Happy Birthday Sharon Finneran !!! February 4th….
SHARON FINNERAN (USA) 1985 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1964 silver (400m individual medley); WORLD RECORDS: 6 (800m freestyle; 200m butterfly; 400m individual medley); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1963 gold (400m freestyle); AAU NATIONALS: 10 (100yd, 200m butterfly; 400yd, 400m individual medley; 500yd, 1650yd freestyle; 1 relay); AMERICAN RECORDS: 8 (200yd, 200m butterfly; 400yd, 400m individual medley; 1500yd, 800m, 880yd freestyle; 1 relay).
Sharon Finneran literally came on the world swimming scene like a typhoon. It was Japan, 1962. Earlier in the summer she had knocked six seconds off Donna deVarona’s World Record from :35 to :29. In Tokyo, Sharon swam the first heat in :27; Donna went :25 in the second heat, and Sharon won the finals in :21. There was a typhoon between the heats and the finals. The finals had to be postponed two days. This was about the only postponement, as the two best friends and teammates took turns knocking each other’s records, leading up to a return trip to Tokyo in 1964. This time it was Donna first and Sharon second, one tenth of a second behind.
The most accomplished of the five swimming Finnerans, Sharon set six World and thirteen American Records, most of them in events regularly contested in the U.S.A. but considered too tough for the Olympic women’s program. These records were in the 500-yard and 1650-yard freestyle, 200 butterfly, and 800 freestyle, both yards and meters. Her best swimming was done in the non-Olympic years of 1962 and 1963, when she won seven of her eleven National titles. She came back strong again after Tokyo in 1964 and 1966, winning four more Nationals and setting two more American Records.
Sharon Finneran has gone on to be a great Masters Champion:”. . . because it makes me feel better to be in shape while raising children.” Her four brothers and sisters were outstanding swimmers, divers and water polo players. Her brother, “perfect dive Mike” also made an Olympic team (’72); he now coaches at South Carolina. The Finnerans — uncles, parents, brothers, sisters, children and husband–return to Fort Lauderdale to be with Sharon at her induction to the Hall of Fame. It was from Fort Lauderdale that Sharon’s mother, Carolyn, went forward–with five kids in a motel room–to conquer the world of Age-Group swimming.
Happy Birthday to our beautiful US Synchronized Swimmer, Tracie Ruiz !!! February 4th
TRACIE RUIZ (USA) 1993 Honor Synchronized Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1984 gold (solo, duet with Candy Costie), 1988 silver (solo); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1979 gold (team), 1983 gold (solo, duet), 1987 gold (solo, duet); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1982 gold (solo, figures); U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 6 (1981-1986).
In 1984, Tracie Ruiz became the first Olympic champion in the history of synchronized swimming when she won both the solo and duet competition with teammate Candie Costie at her sports Olympic debut in Los Angeles. During her 16-year career from 1973-1988, she captured 41 gold medals, including the 1982 World Championship solo and figures titles, and won at the 1983 and 1987 Pan American Games.
Tracie’s dynamic style and athleticism helped to raise synchronized swimming to new levels of popularity and recognition. Few sports require such a diverse assortment of qualities for success as synchronized swimming. Tracie’s elegance, grace, and strength were the perfect combination needed to propel her captivating sport.
Tracie retired following gold medal performances in Los Angeles, during which time she married weight trainer Mike Conforto. After two years, however, she returned to competition to capture gold medals at the 1987 U.S. National Championships and the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis.
By 1988, Tracie’s quest was to defend her Olympic crown of 1984. In a near-perfect performance at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, Tracie received all 10s and five 9.9s for technical merit, a score which ranks as the second best of all time in the sport behind Hall of Famer Heidi O’Rourke’s performance at the 1971 Pan American Games. Several months later, against her long-time competitor Carolyn Waldo of Canada, Tracie was awarded a silver medal in the solo competition for her routine at the Olympic Games in Seoul.
Tracie’s picture-perfect form and dazzling costumes in command performances were the catalysts which launched her sport into the Olympic Games and into the hearts of swimmers around the world.
Following in her Mother’s talented athletic footsteps, Tracie’s son, Michael Conforto is in the starting line-up for the New York Mets as an Outfielder, and will begin his 7th year in Major League Baseball. The Mets selected Conforto in the first round of the 2014 MLB draft with the 10th overall pick. Tracie also has a daughter, Jacqueline, who played soccer on the collegiate level.
Happy Birthday to Honor Swimmer Satoko Tanaka !!!
SATOKO TANAKA (JPN) 1991 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1960 bronze (100m backstroke); 1964 4th place (100m backstroke); WORLD RECORDS: 15 (110yd, 220yd, 200m backstroke) JAPANESE NATIONAL RECORD: 100m, 200m backstroke (1958-1970).
Born on the island of Kyushu, Japan in 1942, Satoko Tanaka battled childhood bronchitis and beriberi to become the world’s greatest 200 meter backstroker of her time. From 1959 to September 1964, she held the World Record, lowering it 10 times, except for a period in 1960 when Lynn Burke set the mark. Satoko reclaimed the title 8 days after Burke’s swim and her new record lasted another 4 years.
Tanaka made her international debut at the 1958 Asian Games, where she set a Japanese record in the 100 meter backstroke with a time of 1:15.1. Two years later, she represented Japan at the 1960 Olympics in Rome and captured the bronze medal, finishing at 1:11.4.
Although Satoko had success swimming the 100 meter backstroke, the 200 was her strongest event. She often won events by over half a pool length and raced against the clock instead of her fellow competitors. Unfortunately, the 200 meter backstroke was not an Olympic event for women in Rome or Tokyo and Satoko never won an Olympic gold medal.
Remarkably, Satoko held the Japanese National record in the 200 meter backstroke from 1958 to 1970 and the 100 meter backstroke for a total of 12 years. She captured 15 World Records in the 200 meter, 110 yard, and 220 yard backstroke events.
Satoko has followed the footsteps of her coach Toshiaki Kurosa. She is a swimming coach for Shinnihon Iron Manufacture and teaches special swimming programs for asthmatics. Satoko still finds time to swim as a member of her local Masters Team.
On this day in 1943, Honor Italian Coach Alberto Castagnetti was born….
Alberto Castagnetti (ITA) 2013 Honor Coach
FOR THE RECORD: ITALIAN NATIONAL TEAM SWIMMING COACH (1987-2009); COACH OF GIORGIO LAMBERTI, DOMENICO FIORAVANTI, FEDERICA PELLEGRINI, ROSOLINO MASSIMILIANO, DAVID RUMOLO, STEFANO BATTISTELLI; DESCRIBED AS “THE WIZARD OF SWIMMING”; COMPETITOR AT 1972 OLYMPIC GAMES AND 1973 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS.
Considered a coaching genius, Alberto Castagnetti was a “wizard of swimming” who made the Italian colors shine on the world stage. But he did not do magic. The reality was that he obtained magnificent results through hard work and unsurpassed professionalism. These were the talents that allowed him to write his name on the greatest chapter of Italian swimming history.
Alberto Castagnetti was born in 1943 in Verona, Italy, to a father who instilled in him not only his love for sports – swimming, skiing, water polo, diving, tennis, triathlon and basketball – but also a passion for learning. As a swimmer, he won numerous Italian championships and he competed in the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 and the first FINA World Championships, in Belgrade in 1973. Apart from the success of Novella Caligaris in the early 1970’s, Italy had played a small role in international swimming until Castagnetti took the helm of Italian swimming in 1987. He was a natural-born coach who got even better by attending clinics conducted by the American Swimming Coaches Association and studying Doc Councilman’s “Science of Swimming”.
His first big international swimmer was Giorgio Lamberti, who broke the world record in the 200 meter freestyle in 1989 and won a gold medal in the same event at the 1991 Perth World Championships. After this, national and foreign swimmers began to join his team. Among them, future Olympic champions Massimiliano Rosolino, Domenico Fioravanti and Federica Pellegrini. During the Castagnetti era, Italy won 264 medals in major international competition with 31 of the 34 gold medals ever won by Italy, including 11 Olympic medals: four gold, two silver and seven bronze medals, making it one of the most important world swimming powers. Pellegrini alone set nine world records in the 200 and 400 meter freestyle.
He was making plans to build on the Italian success of Pellegrini and Filippo Mangini at the 2009 FNA World Championships in Rome, when he died of complications following heart surgery on October 12, 2009.
Alberto Castagnetti will always be remembered as a man of vision, passion and ideas. One of the great modern European coaches, he was notable for his work directly with athletes, his willingness to speak out and to represent his fellow coaches and his profession.
Happy Birthday Felipe Munoz!
FELIPE MUNOZ (MEX) 1991 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1968 gold (200m breaststroke); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1971 silver (200m breaststroke), bronze (200m individual medley).
Although he was nicknamed Tibio (Spanish for lukewarm) after his father from the village of Aguacalientes (hot water) and his mother from the village of Rio Frio (cold water), Felipe Munoz was the hottest name in Mexican swimming history.
After ten days of competition at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, the host country had not won a single gold medal. And at age 17, Munoz was not figured to win the 200 meter breaststroke, even with the hometown advantage. But, to everyone’s surprise, Munoz qualified first for the final with a 2:31.1. Pitted against the top Soviet breaststrokers Kosinsky, Pankin, and Mikhailov, as well as Americans Brian Job and Philip Long, Munoz proved in the final meters of the race that you don’t have to have the lead if you have the heart to come from behind.
The race has been described as one of the most emotional in Olympic history. Munoz was in fourth place at the 100 meter mark, but began closing on the lead swimmer unnoticed. With 50 meters to go, Munoz exploded off the wall to pass Pankin, Job and Kosinsky. The crowd went wild, chanting in unison for their native countryman, “Mu-noz, Mu-noz, Mu-noz”. Touching first at 2:29.9 seconds, Felipe Munoz won Mexico’s first Olympic gold medal in swimming and sparked a celebration that lasted for hours.
After the Olympics, Felipe continued his swimming career and went on to swim at the 1971 Pan American Games where he won a silver and bronze medal in the 200 meter breaststroke and 200 meter I.M. respectively.
On this day of his birth, we remember Bela Rajki…
BELA RAJKI (HUN) 1996 Honor Contributor
FOR THE RECORD: 1948 OLYMPIC GAMES: Swimming Coach; 1952 OLYMPIC GAMES: Swimming and Water Polo Coach; 1956 OLYMPIC GAMES: Water Polo Coach; 1972 OLYMPIC GAMES: Water Polo Coach; 1952 – Present FINA BUREAU: member, vice president; 1954 – Present LEN: member, vice president, president, honorary member; 1952-1964 International Water Polo Board: member, chairman; Author of: Water Polo (1958), The Techniques of Competitive Swimming (1956), Teaching to Swim, Learning to Swim (1978); Noted for his above and underwater photography of swimming and water polo technique.
Like almost every other youngster in his native Hungary, Bela Rajki was a swimmer and a water polo player. Born in 1909, he was one of the first players to surface in the country, and with early contemporary Bela Komjadi, Rajki helped to build Hungary’s world-recognized water polo dynasty.
After withdrawing from the competitive sport as an athlete, he earned coaching diplomas in both swimming and diving and then held a lecturer’s post at the Hungarian College of Physical Education and Sports. The years following World War II, from 1948 to 1967, he became the director of Hungary’s National Sport Swimming Pool. During this time he was the technical director and national coach of Hungarian Swimming and Water Polo Teams from 1947 to 1973.
In Olympic competition, Bela was the head coach of the 1948 Olympic Swimming Team, where Hungary won one gold medal with Eva Novak’s 200m breaststroke swim. He coached both the swimming and water polo Olympic teams of 1952 in Helsinki, Finland, with the water polo team winning the gold medal and four future Hall of Famers winning gold medals in swimming: Katalin Szoke – 100m freestyle, Eva Szekely – 200m breaststroke, Valerie Gyenge – 400m freestyle, and all on the gold medal winning freestyle relay.
In 1956, he again coached the water polo team to a gold medal over the great team from Yugoslavia, and in 1972 at the Munich Olympics, Hungary won the silver medal.
But Bela spent much of his time in the sport, off the pool deck. He was a Bureau member of FINA from 1952 to 1960, a FINA vice president from 1960 to 1964, and remains an Honorary FINA member today. He was a member of the International Water Polo Board from 1952 to 1964, serving as the chairman from 1960 to 1964. Bela served as vice president of the Liga Europea de Natacion (LEN) from 1954 to 1958 and as president from 1958 to 1962. After serving an additional four years as Bureau member from 1962 to 1966, he was made an honorary LEN member in 1994. In 1996, at age 86, Bela remains a member of the Hungarian Olympic Committee and the Honorary Life President of the Hungarian Water Polo Federation.
Bela Rajki’s contributions do not stop here. He has authored the first technique book on swimming, The Techniques of Competitive Swimming, published in 1956 with a second printing in 1963. His 1958 book Water Polo is a technical book dealing with every aspect of the sport. His 1978 book, with a second printing in 1980, Teaching to Swim, Learning to Swim, deals with teaching the techniques of the four competitive strokes, and is used throughout the world. His books are noted for the early scientific approach to the sport and for the more than 528 above water and underwater photos. Photography and motion picture film taking are a very important part of Bela’s contributions to the development of swimming and water polo. With the initial leadership of Hungarian journalist Andre Sima, who first suggested the use of photography in supporting scientific data and who took many of the original photos used in the photo sequence pages for which Bela is so notably recognized, Bela is greatly acknowledged for his published photographic series of above water and underwater photographs and their importance in supporting coaching data.
He has also written over 250 articles and periodical studies in the sport.
Although his record would disprove it, Bela Rajki is better recognized for his academic contributions to the sport than coaching contributions to the sport. He is a giant of his time who has devoted his entire life to the development and athleticism of our disciplines of water polo and swimming.
Happy Birthday Anastasia Davydova !!!
Anastasia Davydova (RUS) 2017 Honor Synchronized Swimmer !!!
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 5 gold; 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (duet, team); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (duet, team), 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (team); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 12 gold, one silver; 2001 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (team), silver (duet); 2003 World Championships: gold (duet, team); 2005 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (duet), 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (duet technical, duet free, team free, 2009 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (duet technical, team free), 2011 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (team free, team technical); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 7 gold.
Her first sport was figure skating. Then she saw rhythmic gymnastics on TV and she left the ice for the ribbon and mat, but not for long. At the age of six, her mother took her for swim lessons where she was exposed to synchronized swimming. She immediately loved the sport. Early on in her career, she was tested by her coach to see if she was really serious about synchronized swimming. She was asked to give up her favorite foods of chocolate, cakes and chips. She loved the sport more, gave the foods up and the rest, as they say, is history.
In a sport that usually forces athletes to be patient as they build international reputations, Anastasia Davydova did not have to wait very long to move to the top. At age 15, she was paired with Anastasia Ermakova (2015 ISHOF Honoree), because they were very successful at the junior level and judges were familiar with them by the time they became seniors. At their first major senior international event, they placed second in duet at the 2001 FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. The next year they performed a nearly flawless routine, including five perfect 10’s in the final free program, to win the European Championships. At the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, Davydova and Ermakova won their first senior world duet title; the Russian team was also victorious. Davydova won team and duet at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Athens in April 2004 and the European Championships in Madrid in May 2004. At the Olympic Games in Athens, Davydova and Ermakova won gold in the duet with an impeccable routine, scoring a perfect 50 for artistic impression (receiving a score of ten from all five judges). In the team event, they also won gold, even after a music malfunction required them to repeat their performance.
Leading up to the Beijing Games, Davydova, Ermakova and the Russians were unbeatable, winning every event they entered. In Beijing, the pair again won duet gold, earning a combined score of 99.251 and perfect 10’s for technical merit. The Russian team also won, leaving Ermakova and Davydova with a record four gold synchro medals.
After Ermakova retired, Davydova began training with Svetlana Romashina, but after the pair won at the 2011 FINA World Championships, Davydova stepped aside in favor of Natalia Ishchenko to focus on the team event, her studies at the Moscow Institute of Economics, Politics, and Law and on coaching youth at her local club. When she announced her retirement after winning gold in the team event at the 2012 Olympic Games, she also announced that she would turn her energy to coaching. She wanted to be part of keeping the Russians on top of the podium. She did just that at the 2016 Rio Olympics where Russia won both synchronized swimming gold medals.
In 2010, FINA declared her the best synchronized swimmer of the XXI century and in 2012 she was the standard bearer of the Russian Olympic team at the closing ceremony of the Games in London.
93 years ago today, history of swimming began in the City of Fort Lauderdale with the Casino pool…
93 years ago today, on January 29, 1928, the City of Fort Lauderdale dedicated the Las Olas Casino Pool (1928-1967), the first Olympic-sized swimming pool in the State of Florida and consequently launchedFort Lauderdale as a tourist destination. Our community would forever be famous for swimming!
Located directly on the beach at what is now known as D.C. Alexander Park, just south of Las Olas Boulevard, this beautiful Spanish-style facility was engineered by Clifford Root and filled twice a week with salt water directly from the Atlantic Ocean. The Casino Pool was home to the nation’s top swimmers for decades, namely, Katherine Rawls, Fort Lauderdale’s first celebrity of sport and international athletic ambassador.
Records indicate the pool cost $125,000, and measured 50.38 meters by 18.3 meters (165 feet long and 60 feet wide / 55 yards by 20 yards).
Details
The first concrete was poured on November 27, 1927. Considering the number of holidays in this season and that no night was done, this was a record time for constructing a building of this size and type.
Costing approximately $125,000 to build, the Las Olas Casino was 165 feet long and 60 feet wide with 12 lanes requiring 422,000 of salt water from the Atlantic Ocean to fill.
Locker rooms were located underneath the pool
Bleacher on one side, children’s wading pool, pavilion and veranda facing the ocean
Spanish minaret tower was only used at night when flood lights were needed
The volunteer Red Cross Lifesaving Corp of Fort Lauderdale had a special dressing room and club room
Concession stand located in the northeast corner of the venue was operated by the Fort Lauderdale Service Company, RC Henderson
Contributors
Architect – Francis Abreu
Contractor – John Olsson
Plumbing – Weidmueller & Schlemmer
Wrought Iron – Ogden-Langmead
Lumber – Fort Lauderdale Lumber
Gate City Sash & Door
Fort Lauderdale Mercantile
Raymond-Clopeck Hardware Co.
The Casino Pool remained at the forefront of the swimming scene for nearly half a century, and witnessed a great deal of history. In 1965 the City built a 5-acre man-made peninsula to house a new aquatic center followed by the International Swimming Hall of Fame dedication in 1968. Today, continuing the great tradition of aquatic sports, plans are underway for improvements at the aquatic center that will enrich our community and inspire new generations of swimmers and divers.
Happy Birthday Greg Louganis!!!
GREG LOUGANIS (USA) 1993 Honor Diver
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1976 silver (platform), 1980 (boycott), 1984 gold (springboard & platform), 1988 gold (springboard & platform); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1978 gold (platform), 1982 gold (springboard & platform), 1986 gold (springboard & platform); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1979 gold (springboard & platform), 1983 gold (springboard & platform), 1987 gold (springboard & platform); FINA CUP: 1979 gold (platform), 1981 silver (springboard), 1983 gold (springboard & platform), 1987 gold (springboard); U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 47.
Known as the king of diving, Louganis reigned over his sport for more than a decade with grace, power, and unequaled precision.
Winner of the coveted James E. Sullivan award for outstanding achievements in athletics in 1984, Greg established himself as the USA’s best athlete. Not only is Louganis the only male diver in history to win both springboard and platform gold medals for diving in consecutive Olympic Games, 1984 and 1988, a third set of double wins would have probably been his, too, if it were not for the USA’s boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games.
One man who came close to matching Louganis’ Olympic record was his first coach, Dr. Sammy Lee, who won consecutive platform titles at the 1948 Olympic Games in London and the 1952 Games in Helsinki. It was Sammy Lee who spotted the talents of Louganis in 1971 when Louganis scored a perfect ten at the age of eleven at the AAU Junior Olympics. Louganis was soon training with Sammy Lee and went on to win a silver medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. It was evident that Greg was on his way to becoming one of the best divers the world has ever seen.
In 1978, Ron O’Brien, also a world-class diver like Lee, joined the staff at Mission Viejo. That year Greg won both World championships titles and defeated the long-time platform champion Klaus Dibiasi of Italy. For the next decade, Greg Louganis was the man to beat on the boards, dominating every national and international competition he entered.
Like many athletes, Greg anticipated the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Unfortunately, the United States government boycotted the Games in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Disappointed, but not discouraged, Louganis decided to continue to pursue his dream.
In 1984 Louganis became the first man in 56 years to win two Olympic gold medals in diving. Hall of Famer Pete Desjardins of Miami had done it at the 1928 Games in Paris. In 1988, competing against divers half his age, Louganis became the first man to win double gold medals for diving in two consecutive Olympic Games, a feat duplicated only once in Olympic history by women’s champion Pat McCormick in 1952-1956.
Happy Birthday Libby Trickett !!!
Libby Trickett (AUS) 2018 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100m freestyle), bronze (50m freestyle); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (100m butterfly, 4x100m medley), silver (100m freestyle), bronze (4x100m freestyle); 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4x100m freestyle); 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): bronze (50m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle); 2005 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (50m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle, 4x100m medley), silver (100m butterfly, 4×200m freestyle); 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4×100 m freestyle, 4×100m medley); 2009 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): silver (4×100 m medley), bronze (100m freestyle, 4×100 m freestyle); 2004 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC): gold (100m freestyle, 4×100m medley), silver (50m freestyle, 4×200m freestyle), bronze (50m butterfly, 4×100m freestyle); 2006 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC): gold (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4×200m freestyle, 4×100m medley) silver (4×100m freestyle); 2006 Commonwealth Games: gold (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 4×100m freestyle, 4×200m freestyle, 4×100m medley), silver (200m freestyle, 100m butterfly)
Libby Lenton, joined her first swim team at age four. By age ten, she was one of Queensland’s top age groupers. In 1995, the family moved to Brisbane, where Libby started training under coach John Carew, mentor of Hall of Famer, Kieren Perkins. But in early 2002, Libby began training under coach Stephan Widmar.
Her progress under Widmar was rapid and explosive. Suddenly, the 18-year old girl who had never reached the podium at the state level, stood on the top step four times, for the 50 and 100m freestyle and 50 and 100m butterfly, at the Queensland Champs in January, 2003. This qualified her for the Australian Senior National Team.
She made her international debut in April at the inaugural Mutual of Omaha “Duel in the Pool” meet in Indianapolis. She beat Hall of Famer Jenny Thompson to win the 100m freestyle. She finished first in the 50m freestyle in 24.92, but she was disqualified for a false start. However, officials later ruled her start was fair and she was credited with setting a new Australian record and the first Australian to break 25 seconds.
Libby qualified for and swam in three events in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. She earned a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle and her 4x100m freestyle relay team made up of Libby, Petria Thomas, Jodie Henry and Alice Mills overtook Team USA on the final leg to win the gold in the event for the first time in 48 years!
Libby cemented her position among the world’s top swimmers in 2005. First at the Montreal FINA World Championships by reeling in gold in the 50m freestyle, silver in the 100m butterfly and two golds and a silver for the three relays. Back in Australia, she twice broke the world record in the 100m freestyle at the Telstra Australian Short Course Championships.
In 2006, it was on to Shanghai, for the Short Course World Championships, where she repeated her performance, won five of Australia’s twelve gold medals, as well as being named “Leading Female Swimmer of the Meet”.
Libby won five more gold medals at the 2007 FINA World Championships. This time, three individual, the 50 and 100m freestyle and the 100m butterfly as well as two relays, with the 4x100m freestyle relay in a record-breaking time of 3:35.48. A week later, at the third USA-Australia “Duel in the Pool” in Sydney, she led off the 4x100m mixed relay against Michael Phelps. Although Phelps beat her to the wall, her time of :52.99, broke the world record of Britta Steffens by nearly a third of a second. A race she says she’ll always remember. Four days later, on April 7, 2007, Libby married fellow swimmer, Luke Trickett and started swimming under the name Libby Trickett.
Her performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games brought her two gold, one silver and one bronze. She was part of the world record winning relay team, the 4x100m medley relay, that brought home the gold, and her 4x100m freestyle relay team took bronze. Individually, Trickett won a gold medal in the 100m butterfly and took silver in the 100m freestyle.
Libby briefly retired from swimming in 2009, at the age of 24, but decided to return to competition in 2010 to be part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team at the 2012 London Olympic Games, winning yet another gold, her fourth and final Olympic gold medal of her career. Libby retired in 2013 for the final time.
Libby gave birth to daughter Poppy in 2015 and struggled with the transition to motherhood. Trickett had struggled with depression throughout other times in her life as well. She had worked with sports psychologists and by seeking that advice and guidance, Libby says, that “the biggest lesson she learned was that it’s OK to ask for help and that help is really valuable.” Libby is currently Queensland’s Mental Health Ambassador. In early 2018, Libby and her husband Luke had their second daughter, Eddie and in November, 2019 they had their third daughter, beautiful Bronte.
Libby also published her memoir, “Beneath the Surface” in the Fall of 2019.
