 (400m freestyle); 1973 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze (100m freestyle); silver (200m backstroke); 1975 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze (100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle); 1974 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze (100m freestyle, 100m backstroke), silver (200m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle); 1977 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle).
Enith Brigitha was born on the West Indian Island of Curacao, where she first learned to swim in the Caribbean Sea. By the time she moved to Holland with her mother and brother in 1970, she had become the island’s most promising swimmer.
Two years later, swimming for Coach Willie Storm at the Club Het Y in Amsterdam, Enith qualified for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and reached the final in four events, and this was just the start of her success. At the 1973 inaugural FINA World Championships in Belgrade, she claimed a silver medal in the 200 meter backstroke and a bronze medal in the 100 meter freestyle. At the 1974 European Championships she won five medals, including four individual medals for the 100 and 200 meter freestyle and backstroke events. In 1975, at the II FINA World Championships in Cali, Columbia, she added three bronze medals to her collection, including individual pieces of hardware in the 100 and 200 meter freestyle.
At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, she earned individual bronze medals in both the 100 and 200 meter freestyle, and at the 1977 European Championships, she won a silver medal in the 100 meter freestyle.
Enith was a genuine superstar in an era dominated by women swimmers from the German Democratic Republic. All told, she set five short course world records and collected 21 Dutch titles in the freestyle, backstroke, medley and butterfly events. She won the Dutch 100 meter freestyle title seven years in a row, was twice named Dutch Sportswoman of the Year – and has the distinction of being the first person of African descent to win Olympic medals in swimming.
Still, her accomplishments have for too long been diminished by the dazzling success of the East Germans. Of the 11 individual medals Enith won at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships – only East German swimmers finished ahead of her in 10 of those events, the one exception being America’s Shirley Babashoff, in the 200 meter freestyle at Munich.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Dr. Werner Franke and his wife Brigitte Berendonk, discovered files from the Stasi – the East German secret police – documenting the fact that all of the East German swimmers who finished ahead of Enith Brigitha had been systematically doped, without the knowledge or consent of them or their parents, as a matter of national policy. To the GDR’s rulers, these young athletes were nothing more than pawns in a global chess game, sacrificial lambs on the altar of East German ideology. Had the world known this at the time, the steroid and testosterone enhanced performances of the GDR’s athletes would have resulted in their disqualification, and Enith’s record would be even more stellar than it is. She also would be recognized today as the first black Olympic champion in swimming history, beating Anthony Nesty of Suriname to the top of the podium by 12 years.
There’s more to life than just swimming, of course. After hanging up her swimsuit and retiring from the sport, Enith married and had three daughters. She moved back to Curacao, where she opened her own swimming school and taught children to swim. Once her daughters were ready to go to University, the family moved back to Holland, where they remain today. Enith says, “With the girls in Holland and with our three grandchildren, it’s not so easy to leave Holland again.”
On this day in 1931, the great Canadian Open Water Swimmer, Cliff Lumsdon was born……
Cliff Lumsdon (CAN) 2013 Honor Open Water Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: FIVE-TIME WORLD PROFESSIONAL MARATHON CHAMPION: 1949-1954; ATLANTIC CITY 22 MILE (35.2K) PROFESSIONAL SWIM: 1st (‘56, ‘59), 2nd (‘54, ‘55, ‘58, ‘60, ‘62), 3rd (‘61), 4th (‘63, ‘64); 10 MILE CANADIAN NATIONAL EXHIBITION (CNE) PROFESSIONAL SWIMS: 1st (‘49, ‘50, ‘52, ‘53), 3rd (‘51), 5th (‘48); 1955 32 MILE CNE SWIM RACE: Only Finisher in Field of 35 Swimmers; CROSSING OF STRAIGHTS OF JUAN DE FUCA: 1956.
Perhaps it was something in the water that drew him to it. At the young age of 16, he turned professional, becoming one of the world’s greatest professional marathon swimmers in the world.
At 18, he won the World Marathon Championship, his first of four wins in the Canadian National Exposition (CNE), beating 46 other world class competitors in this 15 mile Lake Ontario race. That same year he received the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s outstanding athlete of the year. Swimming for the Lake Shore Swim Club and coached by the famed Gus Ryder, he made over $150,000.00 in prize money from 1949 to 1967, a consistent winner of marathon races.
He was known for his ability to swim in cold water, once going 32 miles in 18 hours with water temperatures ranging between 48 and 52 degrees Fahrenheit, the only finisher in the 1955 Lake Ontario CNE Swim. In 1956, he swam 11 hours 35 minutes crossing the Straits of Juan de Fuca between Washington State and Vancouver Island, where the water temperature is 48 degrees.
Between 1949 and 1954, Cliff Lumsdon was the undisputed world professional marathon swimming champion, winning a total of five Marathon World Championships. From 1954 to 1964, he swam ten 23 mile swims around Atlantic City, finishing first or second in most of them. His swimming created a big chested, burly man who was well liked by everyone.
His wife Joan said that he hated to swim alone – he loved to race. He trained in the Credit River with his close friend Marilyn Bell, the first swimmer to cross Lake Ontario.
As a 30 year employee of the City of Etobicoke Recreation Department, he taught thousands of children to swim, including his daughter Kim, who swam across Lake Ontario herself in 1976.
He died young at age 60, but is remembered as a fierce, hard-to-beat competitor, yet a stellar human being and a gentle man.
Happy Birthday Masako Kaneko !!!
Masako Kaneko 2015 Honor Synchronized Swimming Coach
FOR THE RECORD: 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES: Synchro Team Leader; 1988, 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: Synchro Head Coach; 1996, 2000, 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: Synchro Team Leader; 1978, 1986, 1991 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Synchro Head Coach; 1994, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Synchro Team Leader; 1979, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993 WORLD CUP: Synchro Head Coach; 1995, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2006 WORLD CUP: Synchro Team Leader; 1980, 1982, 1985, 1991, 1993 PAN PACIFIC GAMES: Synchro Head Coach; COACH OF SWIMMERS WINNING: OLYMPIC GAMES – 2 silver, 6 bronze, WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – 1 gold, 8 silver, 14 bronze, WORLD CUP – 9 silver, 16 bronze, PAN PACIFIC GAMES: 2 gold, 3 silver, 13 bronze.
Masako Kaneko was born in Tokyo, Japan on April 17, 1944 and has contributed as both a swimmer and coach since the beginning of synchronized swimming in Japan.
Masako began her synchronized swimming career with the Tokyo Synchro Club in 1959. After graduating from Tokyo Kasei Gakuin University in 1967, she stopped swimming for the club and became its coach. By 1982 Masako was the National Team Coach and Director. From that time to the present, she has coached or been the team leader of almost every competition in which Japan has competed, including the Olympic Games and the World Championships.
Masako’s first overseas trip was to Santa Clara, California in 1972, as the Japanese National Coach. In 1979 she was selected as the Japanese Synchronized Performance Director. She was the team leader for the 1984 Olympic Games, in Los Angeles, and again in 1988, Seoul and Barcelona, in 1992. She was head coach in Atlanta in 1996, and at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games she served on the delegation of the Japanese Olympic Committee. She was team leader again for the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics.
As a coach, she has developed her swimmers from beginner to Olympic levels and is the only person to have coached swimmers to medals in every Olympic Games from 1984 (Synchronized Swimming’s first Olympics) to 2004 and has had medal winners in every World Championships from 1978 to 2007 (with the exception of 1982). Her swimmers include Hall of Famer Mikako Kotani, Junko Hasumi (solo bronze-1978 World Championship), Yuki Ishii (solo bronze-1979 World Cup), Miyako Tanaka and Megumi Itho (duet bronze-1988 Olympics, Tanaka/Kotani), Fumiko Okuno and Aki Takayama (duet bronze-1992 Olympics), Fujii, Fujiki, Jinbo, Kawabe, Kawase, Nakajima, Tachibana, Takeda, Tanaka (team bronze-1996 Olympics),Jinbo, Egami, Fujii, Isoda, Tachibana, Takeda, Yoneda, Yoneda, Tatsumi (team silver-2000 Olympics), Fujimaru, Suzuki, Kitao, Tachibana, Takeda, Tatsumi, Harada, Yoneda (silver team-2004 Olympics).
In 1996, Masako became the first female Director of the Japan Swimming Federation and is held in very high esteem.
For her contributions to the sport, she has earned many awards including the Women’s Sports Order from the International Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Education’s Sports Achievement Award, Citizen’s Cultural Award and the Avon Award.
Although she retired as the Synchronized Swimming Chairperson in 2009, she continues to teach at the Tokyo Synchronized Swimming Club where she is a club director and serves as a supervisor for the Japanese Swimming
Federation. She is also a visiting professor at the Women’s College of Home Economics.
