As We Close Out The Month of May We Want to Highlight Some of Our Honorees for Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
The were many early Honorees from the Hawaiian Islands, as well as other Pacific Islands, the most famous was probably Duke Kahanamokou, Olympian and the Father of Surfing and his brothers, but there were many others that paved the way for the athletes of today. Let’s take a look at some of those athletes that we have inducted over the years:
Duke Kahanamoku (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1965)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1912 gold (100m freestyle), silver (4x200m freestyle relay); 1920 gold (100m freestyle; 4x200m freestyle relay), 4th (water polo); 1924 silver (100m freestyle); 1932 team member (water polo); WORLD RECORDS: freestyle.
The history of modern swimming started with the English in 1838. It was the breaststroke, and still the breaststroke, when Matthew Webb swam the Channel in 1875; yet, bas-reliefs dating to 880 B.C. taken from the palace of Nimroud (now in the British Nimroud Gallery) show a fugitive escaping from soldiers by swimming a river using a head high overarm crawl. This stroke was evolving painfully in the western world until a bronzed Duke Kahanamoku swam out of the Hawaiian Islands with it in 1911. His world record times no one would believe.
Jam Handy describes The Duke as a superbly conditioned athlete planing and crawling over the top of the water as no one his size and only one smaller man, Perry McGillivry, seemed able to do. Only after ten years in Hollywood did a 42 year old Duke Kahanamoku in 1932 finally fail to make an Olympic team in swimming. He made it in water polo. He made his first Olympic team in 1912. “He still swam well,” says Handy, “but in the water like other mortals, he was no longer in that superb condition needed to get his body planing up on top of the water.” Kahanamoku, the perennial Sheriff of Honolulu, and island king in so many movies, was and is a real Duke by christened surname, as well as in deference to his royal Hawaiian blood. His father, Captain Kahanamoku, born in Princess Ruth’s palace during a visit of the Duke of Edinborough, named him Duke in honor of that occasion.
In swimming, he rates his dukedom by Olympic titles as well as his ambassadorship in first introducing surfing around the world, including Australia where it has become a national sport. Duke’s royal position in swimming took time to be recognized. He first startled the swimming world by shattering both the 50 and 100 yard world records on the anniversary of Hawaiian annexation day, August 2, 1911, just 12 days before his 21st birthday–doing 24 1/5 in the 40 or 1 3/5 seconds better than the record, and 55 2/5 in the 100, 4 3/5 seconds better than the record. Unfortunately the cast was all Hawaiian and the times were so unbelievable that the Amateur Athletic Union, headquartered in New York, refused to recognize them in spite of the careful reports that were compiled showing that the course in Honolulu Harbor had been measured before the race and 3 times after; had been surveyed by a registered surveyor, that the swimmers were swimming against the tide; and that his nearest competitor, Lawrence Cunha, was 30 feet behind.
After considerable correspondence back and forth, President Wahle of the AAU wrote:
“According to my mind, this matter should be treated very carefully and with extreme caution before the 100 yard record is to be accepted as an AAU record. If his 55 2/5 seconds were accepted and he should afterwards compete in the U.S. or Europe and be beaten by swimmers, the correctness of his 55 2/5 seconds would be seriously questioned as well as the good faith of the AAU.
For this reason, I would like to see Kahanamoku beat the fast men first and have the record accepted afterward.”
In the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, Longworth of Australia was the favorite but Duke won the Olympic championship in 63 2/5 seconds. Eight years later at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, on his 30th birthday, the Duke had to win his gold medal twice. The Australians protested his first win saying their man had been boxed, so the Duke had to win it again. Australia was fourth with Hawaiians first, second and third.
From the time the King of Sweden presented him with his Olympic gold medal and wreath of olive branches in 1912, the Duke has been an international idol, the first and foremost in a long line of Hawaiian world record holders, national and Olympic champions. These tiny islands dominated world swimming from 1912 until 1956 when the six Hawaiians on the U.S. Olympic team were no match for the Australians. Swimming had gone full cycle for it was the Australians who had been dominant in swimming when Duke swam past them in 1912.
Mariechen Wehselau (USA)
Honor Pioneer Swimmer (1989)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1924 gold (400m freestyle relay), silver (100m freestyle); WORLD RECORDS: (100yd, 100m freestyle; 400m freestyle relay); Hawaii’s first woman Olympic gold medalist.
Mariechen Wehselau became Hawaii’s first woman Olympic gold medalist by swimming anchor on the USA winning 400 meter freestyle relay team at the 1924 Paris Olympics. She was 18 years old and never had been out of the territory of Hawaii before she traveled to the tryouts in New York. It was the year that nine Hawaiian swimmers made the team…eight men and Mariechen.
On board the SS America, during the voyage from New York to Paris, Mariechen remembers training in the little canvas pool below deck. She wore a harness suspended from a cable so the swimmers would swim in place, a not very elegant way to stay in peak condition. But it was enough to enable her to set the world record in the Olympic 100 meter freestyle semi-final, take the silver medal the following day in the finals, and anchor the gold-medal winning freestyle relay team for the USA (she had already set the world record for the 100 yard freestyle the year before). Teammates Euphrasia Donnelly and Hall of Famers Ethel Lackie and Gertrude Ederle joined Mariechen in setting a new Olympic and world record in this event.
After Paris, Mariechen was invited by the Australian Swimming Association to compete in their championships and perform in various exhibitions. She and Mrs. E. Fullard Leo traveled to Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and many small towns where Mariechen won every head-to-head race, except one which was an impossible handicap.
From 1928 to 1937, Mariechen helped her coach, Dad Center, train the younger swimmers. She had retired from active competition leaving her mark in US and International swimming.
Ellen Fullard-Leo (USA)
Honor Contributor (1974)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: Organized first women’s swim clubs in Capetown, South Africa; Victoria, British Columbia; and Honolulu, Hawaii; started the Royal Life Saving Course; Representative to 1921 AAU Executive Committee (first women delegate); In 1921 helped launch the U.S. Olympic Association; Manager-Chaperone for swimming trips to Australia, Olympics and Nationals, raising money for the athletes to attend.
“Ma Leo” was the grand dame of Hawaiian swimming for more than half of her 90 years. She was not a “women’s libber” but it could have come naturally. Born in Capetown, South Africa, she was the youngest of 19 children (17 were brothers). “I had to fight for women’s rights,” she said, “just to hold my own at the breakfast table.” There were also 11 step-children so “Ma Leo” also came naturally by her success in handling large fractious groups of energetic children, something she did so well and for so long in amateur athletics as the primary organizing authority in Hawaiian AAU.
Still in Capetown, she married Leslie Fullard-Leo in 1908. They moved to New York, “Mother City” of the AAU in 1909, then on to Victoria, British Columbia in 1912. In 1915, on her way to Australia she visited Honolulu and decided to stay. In all three places, Capetown, Victoria and Honolulu, she organized their first women’s swim clubs and started the Royal Life Saving Course. The Fullard-Leos bought a home site on Waikiki from Prince Kuhio. “Ma Leo” introduced Royal Life Saving Classes to the Islands in 1917. With their great Nui Lani, it was natural for the Hawaiians to take to leadership from females, so Ellen Fullard-Leo was elected their representative to the 1921 AAU Executive Committee meetings in Chicago. She sent in her credentials and they were accepted. The only problem was that on arrival the delegate bearing the name E. B. Fullard-Leo turned out to be a woman, the first woman delegate in AAU Convention history. “One man grumbled that he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to smoke during the meetings. I put him at rest by explaining I was used to my husband’s pipe and tobacco.”
In that same year (1921) she helped launch the U.S. Olympic Association. In 1922, the Fullard-Leo’s had their Mid-Pacific Palmyra Island annexed to her adopted country the United States. The island was an important Naval Station in World War II.
Whether marching in Olympic parades, organizing the first women’s swim clubs in South Africa, Canada and Hawaii, or organizing the Pan Pacific Games and the Hawaiian AAU, “Ma Leo” has been a prime force in Amateur Athletics for 65 years. Her oldest of three sons, under the stage name Leslie Vincent, played featured and supporting roles in more than 100 Hollywood movies before returning to Honolulu to manage and develop the Fullard-Leo holdings.
Mrs. E. Fullard-Leo got involved in amateur athletics “because her husband was a great athlete and not because she was a tomboy,” says Hal Wood, sports Editor of the Honolulu Advertiser. “I grew up in the Victorian age when it was considered vulgar for young ladies to compete in athletics,” she once told him. “So of course I didn’t compete, although I knew how to swim.” “Ma Leo” never limited her interests to swimming. It followed that she was the manager-chaperone for swimming trips to Australia, various Olympics and Nationals on the mainland. It cost money to send Hawaiian athletes to Nationals in New York and Chicago, so she raised the money. She also raised the money for the Hawaiian lava waterfall in the entrance-way at the International Hall of Fame where she was one of the first individual Charter members. After she died in October, 1974 her ashes were spread from a surfboard off Waikiki in an ancient Hawaiian burial. No mermaid Haole ever deserved the honor more.
Warren Kealoha (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1968)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1920 gold (100m backstroke); 1924 gold (100m backstroke); NATIONAL AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2 gold (50 freestyle); Backstroke world record holder and national champion for 6 years.
Hawaiian Olympic swimming is a study in brotherhood — the Kahanamoku brothers, the Kealoha brothers and the Kalili brothers. The Kahanamoku brothers, Duke and Sam, were second and third to Johnny Weissmuller in the 1924 Olympic 100 meter freestyle after Duke had won in 1912 and 1920. The Kalili brothers, Mailola and Manuella, were on the silver medal 800 meter freestyle relay team in 1932. The Kealoha brothers, Pua and Warren, won gold medals in the 800 freestyle relay (Pua) with The Duke; and the 100 meter backstroke (Warren) in the 1920 Olympics.
Warren Kealoha, the baby of the 1920 team, was 16 when he won his first Olympic backstroke crown. He came back to win again in 1924 as the Olympics first double winner in any stroke other than freestyle.
Warren Kealoha, like his brother, was a USA champion freestyler, twice winning the National AAU 50 freestyle gold medal, but he was supreme for 6 years as backstroke world record holder and national champion.
“It wasn’t easy for Hawaiians to get to the Olympics back in those days,” Warren says, “or I might have had a chance at my third Olympics in 1928.” Warren Kealoha had more trouble getting to his races than winning them. “We had to break a world record before they could afford to send us to the Mainland,” he says, “then when we arrived by boat and out of shape, we had to beat all comers on the West coast, again in Chicago, and again in New York before we finally made the Olympic team.” Warren joins the late Duke Kahanamoku, Bill Smith, Buster Crabbe and coach Soichi Sakamoto as Hawaiian swimmers in the Hall of Fame. Now a successful rancher, Kealoha represents an amazing heritage of Island swimming which dominated the world for 50 years. The list, beginning with coach “Dad” Center and ending with diver Keala O’Sullivan, including Sargent Kahanamoku, Keo and Bunny Nakama, Douglas and Jerry Miki, Bill Woolsey, Allan Stack, Dick Cleveland, George Onekea, Sonny Tanabe, Halo Hiroshi, Ford Konno, Oshi Oyakawa, Charlie Oda, Evelyn Kawamoto, Thelma Kalama, Ivalena Hoe, Clarence Lane, Dudley Pratt, Jose Balmores, Kenny and Sammy Nakasone, Walt Richardson, the Honda boys and many others.
There may have been years when the Hawaiian Islands would have won the Olympics without help from the Mainland. It should be an inspiration to island peoples everywhere that swimming championships can become part of the way of life in island recreation.
Soichi Sakamoto (USA)
Honor Coach (1966)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: Great Hawaiian coach who developed many of the world champions between 1948-1956. All of his swimmers became National Champions during this period.
Soichi Sakamoto is the great coach responsible for modern Hawaiian swimming success. Hawaiian swimmers dominated the sport from 1912, but Buster Crabbe, in the 1932 Olympics, was their last champion of that long illustrious era.
Then came a drought and Japanese-Hawaiian Sakamoto, starting with children in an irrigation ditch, was developing new ideas of pace and rhythm with a metronome. His young swimmers were not the greats of Punaho School, then and still going on to Yale, but a new breed of public school swimmers going on to Ohio State and Indiana–Hirose, Nakama, Smith, Konno, Oyakawa, Onekea, Cleveland, Woolsey, Tanabe, Miki and the girls Kalama Kleinschmidt, Kawamoto and Hoe. All became national champions, most made the Olympic teams of 1948, 1952 and 1956.
During this period, Sakamoto was sought out by swimmers all over the world, journeying to Hawaii in search of the magic touch. They found technique, method dedication and conditioning, which produced champions at all strokes and distances, but as the coach told all in his somewhat difficult-to-understand English, “Magic, No!”
“The swimming stroke is a ‘working tool’,” says this master coach, “and therefore it must be one which must be sound in its practical use–to get the most out of a given effort. It must be simple and efficient, and one which can be controlled at will by the individual. . . Swimming with and not against the water.”
“Patience, above all, is tantamount and a rule,” Sakamoto continues, “as improvement, growth, speed and success come only at a snail’s pace. First, it is learning to swim, training and conditioning, competing and going through the bitter experiences of defeat and chagrin. The light of success comes only when everything seems hopeless and wasted.”
Takashi “Halo” Hirose (USA)
Honor Pioneer Swimmer (2017)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: 1938 NATIONAL AAU MEET: 2ND (200m freestyle); 4TH (100m freestyle); 1939 NATIONAL AAU: 4TH (100m freestyle); 1940 NATIONAL AAU: 2ND (100m freestyle); 1941 NATIONAL AAU: 1ST (100m freestyle, 800m freestyle relay); 1940-44 MEMBER OF THE MYTHICAL OLYMPIC TEAM, WHICH WAS NOT ABLE TO COMPETE DUE TO THE WAR; 1946 BIG TEN: 1ST (100yd freestyle), NCAA: 1ST (100yd freestyle), OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: WON BIG TEN, NCAA AND AAU TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS, 3 TIME ALL-AMERICAN; 1987: INDUCTED INTO OHIO STATE’S SPORTS HALL OF FAME
He learned to swim in the irrigation ditches of Maui’s Pu’unene’s sugar plantation, where his parents worked as laborers. Watching over him and the other kids was Soichi Sakamoto, one of their elementary school teachers.
Sakamoto knew nothing about swimming, but in time, he would come to be regarded as a coaching genius. In 1937, he dared to dream that some of his “ditch kids” could represent the USA, in the home of their ancestors, at the 1940 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Just one year after “coach” started his “Three Year Swim Club”, 15 year-old Takeshi “Halo” Hirose placed second in the 200m freestyle at the US Nationals, finishing just inches behind the great Adolph Kiefer. This earned him a spot on the US team that toured Europe and the distinction of being the first AJA (American Japanese Asian) to represent the USA in international competition.
During the tour, Halo became the first AJA to set a world record, as a member of the USA’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, at a meet in Germany.
At the 1939 Nationals, Halo was selected along with Maui teammate Keo Nakama for the US team that participated in the Torneo Panamericano de Nation in Guayaquil, Equador – a forerunner of the Pan American Games. Shortly before that meet, in the face of an international boycott, the Japanese Olympic Committee announced it was giving up the Games for financial reasons, owing to its costly war with China. While Finland was an eager replacement, the outbreak of WWII dashed Halo’s Olympic dreams. It was little consolation that he, along with his Maui teammates, Keo Nakama and Fujiko Katsutani were selected for the USA’s “mythical” 1940 Olympic Team.
After he won the US National 100m title in 1941, came Pearl Harbor, and once Japanese Americans were permitted, he volunteered to fight in Europe as a member of the 442nd “Nisei” Regimental Combat Team. On the battlefield he gained almost as many honors as he had in swimming events in Hawaii, the USA, South America, Germany, Austria and Hungary. A member of a machine gun platoon through some of the heaviest fighting in France and Italy, Hirose received five battle stars, the combat infantry badge and a Presidential Unit Citation. In November of 1944, he contracted “trench foot” during deployment in France and was paralyzed from the hips down. It was feared that he might lose his feet. Although he recovered the use of his legs after six months in rehabilitation, he would feel the effects of “trench foot” for the remainder of his life.
After the war, Hirose followed his Maui teammate, Keo Nakama to the Ohio State University where he became a three-time All-American for the Buckeyes. Although he was an NCAA champion in the 100m freestyle and helped Ohio State win the Big Ten, NCAA and AAU team titles, Hirose had been denied his opportunity to swim in the Olympic Games in 1940 and 1944, and his war injuries no doubt affected his chances to make the US team in 1948. The story of Halo resurfaced when author Julie Checkoway published the remarkable story of The Three-Year Swim Club and the men and women who brought national and international acclaim to the island of Hawai’i and the USA.
Winning gold is ‘way less important than having a chance to save a life’: Michael Phelps on finding purpose beyond the pool
Shared from CNN
By Emile Nuh Coy Wire
Updated May 25, 2026
Michael Phelps discusses importance of mental health
Almost a decade has passed since Michael Phelps set the world alight on the Olympic stage at Rio 2016, when he took home the most medals of any athlete with five golds and one silver.
And when he called time on his legendary career after those Games as the most decorated Olympian of all time – with an astounding 28 medals across four Olympics – it seemed unthinkable that his name would ever be synonymous with anything other than swimming.
But the 40-year-old has found a new calling since stepping out of the pool, becoming one of the most prominent and outspoken advocates for mental health and well-being in sports and beyond.
“Water safety but also mental health – those two things are who I am,” Phelps told CNN Sports’ Coy Wire.
Those are also the key focuses of the Michael Phelps Foundation.
The organization, which launched in 2008, was initially set up to help young people by promoting healthy living and water safety – as the retired swimmer was himself scared of the water when he first took up the sport at seven years old.
However, as Phelps evolved, so did the purpose of his foundation. And in 2020, it formally expanded its mission to include mental wellness and emotional resilience support for children.
“Being able to implement mental health into my foundation along with swimming, it kind of gives me that purpose again I had when I was competing,” the 23-time Olympic gold medalist said.
Finding purpose beyond the pool
Phelps’ foundation is just one of the many ways in which he’s now diving into his newfound mission.
In 2023, he partnered with online therapy company Talkspace and fronted its “Start from the Top” campaign, an initiative focused on building sustainable mental wellness habits through five key pillars.
He’s also delivered several keynote speeches around the world in recent years, detailing his struggles with depression and the lessons he’s learned through his many trials and tribulations.
Since his swimming career ended, Michael Phelps has been open about his struggles with depression and made mental health a key part of his foundation. Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Phelps is acknowledged by NASCAR drivers before serving as the honorary pace car driver before a Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway in 2024. Sean Gardner/Getty Images
The man who spent nearly two decades relentlessly chasing perfection in the pool has now made it his life mission to help others by openly speaking about the treacherous journey it took to achieve it.
And for Phelps, there was one defining, lightbulb moment that changed everything.
“I honestly think it’s really when I got to that point of not wanting to be alive,” he explained. “Once I got to that point, I was like, ‘OK, something is wrong. I need to ask for help.’
“That was the first time that I ever asked for help because I just didn’t know what to do, (and) I’m very thankful that I got the help that I needed because I wanted change.
“And then, at that point, (it was about) just being able to find that ground to stand on and be OK sharing the stories that I talk about.”
Saving lives trumps everything
For many athletes, especially those who have reached the absolute pinnacle of their sport like Phelps did, retirement normally signals the end of an arduous journey and a time for nostalgic reflection.
But for Phelps, when he jumped out of the pool professionally for the final time in Rio 2016, his work was far from finished.
There was still another race to run. One that, according to the Olympic icon himself, has a far greater reach than any of his sporting achievements.
“I remember after the 2016 Olympics, I was at Microsoft and this kid … I say ‘kid,’ he was probably 25 years old, stood up and he was like, ‘I have my dream job. Everything I’ve ever wanted to do has happened. And I don’t want to be alive anymore.’
“And I was like, ‘Bro, I hear you. I’ve had those thoughts before.’ So we had that moment where he was like, ‘You sharing that gave me the power or the confidence to open up and share.’”
In sports, vulnerability can often be misinterpreted as a sign of weakness – especially in elite athletes who are idolized by millions.
By continuing to speak so candidly about the importance of mental health, Phelps is helping to shift the narrative.
The motivation is no longer gold medals, but something far more important: “For me, winning a gold medal is way less important than having a chance to save a life.”
Eagle’s Rebirth: A Lifesaver’s Odyssey to Gold
Greece, 3 May 2026. Eagle’s Rebirth tells the remarkable true story of Pantelis Avramidis, a man who refused to be defined by hardship. After a lifetime of struggle, illness, and sacrifice, he achieved the unimaginable, becoming a European and World Masters Lifesaving Champion in his eighties, decades after most athletes retire. The film, directed by Stathis Avramidis and produced by the GLSA, is endorsed by international organisations (ILS, ILSE, MLC, ISHOF), and celebrates courage, resilience, and the power of the human spirit set against the backdrop of the sport that aims to enter the Olympic Games because it saves lives.
Synopsis
Eagle’s Rebirth is a poetic short film that tells the true story of Pantelis Avramidis, a man born during World War II who sacrificed his dreams for survival and family. After enduring poverty, 42 professions, and a devastating cancer diagnosis, he was invited to compete in lifesaving, a sport he had never pursued. Denied opportunities and challenged by age, failing eyesight, and numb limbs, Pantelis continued training, ultimately winning three international gold medals at his eighties. Through a visual language of paintings and symbolic eagle imagery, the film explores rebirth—not as myth, but as moral courage. At its heart, the story is not about medals, but about a father whose children return the dream he once postponed for them, through a sport seeking inclusion in the Olympic Games.
Credits
The film was produced by the Greek Lifesaving Sports Association (GLSA) and endorsed by the International Life Saving Federation (ILS), the International Life Saving Federation of Europe (ILSE), the Mediterranean Lifesaving Confederation (MLC), and the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF), which promote aquatics, water safety and lifesaving sport as means of drowning prevention. Dr Stathis Avramidis is a prolific author and an award-winning film director who tells stories that warm the human hearts. OneVoice Award winner Joe Geoffrey is the narrator and Yiannis Balambanos the video editor.
Impressions
The film received positive responses:
The ILS Secretary General, Dr Harald Vervaecke PhD, said: “One film, one protagonist, many messages. This is the first time since Baywatch that lifesaving sport is promoted so elegantly as a pathway to wellbeing. Congratulations to the Avramidis family for their gift to the global lifesaving community!”
The ISHOF Chairman, Dr Bill Kent, stated: “This film justifies my belief that the best is yet to come. We are the screenwriters of our own lives. Thanks for the beautiful moral lesson that it is never late to dream and accomplish!”
The MLC President, Dott Giorgio Quintavalle, commented: “With lifesaving sport at the background, the messages of this touching film are eternal. The values of family, love, learning, and persistence, celebrate the true meaning of life!”
The former ILSE Vice President and President of the Latin American Lifesaving and Lifeguarding Association, Isabel Garcia Sanz, said: “Stathis’ endless creativity is gifting the lifesaving community with an extraordinary story of courage and hope.”
Dedication
“Eagle’s Rebirth” is dedicated to the lovely memory of Dr. Louis Bonann, whose philosophy, that the “failure stones” of our lives, pave the road toward destiny, guided his son, Greg, to worldwide success with the TV series “Baywatch”. This belief deeply resonates with the spirit of the film.
The GLSA President and MLC Secretary General, Dr Stathis Avramidis stated: “Eagle’s Rebirth was made for Pantelis and dedicated to Louis — two amazing fathers who taught their sons that it is never too late for rebirth in whatever the dream may be. The storm always precedes the rainbow!”
Message
Eagle’s Rebirth, that took 11 years to be created, is not a conventional sports film. It is told through painterly visual storytelling — because memory, resilience, and rebirth are not sharp-edged experiences. They are textured, layered, and deeply emotional. Through the metaphor of the eagle, the film explores fatherhood, endurance, illness, sacrifice, and the quiet heroism that rarely makes headlines. At its core, the film asks a universal question: “Is it ever too late to begin again?” Its answer is a resounding “no”. Pantelis’ journey reflects the spirit of the Olympic motto, not as an athletic slogan, but as a human experience. He reached higher levels of performance, moved forward faster than expectations, proved stronger than the obstacles life placed before him, and ultimately shared the victory together with his family. The story quietly echoes the deeper philosophy of lifesaving sport, that athletic excellence should ultimately serve a greater purpose. In this sense, the film subtly suggests that alongside Higher, Faster, Stronger — Together, the spirit of lifesaving adds one more word to the Olympic motto: Safer.
Even Without the Pro Swim Title, Fort Lauderdale Was the Place to Race
Behind the scenes of the Fort Lauderdale Open: It started with about ten local teams and ended with a world record! Current photo via Liz Rosenthal
by Liz Rosenthal 13
Shared by SWIM SWAM
May 06th, 2026
2026 Fort Lauderdale Open
Wednesday, April 29 – Saturday, May 2, 2026
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center
Hosted by Swim Fort Lauderdale
LCM (50 meters) Prelims/Finals
Results: “Fort Lauderdale Open” on Meet Mobile
By now, savvy swim fans already know about the sensational swims, stunning stats, and record-setting results from the 2026 Fort Lauderdale Open.
But what you might not know?
While the swims were fast and the field was deep, it wasn’t supposed to be this big.
What began as a modest meet on the Florida Gold Coast Swimming summer calendar quickly evolved into one of the hottest stops on the national stage. So how did it happen?
Last year, Fort Lauderdale reinforced its reputation as one of swimming’s premier racing destinations, hosting a stop on the 2025 Pro Swim Series tour. The meet was magic, producing world-record performances from a formidable field of top-tier talent. Athletes and fans alike fell in love with Fort Lauderdale, and everyone wanted more.
In 2026, while swimmers and coaches were eager to return, the meet was no longer a Pro Swim Series event. As such, this year’s competition was originally designed to host roughly ten teams from around the Florida Gold Coast Swimming LSC.
But Dave Gibson, head coach of Swim Fort Lauderdale, had bigger ideas.
“When I found out we were not being asked to host a TYR Pro Swim Series stop in 2026, I started thinking maybe we could do a meet on our own,” said Gibson, who served as co-meet director alongside his wife, Jennifer.
From there, it was a steady build.
“I thought if I could get the Big 3 pro teams—Florida, Virginia, and Texas—to commit, then we might have something,” Gibson explained. “I reached out to those coaches first, and then to teams like NC State, ASU, Bolles, Sarasota, Nashville, Auburn. They were all saying, ‘Count us in,’ so it just grew from there.”
Even without the Pro Swim title, swimmers came back because they wanted to!
As interest surged, meet organizers recognized that every aspect of the event had to evolve to deliver the demands of a world-class meet. Although they had done it before, it quickly became an all-hands-on-deck situation.
Gibson and his team began assembling the infrastructure to match the field.
He tapped veteran officials Kathy Fish (not to be confused with the USA Swimming board member with the same name) and Allan Golding to help lead the officiating crew and oversee administrative operations. The meet took another step forward with the addition of World Aquatics observers, including referee Trish Martin and starter Lisa Vetterlein, who also served as a starter at the Paris Olympics. Their presence ensured that performances met international technical standards and that times and records would be globally recognized.
With the foundation in place, the planning continued, from hospitality and ticketing to media and athlete experience. Also amping up the atmosphere was the return of announcer Kevin Cargill, the familiar voice of the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships, as well as last year’s Pro Swim meet. SwimSwam’s Coleman Hodges and Mel Stewart jumped in to fill the demand for a livestream so swim fans everywhere could follow along. And Greg Huskey with Omega Timing was brought on board to ensure the timing system ran seamlessly.
It was a heavy lift, but it wasn’t carried alone.
“Swim Fort Lauderdale has some awesome parents and Masters swimmers who stepped up to help,” Gibson said. “We filled every timer slot for every session.”
More support came from Laura Voet and the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center staff. The Fort Lauderdale Dive Team Booster Club ran concessions, and Jennifer Gibson herself balanced co-meet director duties with overseeing hospitality and other responsibilities.
Even the weather cooperated.
Even with its rapid growth, the meet remained true to its initial time standards, keeping qualifying within reach for a uniquely diverse field. From high school and club swimmers to NCAA standouts to World Champions and Olympians, there was a lane for everyone. Fort Lauderdale was a place where they all could race. And the addition of a C Final for 18 & Under athletes created more opportunities to earn a second swim.
Prelims were wide open, showcasing the depth of the field. Younger swimmers tested themselves against the best in the world, and many delivered lifetime-best performances. Athletes as young as 12 stepped up to the blocks seeking to proclaim their place among the sport’s next generation.
By finals, the atmosphere felt like Olympic Trials.
And on that beautiful South Florida weekend, the Fort Lauderdale Open wasn’t even the only game in town. In addition to swimming, the Formula One Miami Grand Prix at Hard Rock Stadium, and the PGA’s Cadillac Open at Trump National Doral made it a sports fan’s dream weekend.
But swim fans are swim fans, and they do what swim fans do.
They show up and watch swimming! (Myself included.)
Even after the final race, the weekend in the sun wasn’t quite done! In the afterglow of her world record in the 100 butterfly, Gretchen Walsh talked about hitting the beach, while Leon Marchand was spotted trackside at Formula One on Sunday.
Looking ahead, all eyes will be on the Florida Gold Coast Swimming calendar to see what the Fort Lauderdale Open becomes next. Demand is likely to be high once again, as Faster in Fort Lauderdale is no longer just a slogan.
With all of the positive feedback, Gibson hopes they can make it happen again next year. “There is something special about this place—especially at finals at night,” Gibson reflected. “Just look at the world records set here.”
The African blueprint: How Penny Heyns opened the pool to a continent
Three decades on, Penny Heyns’ breaststroke double in Atlanta 1996 remains unmatched as her era-defining feat inspired a generation of African swimmers. In the run-up to the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, we look back at the impact Heyns had on the continent.
By Ockert de Villiers 20 April 2026 08:12
Three decades after redefining breaststroke dominance at the Olympic Games, Penelope ‘Penny’ Heyns’ historic double gold remains unparalleled in female swimming.
The South African icon has forged a new path for swimmers on the African continent with her breakthrough performance at Atlanta 1996, where she became the first athlete ever to win the 100m and 200m breaststroke gold medals at the same Olympics. Her incredible feat instilled African swimmers, both male and female, with the belief that they could hold their own against the best in the world.
Heyns paved the way for the likes of Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, Africa’s most decorated Olympian and now the IOC President, and later fellow South African swimmer Tatjana Smith (nee Schoenmaker) to dominate in the pool at the global showpiece.
“I feel extremely blessed. I’ve had people ask me, ‘Don’t you wish you were swimming today with all the opportunities and financial rewards?’” Heyns told Olympics.com.
“And my answer was no. I’m very happy I swam in the era in which I swam. It was a very special time for us (in South Africa) with Nelson Mandela just becoming president. His passion for sport was genuine, it wasn’t like a president being informed by a staff member that someone had done something. He took a very personal approach to us athletes. That was very special. I don’t think it can ever be matched.”
Sport providing a roadmap to unify a divided nation
Competing at her second Olympics, just four years after South Africa was readmitted to international sport, Heyns was swimming at a time when the country was still finding its footing on the global stage.
South Africa returned to international competition at the Barcelona 1992 Games, competing under the Olympic flag as the country transitioned from its Apartheid past into a new democratic future.
Distance runner Elana Meyer ushered in a new era, winning South Africa’s first post-Apartheid Olympic medal with her silver in the women’s 10,000m. Heyns made her Olympic debut at the Games as the youngest member of the South African team at 17 years of age. She finished 33rd in the women’s 100m breaststroke and 34th in the 200m.
Four years later, Heyns claimed her own slice of history, becoming the first South African since Joan Harrison in Helsinki 1952 to win a gold medal, with her world-record-breaking swim in the 100m breaststroke.
Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically elected President, acknowledged Heyns’ incredible achievement in a message he sent her at the time: “You have done our country proud. You are our golden girl.”
Two days later, Heyns achieved another first. Never before has a swimmer won both breaststroke events at the same Olympics. That is, until Heyns secured the golden double by defeating the 14-year-old American Amanda Beard for the second time in as many finals.
While South Africa’s fragile democracy was still finding its feet, Heyns and the nation’s sporting fraternity showed that it belonged in the global community despite decades of isolation. Sport provided a roadmap for how the newly found ‘Rainbow Nation’ could be unified.
Picture by 2022 Getty Images
Penny Heyns (centre) from South Africa celebrates winning the gold medal in the Women’s 200 metre Breaststroke competition with silver medallist Amanda Beard of the United States and bronze medallist Ágnes Kovács from Hungary on 23rd July 1996 during the XXVI Summer Olympic Games at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Allsport/Getty Images)… Read more
Penny Heyns: Becoming the breasstroke G.O.A.T
While no woman has matched Heyns’ achievement, Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima did it at both Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 in men’s races, and Italy’s Domenico Fioravanti before him in Sydney 2000.
“It was honestly a week before the Olympics that I thought about the 200m for the first time, because I didn’t like the race,” Heyns recalled.
“After the 100, I knew if I went all out and I hoped no one caught me, then maybe, ’cause I had the upfront speed, maybe that could work. It is not the way to swim at 200m, by the way, I only learned how to swim it in terms of pace the year before I retired. Only after I won the 200 did I hear that no one had ever done it before.”
Heyns could not emulate her double at the next edition in Sydney 2000, where she still managed to make it onto the podium, winning bronze in the 100m breaststroke event. By the time she retired, Heyns had built an envious portfolio which included 14 world records, three Olympic medals, double gold at the 1995 World Student Games, and three silvers from the 1999 World Short-Course Championships. She also holds the distinction as the only woman to hold all three breaststroke world records – 50m, 100m, and 200m – at the same time.
Penny Heyns: Setting the benchmark
In the years after her retirement, Heyns has seen Coventry and Smith build on her incredible legacy for female swimming on the continent.
Four years after Heyns’ retirement, Coventry was crowned the queen of African swimming when she won three medals in Athens 2004. She upped the ante in Beijing 2008, where she successfully defended her title and added three more silver medals to become Africa’s most decorated Olympian.
“When 2004 (Athens) rolled around, we had Kirsty Coventry just blowing the competition away and swimming as amazingly as she did,” Heyns said of her fellow Olympic icon.
“She then followed that up in 2008, ultimately ending up being the greatest Olympian on the continent of any sport and one of the best swimmers ever in terms of individual medals.
“That was a big one for us, and it’s proven by the fact that she’s now leading the Olympic movement and up to now doing a very good job at it, so we’re very blessed with that.”
Since her retirement after Sydney 2000, Heyns watched nervously as prospect after prospect came close to achieving the breaststroke golden double. There was Rebecca Soni, who is the only female breaststroke swimmer to win back-to-back golds in the 200m in Beijing 2008 and London 2012. Soni fell painstakingly short, also claiming the silver medals over the 100m distance.
Liesl Jones also came close to winning gold in the 100m and silver in the 200m at Beijing 2008.
Another threat closer to home came nearly a quarter century later, when compatriot Smith announced herself at Tokyo 2020 (in 2021), setting a world record to win the 200m breaststroke. Smith narrowly missed the gold in the 100m event.
At the next edition in Paris 2024, Smith added the 100m breaststroke gold to her collection and finished second in the 200m.
“For me personally, Tatjana’s success was very special. I was very lucky to be in Tokyo in 2021 to witness those swims,” Heyns said.
“I remember I was really emotional. Not only because of her success 25 years after Atlanta, where she won the gold, and of course the silver, and then the gold with a world record – but also what impressed me was her humility.”
Heyns said Smith was a role model for aspiring young swimmers.
“That’s a very important thing, as youngsters look up to athletes. We need to have the role models that are humble and have the right moral attitudes,” she said.
“Unfortunately, in the past, we’ve had some success stories where there’s been a lack of humility, in my opinion. But athletes are young, and they also learn. So I guess it’s all a process.”
26 Aug 1999: Penny Heyns of South Africa in action in the 200m breaststroke during day five of the Pan Pacifiic swimming championships at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre, Homebush, Sydney, Australia. Mandatory Credit: Adam Pretty/ALLSPORT… Read more
Penny Heyns: A role model to many
Heyns herself has been a role model to so many swimmers in Africa and has never wandered too far from the pool in the years after hanging up her goggles.
A life-long service to swimming, which started as a seven-year-old girl, is highlighted by her involvement as the chairperson of the World Aquatics Athletes’ Committee and Bureau Member.
On a more granular level, Heyns has a passion for forging young talent both mentally and physically through swimming clinics and camps, which include swimming technique, essential life skills, motivation, mental toughness, and sports psychology. Heyns also does one-on-one coaching with young swimmers, where she helps them with stroke correction and mental resilience.
“If I say I work with young athletes, it really is, as much as I care about the stroke and the mental aspect, I really want to impart, if it’s just two words to them that can change their lives in some way and make them feel more confident and motivated, then that’s really what the agenda is,” Heyns said.
Heyns said while there have been positive developments in expanding swimming’s reach in Africa, she believed opportunities were still lacking.
Many world-class swimmers from the continent ply their trade in the United States of America, where they get to compete against top talent every week.
“What hamstrings us is the fact that to get good international exposure and experience means travelling to Europe, Australia, maybe the United States,” Heyns said.
“That’s expensive, and it can’t be done that frequently. What the rest of the world has is frequent competition of the highest level.
“That kind of exposure is what will continue to be necessary for the African athletes to go over and continue to improve. Or maybe South Africa would also be the case, but then they’re still footing the bill for their own travel, which I think by large we are doing as well.”
An eye on the future
In recent years, South Africa has produced some homegrown Olympic champions such as Chad le Clos, Cameron van der Burgh, and Smith.
Looking towards LA 2028, Heyns believes rising backstroke star Pieter Coetzé could be joining this elite group on the Olympic honours roll.
Coetzé walked away from the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore as South Africa’s most decorated swimmer at the global showpiece. The 21-year-old bagged three backstroke medals – gold in the men’s 100m and silver in the 50m and 200m distances – becoming South Africa’s most decorated swimmer at a single global championships.
Considering his trajectory, Coetzé could be a serious contender for an unprecedented three backstroke gold medals should he compete over all three distances on his third appearance at the global showpiece.
“I think he (Coetzé) has exceptional talent. I think what’s very impressive is that he crosses between the 50 all the way through to the 200. That’s quite rare,” Heyns said.
“It is not an easy task. It’s very, very tough. It takes a lot of discipline, also to understand how your body works, and the kind of pacing you need for the different distances. So that in itself is very exciting.
“Pieter has the opportunity to maybe do the triple. On the day it comes down to the big match temperament, the mindset. Mentally, he’s very tough, he’s going up against the big names, and he’s beating them. So that bodes well for him.”
What to expect from Fort Lauderdale’s new ‘Water District’: aquariums, art and rooftop dining
By Susannah Bryan | sbryan@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel
PUBLISHED: April 28, 2026 at 2:51 PM EDT
The peninsula that’s home to both the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center now has a catchy new name: The Water District.
The rebranding dovetails with the ongoing $220 million redesign of the Hall of Fame.
The reimagined waterfront destination is set to open in late 2028 at 501 Seabreeze Blvd., also home to the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center and its famous dive tower.
“People refer to the peninsula as the Hall of Fame pools, ISHOF pools and the Aquatic Center pools,” said Mario Caprini, the developer behind the Hall of Fame project. “There’s too many names. We decided to rebrand the entire peninsula.”
When the project opens in 2028, visitors will find a marine aquarium built around a 10,000-gallon tank along with a rooftop restaurant and a new Swimming Hall of Fame museum.
“You can come to The Water District 15 times in a year and do something different every single time,” Caprini said.
“You come for a dive competition, you end up in the aquarium,” Caprini said. “You grab lunch on the promenade, you stay for dinner on the rooftop. That is what a real destination does. This is what Fort Lauderdale has been waiting for.”
An elevated public promenade overlooking the Intracoastal will be open from dawn to dusk.
Interactive screens will adapt educational content to each visitor, making the aquarium equally accessible to a first-grader on a field trip and an international traveler stepping off a cruise ship.
The waterfront destination will also house Frameless, an immersive digital art experience that transforms iconic works from across art history into a fully immersive environment.
The four-phase project is part of a public-private partnership between Hall of Fame Partners and the city.
“Fort Lauderdale’s relationship with water is its identity,” Mayor Dean Trantalis said. “The Water District makes that identity permanent. It is a generational investment in our waterfront, our people, and our global standing.”
The project, approved by the commission in 2023, is now in its first phase of construction. The buildings revert to city ownership at the end of a 30-year lease.
One Year Later: Katie Ledecky Returns to Fort Lauderdale After Vintage 2025 Meet
Katie Ledecky — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
by David Rieder – Senior Writer
27 April 2026
Through the back half of her career, Katie Ledecky did not need to set any additional world records. She secured her status as the greatest female swimmer ever long ago: four Olympic appearances, nine gold medals including four consecutive in the 800 freestyle, 23 World Championship golds including seven straight in the 800 and a series of previously-unfathomable world records in the 400, 800 and 1500 free during her teenage years.
Entering the 2025 season, she had not set a long course world record since 2018, when she was 21 years old. The rise of Ariarne Titmus and then Summer McIntosh had forced Ledecky from the peak of the 400 free, but she remained on top in the distance events, with a comfortable margin of dominance in the 1500. Gold medals were coming even without best times, and she supplemented her two in Paris with relay silver and 400 bronze.
But her early May 2025 appearance in Fort Lauderdale showed off a version of Ledecky that fans waited years to see. Most in attendance at that meet hardly remembered the era of a teenaged Ledecky chasing down records meet after meet, obliterating standards by huge margins. For whatever reason, her training and race readiness clicked perfectly on this seemingly-random weekend to produce magical results.
It started off with a time of 15:24.51 in the 1500 free, her fastest time in seven years and the second-quickest mark ever. A day later, Ledecky blasted past McIntosh for an upset win in the 400 free. Her time of 3:56.81 was only 0.35 behind her American record of 3:56.46, a mark dating back to the 2016 Olympics. Ledecky had not been under 3:57 since, and she had not cleared 3:58 in almost five years. “I don’t know if I ever thought I was going to be 3:56 again,” Ledecky said that night.
Suddenly, world records had come back into play. The 8:04.79 from her Rio Olympics finale would be challenged when Ledecky swam the 800 on the final night of competition. The crowd in Fort Lauderdale would roar in adoration as Ledecky went out a full second ahead of world record pace. Yes, her teenage self made up ground during the middle and latter portions, putting Ledecky just three hundredths under the split entering the last length.
One final effort, 28.46 magical seconds with her legs firing at full gas, sealed the deal. Ledecky had her world record, the time of 8:04.12 marking a stunning return to her own best. Ledecky celebrated in the pool and then with countless friends and supporters, including present and former teammates, around the pool deck, many in tears.
“I can’t stop smiling,” Ledecky said. “It’s been like that all week though, so it’s not really new. It’s been so many years in the making to do it tonight.”
No, the record came outside of a major international competition or even a national qualifying meet, but that did not matter. It’s not like Ledecky still had to prove her big-meet performance ability. Of course, she would do just that later on, capturing four medals at the Singapore World Championships. As usual, she earned gold medals in the two distance races, but she needed an extra dash of magic to come through in the 800 as McIntosh and Lani Pallister pushed her to the limit. The result was Ledecky’s quickest championship time ever outside of the aforementioned Rio Games.
She has carried that strong form into 2026, kicking off her year with a 15:23.21 in the mile at the Austin Pro Series, faster than last year’s Fort Lauderdale time, now second-best ever. Ledecky, now 29, will make another trip south on Florida’s Turnpike to Fort Lauderdale this week, once again set to race freestyle events from 200 through 1500 meters at the site of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Expecting another world record would be unfair, but it’s hard not to consider the possibility as Ledecky returns to the site of perhaps her greatest achievement in a career full of so many. Her full-force charge has never stopped, with a fifth Olympic appearance now squarely in view.
Passages: ISHOF Honoree and Michigan, Team USA Legendary Diving Coach Dick Kimball Dies at 91
by Dan D’Addona — Swimming World Managing Editor
26 April 2026, 11:37am
Wolverine Diving posted a tribute to the late coach on social media.
“With saddened heart, we lost a diving great today, Dick Kimball. Our coaches at Wolverine Diving have so many fond memories of Kimball, and it was an honor to be coached by him. He was truly one of a kind. We are proud and honored to have our club train at the Dick Kimball Diving Well at the University of Michigan. Kimball’s legacy will continue to inspire generations of divers in the pool. May his memory live on. Rest easy, and forever Go Blue.”
Dick Kimball was born in Rochester, Minnesota, and was a four-time Minnesota high school diving champion. After attending the University of Oklahoma for one year, he transferred to the University of Michigan and helped the Wolverines to three NCAA Swimming and Diving championships
Kimball served 43 years as Michigan head diving coach, winning five NCAA championships and 33 Big Ten championships. As a student, he competed on three of the Wolverines’ NCAA champion dive teams and won two individual titles in the 1957 competition. He also helped coach the 1964, 1984, 1988, and 1992 U.S. Olympic teams.
Part of his legacy was the fun be brought to the sport. At some swim meets at Canham Natatorium, including Big Ten Championships and high school championship meets, Dick Kimball would belly flop fully clothed from the platform. He even got former Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh to do it once with him.
That started when Kimball and Hobie Billingsley started a “comedy and acrobatic show” of diving in 1960. They gave more than 1,000 performances on their 1962 world tour and also appeared on TV shows including Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town.”
And that was well after he was retired as head diving coach.
The 2001-02 season marked his 43rd and final as the head diving coach of the men’s program and 27th for the women’s team, although he has coached women divers at Michigan even before they officially became a program.
During his time as head diving coach, Dick Kimball helped the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams win five NCAA championships and 33 Big Ten championships. In 1984, he was named NCAA Diving Coach of the Year for both the men and women, while earning the same honor in 1988 (for women only). At the Big Ten level, Kimball was a four-time Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year.
Kimball mentored nine Olympic medal winners, including gold medalists Bob Webster (1960, 1964 -Platform), Micki King (1972 – Three-Meter), Phil Boggs (1976 – Three-Meter) and Mark Lenzi (1992 – Three-Meter). He was an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic Team at five Olympic Games (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992), while coaching international divers at the 1968 and 1996 Olympic Games.
He also coached three Big Ten Women’s Divers of the Year: Diane Dudeck (1984), three-time NCAA champion Mary Fischbach (1988) and Carrie Zarse (1995). In addition, he coached 16 divers (nine men, seven women) to Big Ten titles during his tenure.
Kimball was a three-time NCAA champion at Michigan, helping the Wolverines win three consecutive national championships, while winning individual titles on one-meter and three-meter in 1957.
While at Michigan, Kimball also competed on the gymnastics team and won the national trampoline title.
He has received numerous awards and honors recognizing his contributions to the sport of diving. He was presented the Fred Cady Memorial Award following the 1972, 1976 and 1992 Olympic Games for “sincere dedication in achieving the ultimate in coaching the sport of diving.” He was also the first diving coach to receive the Collegiate and Scholastic Swimming Trophy from the CSCAA in 1986. He was inducted into both the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1985.
Dick Kimball was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.
Happy Birthday Donna DeVarona!!
Donna DeVarona (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1969)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1960 (participant); 1964 gold (400m individual medley, 4x100m freestyle relay), 5th (100m butterfly); WORLD RECORDS: 8 long course events; AMERICAN RECORDS: 10 short course events (she broke and re-broke her World and American records in these events many times); NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 37 individual titles in backstroke, butterfly and freestyle (including 18 gold medals and 3 national high point awards); AWARDS (1964): America’s Outstanding Woman Athlete, Outstanding American Female Swimmer, San Francisco’s Outstanding Woman of the Year, Mademoiselle Award, National Academy of Sports Award, and others.
What Eleanor Holm and Esther Williams were to the “Aquacades” 20 years earlier, Donna deVarona was to swimming in the 1960s. Her glamour and showmanship seen on television, in swimsuit ads, and as an after-dinner speaker are a popular reflection of a swimming record second to none in her time.
Miss deVarona won 37 individual national championship medals, including 18 golds and three national high point awards. She held world records in 8 long course events and American records in 10 short course events, which would have been world records if FINA still recognized 25 yard pool times as they did until 1957. Most of Donna’s world and American records were broken and re-broken numerous times by Donna herself, so she actually held many times more records than the 18 events she held them in.
Her versatility is reflected in her absolute dominance of the tough four stroke Individual Medley, often thought of in tract terms as “the decathlon of swimming.” She further won national titles and set world fastest times in 3 of the 4 strokes in individual events (backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle), establishing herself at various times as the world’s fastest as well as the world’s best all-round swimmer of her day. Her day was a 5-year period which extended from the Rome Olympics until retirement after the Tokyo Games. She was the youngest American on the 1960 team, and four years later she won two gold medals.
In between and following these two Olympics, she was the Queen of Swimming and was so recognized by the International Swimming Hall of Fame at its first International Meet in 1965. During her reign, as most photographed woman athlete, Donna was cover girl on “Life”, “Time”, “Saturday Evening Post” and twice on “Sports Illustrated”.
Her biggest award year was 1964 when she was voted America’s Outstanding Woman Athlete, Outstanding American Female Swimmer, and San Francisco’s Outstanding Woman of the Year, plus the Mademoiselle Award, National Academy of Sports Award and many others in as many languages. She has represented the United States, “doing her thing” in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Peru, Brazil, England and Italy.
ISHOF Honoree Anthony Ervin Leads Unconventional Masters Clinic in Montauk
by Dan D’Addona — Swimming World Managing Editor
19 April 2026
Olympic champion Anthony Ervin taught a masters class that was a little different than most clinics.
Ervin led a clinic in Montauk, New York, less on technique and more about feeling.
“Everything becomes so mechanical in our lives, even how we get through the day ” Ervin told the East Hampton Press. “I wanted to reinsert the fundamental understanding of movement in the water, to try to break up the mechanical nature of it, to get back to the liquid movement … in the water, you plan for every breath, it can be a moving meditation.”
The clinic was for swimmers 18-84 at the Montauk Playhouse pool. Ervin was Cal teammates with Lars Merseburg, who runs Imagine Swimming that also runs a pool in Brooklyn and three in New York City.
“It wasn’t a typical masters class — he had us play around with the strokes and with being in the water,” Jasie Britton, one of the swimmers in the clinic told the East Hampton Press. “(He) was trying to get us to focus on the flow, through practicing different ways of moving … seeing him swim that lap alternating the breaststroke and butterfly was the most beautiful thing to watch.”
Merseburg was pleased to see the different approach resound with the swimmers.
“Yes, think it, feel it, do it,” Merseburg told the East Hampton Press. “He wanted to show them what they could do.”