ISHOF Honoree Libby Trickett tells of her shock heart attack ~ send her well wishes!
Libby at her 2019 Honoree Induction with Donna deVarona
Shared from Woman’s Day, powered by NOW.
Olympic legend and mum-of-five Libby Trickett has received an outpouring of support from friends and fans after sharing details of a shock heart attack she suffered.
In a video shared to Instagram on April 17, Libby, 41, revealed that there had been some “health things” she’s been “exploring and investigating” in recent months.
Libby welcomed her fifth child with husband Luke – a little boy named Archie – after a “volatile” pregnancy in April 2025.
“Turns out, in June last year, I would have been about two months postpartum after Archie, I actually had what turns out to be a type of heart attack,” the mum shared.
Libby shared details of her shock heart attack. (Credit: Instagram/libby_trickett)
She went on to explain she had suffered a specific kind of heart attack called a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) – a serious, often emergency condition where an artery wall in the heart tears, blocking blood flow.
“It’s not caused by the normal things that cause heart attacks like build up of plaque and things like that,” Libby went on. “But basically a tear that happens in the artery wall in the heart.”
The star went on to explain that her diagnosis has “lots of different implications” that she continues to work through and discover, adding that she felt it was a “frustrating condition” because it is relatively under researched.
“It almost exclusively happens to women under the age of 50, it commonly happens in pregnant women or women who have recently given birth. There’s a genetic component it seems.”
Libby appeared visibly shaken as she said it had been a “challenging” time for her.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty because there is a certain change of recurrence as well, and they don’t necessarily know why that happens,” she said.
“I will likely be on lifelong medication to manage my heart rate and my blood pressure.
“I need to do moderate cardio exercise, I can’t lift heavy weights, there’s question marks around rollercoasters and all different types of things,” she added.
“It’s been a lot.”
The star’s followers were quick to share their concern, writing messages of support beneath her post.
Home and Away star Penny MacNamee was one of those to send a message, writing, “Thanks for sharing and being so vulnerable Libby, sending you so much love as you navigate this diagnosis.”
Australian author Maggie Dent added, “Libby as always you are such a voice for good and sharing this big health challenge will help so many. Huge Maggie hugs.”
Libby is a proud mum of five. (Credit: Instagram/libby_trickett)
A critical care paramedic was also among those commenting on Libby’s post, with the expert saying they had been “screaming about SCAD for a decade” after having a young female patient “nearly get dismissed as anxiety” when she was actually having a heart attack.
“I was mortified how little was known and taught about it in the pre-hospital world and went on to present many times about SCAD,” they wrote. “Thank you for using your experience to raise awareness of SCAD. I hope your recovery is speedy.”
It’s not the first time that Libby has been candid about health challenges she has gone through.
In a 2019 interview with The Morning Show, Libby revealed how she had suffered from severe post-natal depression after the birth of her first child in 2015.
“It felt very slow and steady, as though the burden just became harder and harder to carry,” she shared.
“It wasn’t until she was about eight months that I had a mental break – and it was at that moment that I realised I wasn’t behaving in a normal way.
“I was so angry at everything, and I had no idea that anger was a sign of depression. But that was the moment I realised I needed to get help.”
Everyone at ISHOF wishes Libby a fast recovery and her ISHOF family is sending lots of love her way!
Passages: ISHOF Honoree and 1964 Olympic Gold Medalist, Steve Clark, age 82
by Matthew De George – Senior Writer
21 April 2026, 05:15am
Steve Clark, a two-time Olympian and a three-time Olympic relay gold medalist for the United States, died on April 14. He was 82 years old.
Clark was a rare two-time Olympian, qualifying for the U.S. team at both the 1960 and 1964 Olympics. He won gold medals in the men’s 400 freestyle, 800 freestyle and 400 medley relays at the 1964 Olympics, and he swam in preliminaries for two gold-medal winning American relays at the 1960 Rome Games before the rule change that allowed prelims swimmers to win the same medals as finals participants.
It’s one of several ways in which the final numbers on Clark’s career undercount his true impact. Clark was a dominant short-course swimmer, in an era where that discipline remained underemphasized.
He set world records in the 50-yard, 100-yard, 100-meter, 200-yard and 200-meter freestyles. He was the first man to break 21 seconds for 50 yards, 46 seconds for 100 yards, 53 seconds for 100 meters, 1:50 for 200 yards and two minutes for 200 meters. (The Olympic program in 1960 and 1964 featured only the 100 free and 400 free for men).
Clark was born in California and swam for Santa Clara Swim Club under George Haines, where he won six AAU national titles, and at Los Altos High School for future Cal coach Nort Thornton. He competed at Yale under Phil Moriarty, where he won five NCAA titles and graduated in 1964.
At the 1960 Olympics, in the inaugural Olympic men’s 400 medley relay, Clark anchored the American team in prelims to a world record in 4:08.2, the finals squad winning in 4:05.4 (only Jeff Farrell swam in both). He also swam in prelims of the 800 free relay. There was no 400 free relay in Rome in 1960.
Clark was not one of the American men to qualify for the men’s 100 free at the 1964 Olympics, suffering a bout of shoulder tendinitis during Olympic Trials. But he recovered in time for Tokyo, where he led off the 400 free relay in both prelims and finals. His time of 52.9 seconds on the leadoff leg in the finals set the 100 free world record for the gold-winning Americans.
His record held until the 1967 Pan American Games when countryman Ken Walsh took it down, and it would’ve medaled at the 1968 Olympics.
In the 100 free in 1964, Don Schollander set the Olympic record to win gold in 53.4. Gary Ilman was fourth in 54.0 (on unofficial electric scoring when he tied with Hans-Jaochim Klein of Unified Team of Germany), and Mike Austin was sixth in 54.5.
Clark led off the 800 free relay at the 1964 Olympics that set a world record in 7:52.1. He swam freestyle on the world-record 400 medley relay that went 3:58.3.
Clark won gold in the 100 free at the 1963 Pan American Games, beating fellow American Steven Jackman with a time of 54.7 seconds.
Clark’s career didn’t end at the 1964 Olympics: He set another American/world record as the first man to break 46 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle at the 1965 AAU National Championships in his home pool at Yale.
He was inducted to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1966. He enrolled in Harvard Law School and wrote a book on swimmer, Competitive Swimming As I See It, in 1967.
Passages: Two-time Canadian Olympic Medalist Nancy Garapick, 64
Photo Courtesy: Taylor Brien
by Matthew De George – Senior Writer
08 April 2026
Two-time Olympic medalist Nancy Garapick of Canada died on April 7. She was 64 years old.
Garapick died at her home in Langley, British Columbia, a Swimming Canada statement confirmed.
Garapick was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A product of the Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club, she qualified for a home Olympics in Montreal in 1976 at the age of 14. She finished second in both the women’s 100-meter backstroke and 200 back. She was named Canada’s female athlete of the year in 1976, the youngest person to ever win the award.
She won a silver medal in the 200 back at the 1975 World Championships in Cali, Columbia, to go with bronze in the 100 back. She added medley relay bronze at the 1978 edition of the meet.
At the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Garapick won five medals, including silver in the 200 individual medley (behind American Tracy Caulkins) to go with bronze in the 100 fly and 400 IM.
Garapick continued to swim into the 1980s, first at the University of California and then at Dalhousie University. She won an Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW, the NCAA precursor on the women’s side) national championship in 1981 in the 200 IM. She claimed five Canadian Interuniversity Swimming Championships for Dalhousie, from which she received a degree in 1982. Garapick also won a pair of national titles in the U.S. at the 1977 AAU National Short Course Championships.
In all, Garapick was a 17-time Canadian national champion and 38-time national medalist.
Garapick was inducted to the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the latter in 2008. She is also a member of the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame, which in 2018 named her one of the province’s 15 greatest athletes of all-time.
Garapick’s career was among those most affected by the Cold War geopolitics of the era. She was one of many victims of the East German doping regime that only came to light years later. In both Montreal backstroke races, she finished behind East Germans Ulrike Richter and Birgit Treiber, the former winning both events in Olympic records. At Worlds in 1975, she was behind Richter and Treiber in the 100 back and Treiber in the 200 back (though she did beat Richter to silver).
Garapick was not on Team Canada’s medley relay team in Montreal that won bronze, more than seven seconds behind the world record time set by the GDR. She also missed a chance at a second Olympics with Canada joining the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, one of four swimmers recognized as 1980 Olympians by the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Happy Birthday Enith Brigitha!!
Enith Brigitha (NED)
Honor Swimmer (2015)
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.”
Happy Birthday Dara Torres!!
Dara Torres (USA)
Honor Swimmer (2016)
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.
Kirsty Coventry (IOC) on why leaders should train – and fail – like Olympians
What can leaders learn from Olympians?
In the latest episode of Leaders Unplugged by IMD, IOC President Kirsty Coventry shares how an athlete’s mindset shapes her approach to leadership — from training with purpose to learning from failure and performing under pressure.
Drawing on her experience as an Olympic champion, she reflects on why listening and feedback are essential, and what it takes to lead a global organisation in complex times.🎧
Listen to the conversation and explore what leadership can learn from sport.
ISHOF is looking for swimmers for its Corporate Swim Challenge, which is going to be a great FUN Event on Saturday, April 25, 2026, from 3:00-6:00pm.
ISHOF is looking for up to 36 swimmers for our inaugural event, the ISHOF Corporate Swim Challenge. The event will be held, Saturday, April 25, 2026, from 3:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center. The format of the event will be: Each team of four will swim as many laps as they can in the 45 minutes time limit; Any of the four swimmers on the team can substitute for one another as many times as they like during the forty five minutes; Just try and get in as many laps as you can in to win.
It will be a great day filled with music, fun, food, prizes and friends!
If you would like to participate and be a part of this great event, email Devin at Devin@ishof.org or call 631.880.2539.
Come join the Fun!!!
Texas, Again: Longhorn Men Prevail at NCAA Championships for Second Straight Year, 17th Overall Title
Texas celebrates another national championship — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick]
by David Rieder – Senior Writer
28 March 2026
Throughout the four days of the NCAA Men’s Championships, the Texas Longhorns were not exactly showing peak form. Hubert Kos delivered a performance best described as legendary, pushing Josh Liendo to the limit in the 100 butterfly before swimming the fastest time ever in both backstroke events, but results for Rex Maurer, Will Modglin, and Nate Germonprez, top seeds entering the competition, were mixed. Several members of the team’s supporting cast could not replicate their sensational midseason times, particularly after the team dealt with multiple bouts of illness following the SEC Championships.
Meanwhile, the Florida Gators were making a run, enough to make head coach Bob Bowman nervous. Liendo won three sprint titles while distance aces Ahmed Jaouadi and Ahmed Hafnaoui each came through with dramatic victories. Florida briefly took the lead over Texas during Friday’s finals, and although the Longhorns would quickly restore order, the margin was just 9.5 points at the end of the night.
But simply, by meet’s end, Texas had too much. The team set the tone with an opening-night win in the 800 free relay with Rafael Fente-Damers, Camden Taylor, Maurer and Baylor Nelson. Maurer set an American record in his winning effort in the 400 IM with Nelson taking second. Maurer and Nelson each added another top-three finish, Maurer in the 500 free and Nelson in the 200 IM. Campbell McKean and Germonprez picked up a 2-3 finish in the 100 breaststroke, and Germonprez came in fifth in the 200 breast.
Modglin swam in three championship finals, finishing fourth in the 100 back and 200 IM, and Cooper Lucas came in sixth in the 400 IM. Sprint freestyle has been a weakness all season, but the relays came through, all finishing in the top six. Diving did its part, as per usual under longtime diving coach Matt Scoggin, with Nick Harris and Luke Forester placing sixth and seventh, respectively, in 3-meter.
The last day was especially critical, with Texas putting three swimmers and one diver into championship finals and getting five more scoring points between ninth and 16th place.
Bob Bowman rooting on his team at the NCAA Championships — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
“With the challenge Florida gave us, I wasn’t confident that we might be able to win until after this morning session,” Bowman said. “I never once thought we would win until maybe after the prelims this morning. They were swimming very well. They improved quite a bit off of their seeds. We did not. We didn’t swim particularly well in a number of places here. I just thought we showed great resilience and toughness and just stayed with the task until we got it to a point where it was manageable.”
The Longhorns finished the meet with 445.5 points, 29 ahead of second-place Florida, to secure their second consecutive NCAA title and 17th all-time. Bowman has now guided his teams to three consecutive national titles after previously winning with Arizona State in 2024. Eddie Reese, who guided the program for more than 40 seasons, was responsible for the first 15 titles.
“It’s a lot of fun, actually,” Bowman said. “It’s pretty gratifying because for me as a coach, all of my real success in the first half of my career was in long course meters. I was the coach at Michigan for four years in there, but I had no idea what I was doing. Sorry, boys. I figured it out later. We had some kind of success there with long course, not really in the college system.
“When I got to ASU, I had nine years to kind of figure this thing out, and it’s just fun now to understand the game, even as it changes week to week, and just try to learn how to put together a roster and then develop that. Gratifying, but really just fun.”
Florida scored 416 points to capture second place, the team’s highest finish since 1985. Indiana’s impressive final day lifted the Hoosiers to third place with 351 while Arizona State rode four relay wins to 328 points and a fourth-place finish. Tennessee claimed fifth with 272 points, just ahead of NC State (258.5). A rebuilding campaign for California put the Bears in seventh (231), followed by Michigan (220), Virginia (192) and Stanford (136).
This latest title-winning team fully embraced their head coach’s motivational tactics that have previously directed some of the greatest swimmers in history. Bowman knew his team was heavily favored entering this meet, expecting a different scenario than the knockout fight with Cal last season that was decided by just 19 points. Still, he steered the team toward daily incremental improvement, assuming that every point would count at the end.
“I think we try to keep the same mindset either way,” Maurer said. “We don’t really focus on external projections or external expectations on what we need to do. Our goal is to win by as many points as possible, no matter if we are expected to or if we’re expected to win by one point. I think just keeping our foot on the pedal for this entire meet until that last relay finishes is our goal no matter what.”
Each day when Bowman gives his swimmers their workouts, the sheet includes his favorite catchphrase: “Do your work.” Those three words perfectly capture the level-headed intensity he expects from his athletes, and the results, evident for decades, continue to show up. His rapid rebuilding of Texas into the country’s premier program ranks among his greatest accomplishments, even in a career that has included years mentoring Michael Phelps and Leon Marchand.
“Just do your work because that’s the only thing you can control,” Kos said. “You do your work, then everything else will fall into place, and there’s nothing else you can really control.”
In honor of Women’s History Month, Hilda James: One of the great early female pioneers and feminists!
Hilda James (GBR) 2016 Honor Pioneer Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 1920 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (4x100m freestyle); SEVEN WORLD RECORDS: two (300yd freestyle), two (150yd freestyle), one (440yd freestyle), one (400m freestyle), two (220yd freestyle), three (300m freestyle); 29 ENGLISH RECORDS: four (300yd freestyle), one (440yd freestyle), one (500yd freestyle), four (220yd freestyle), four (100yd freestyle), four (150yd freestyle), two (440yd freestyle), two (500yd freestyle), one (440m freestyle), one (1750yd freestyle), one (880yd freestyle), one (1000yd freestyle); EIGHT U.K. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: four (220yd freestyle), one (100yd freestyle), two (Thames Long Distance from Kew Putney five miles 50yd), one (440yd freestyle); FOUR SCOTTISH RECORDS: one (220yd freestyle), two (200yd freestyle), one (300yd freestyle), one (400m freestyle); FOUR OTHER MEET RESULTS: gold (300yd individual medley), gold (220yd freestyle), gold (110yd breaststroke), one River Seine 8k Race.
To avoid attending Church of England religious education classes, which conflicted with her parents religious beliefs, this 11-year old Liverpudlian was assigned to swimming classes at the Garston Baths.
Five years later, Hilda James was Great Britain’s best female swimmer and left for the 1920 Olympic Games with high expectations. Unfortunately in Amsterdam, the USA women completely dominated, sweeping the gold, silver and bronze medals in the 100m and 300m freestyle, the only individual swimming events for women at the 1920 Games. And while the British did win silver medals in the 4x100m relay, they finished a full 30 seconds behind the Americans. The following day Hilda cheekily asked the American coach, Lou de B. Handley, to teach her the American Crawl.
In 1922, Hilda was invited by her American friends to visit the USA for the summer racing season. While she was still behind the American stars Helen Wainwright and Gertrude Ederle, she was closing the gap.
By 1924, Hilda held every British and European freestyle record from 100 meters to the mile, and a handful of world records as well. She easily made the 1924 Olympic team, and it was widely believed that she would return from Paris with a handful of medals. When Hilda’s mother insisted she accompany her daughter as chaperone, and the British Olympic Committee refused, Hilda’s mother refused to let her go. Unfortunately, Hilda was not yet 21, was under the care of her parents – and had to obey.
Hilda turned 21 shortly after the Olympic Games, gained her independence, and took a job with the Cunard Shipping Company, traveling the world as a celebrity spokesperson, at a time when women were just starting to gain their freedom.
We will never know how Hilda would have fared in the 1924 Olympic Games, but she was a trailblazer and one of Europe’s first female sports superstars who inspired future generations of girls to follow in her wake.
From Hilda’s grandson: Ian Hugh McAllister:
tFenSbcpodroungssagaeryr lo5tnarm, e2d0d1a4 · Poole, United Kingdom ·
My Grandmother Hilda James officially opened the pool in 1925. As the premiere swimming star of the era she was also invited to participate in the opening gala but declined to swim in the races, substituting a demonstration of trick and fancy swimming instead. What the audience didn’t know was that she had already signed as a professional with Cunard, and was due to become the first celebrity crew member aboard Carinthia, the very first purpose-built cruise liner. Although not officially on the Cunard payroll until the following week, she was not exactly sure when they would start paying her, and dared not compete in case the press found out she was no longer an amateur. It was a poignant moment for Hilda, her last ever appearance as an amateur following a meteoric nine year career. During that time she held an Olympic silver medal, broke seven World Records, and actually introduced the crawl stroke to the UK.
The whole story is told in her biography “Lost Olympics” which was published last year on Amazon and for Kindle download. Please visit the Lost Olympics facebook page for a lot more information, including my various TV and radio interviews etc. Hilda has recently been nominated for induction to The International Swimming Hall of Fame.
When the pool gets rebuilt, can I come and open it again for you, or at least be at the opening? (although I am no swimmer!)
If you are interested in purchasing a copy of The Hilda James story: Lost Olympics, please reach out to meg@ishof.org
City of Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis praises ISHOF in his monthly newsletter
Photo credit City of Fort Lauderdale
March 2026
Mayor Dean Trantalis, City of Fort Lauderdale
The transformation of the International Swimming Hall of Fame is set to be built alongside the redeveloped Aquatic Center, while the new THRIVE Arts District has begun bringing fresh life to Progresso Village through art, commerce and adaptive reuse. Both projects point to the same commitment. Fort Lauderdale is investing in places that strengthen identity, expand opportunity and create lasting value.
The International Swimming Hall of Fame has long held an important place in Fort Lauderdale’s story. It is part of our beachfront and part of our history and connects Fort Lauderdale to the global swimming community.
Now, the second phase of its modernization will soon get underway. The museum portion of the complex is expected to begin its $220 million transformation this summer following the City Commission’s unanimous approval of its design. The reimagined destination is targeted to open in late 2028.
Plans call for a larger and more elegant International Swimming Hall of Fame museum, a family-friendly aquarium, a rooftop restaurant with panoramic waterfront views as well as space for events and exhibits. An elevated promenade will strengthen the public experience from the beach toward the Intracoastal.
We accomplish this update while maintaining a sense of place at the complex. The approved concept was scaled to a more intimate structure, preserving the skyline and protecting the visual prominence of the Aquatic Center and its iconic dive tower. After all, progress should not compete with identity, but reinforce it.
What a great way to bookend the accomplishments we have already completed on this historic peninsula. It was only a few short years ago that we undertook a massive overhaul of the aquatic center. We upgraded pools, built new grandstands, improved spectator amenities and added the now-famous 27-meter dive tower.
The renovated aquatic center and the new ISHOF will be a great combination. We are restoring the city’s standing as an international venue for swimming and diving and enhancing the opportunities for locals and visitors alike.
A revitalized Hall of Fame can do more than celebrate elite achievement. It can introduce young people to aquatic history. It creates more reasons for residents to return and for visitors to stay longer. This is the kind of investment in community that makes sense.
While the Swimming Hall of Fame represents Fort Lauderdale rebuilding one of its most significant public assets, the THRIVE Arts District reflects investment in a different but equally important kind of strength: neighborhood energy, local enterprise and adaptive reuse.