Happy Birthday Sun Shuwei!!
Sun Shuwei (CHN)
Honor Diver (2007)
FOR THE RECORD: 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (10m platform); 1991 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (10m platform); 1994 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (10m platform); 1998 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (10m platform synchro).
Sun Shuwei was 16 years old when he won the 1991 Perth World Championship 10m platform defeating his teammate Xiong Ni. Two years later at age 18, he was the Olympic Champion in the event, becoming China’s first male Olympic diver to win the gold medal on the 10m platform. His score of 677.31 points was well ahead of the silver and bronze medalists, Scott Donie (USA) and Xiong Ni (CHN). At the 1994 Rome World Championships, Russia’s Dimitry Sautin beat him by only four points but Sun returned in 1998 to win the World Championship gold medal in the 10m platform synchro with partner Liang Tian.
Sun started diving at the age of nine at the Guangdong Provincial Sparetime Sports School. At only 1.55 meters and 45 kilograms, he was a small athlete who relied on perfect technique to score high points. From 1988 to 1992, he won platform gold medals at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, Canada International Invitational and Chinese National Championships. He missed the 1996 Atlanta Olympics due to eye surgery caused by a detached retina. The injury prevented serious diving the remainder of his career.
Swimming World Magazine named Sun, the World’s Best Male Platform Diver in 1991. He was selected China’s best diver in 1990 as well as one of China’s national top ten athletes of 1993. Upon retirement, he was invited to coach on the national team becoming China’s only national coach who was an Olympic gold medal winner.
World Aquatics Championships Doha: Six Fukuoka Gold Medalists Entered (Full Entry Lists)
by DAVID RIEDER – SENIOR WRITER
29 January 2024, 06:53pm
World Aquatics Championships Doha: Six Fukuoka Gold Medalists Entered (Full Entry Lists)
The entry lists for the swimming events at the upcoming World Aquatics Championships have been released, and as expected, many of the world’s premier swimmers will sit out the Doha meet next month as they prepare for the Paris Olympics in July. However, plenty of top-tier talent will make the trip to the Middle East to try to add to their record of swimming accomplishments and get in significant international racing experience.
Click here to view the full entry lists.
Out of 17 women’s individual events, 10 will feature at least one swimmer who won a medal at last year’s World Championships in Fukuoka while the men’s program will feature more established talent, with 14 of the 17 events featuring a 2023 medalist. Six individuals won won individual world titles last July will be in Doha: women’s 50 freestyle and 50 butterfly star Sarah Sjostrom, women’s 50 and 100 breaststroke winner Ruta Meilutyte, women’s 200 IM winner Kate Douglass, men’s 50 freestyle gold medalist Cameron McEvoy, men’s 800 and 1500 free champion Ahmed Hafnaoui and men’s 50 back titlist Hunter Armstrong.
Matt Richards, the British swimmer who won the 200 free at last year’s Worlds, is entered in Doha in the 100 free and for relay purposes. Great Britain still needs to qualify a 400 free relay team for the Olympics after the Fukuoka group, which was a medal favorite, was disqualified for a false start in prelims after Richards split a sizzling 46.89 on his leg.
Meanwhile, men’s 50 and 100 breaststroke world-record holder Adam Peaty is returning to the global stage for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics. Peaty will try to post strong times in the event as he tries to position himself for a potential Olympic three-peat in the 100 breast, an accomplishment no men’s swimmer aside from Michael Phelps has ever pulled off. Qin Haiyang, who swept the breaststroke events at the 2023 Worlds, is not entered, but the three men who shared 100 breast behind Qin silver in Fukuoka, Arno Kamminga, Nicolo Martinenghi and Nic Fink, will pose a challenge for Peaty.
On the women’s side, Douglass will be in line for a big meet, as the gold-medal favorite in the 200 IM and 200 breaststroke, an event in which she joined the sub-2:20 club earlier this month. Australia’s Shayna Jack will go head-to-head with Sjostrom in the 50 and 100 free, with Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey also in the 100 and favored in the 200 free. Other Fukuoka medalists on the entry lists include the Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen, New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather, Italy’s Simona Quadarella, Great Britain’s Lauren Cox, Italy’s Benedetta Pilato, the Netherlands’ Tes Schouten and China’s Yu Yiting.
In the men’s splash-and-dash, McEvoy will face off with the top-two finishers from the 2022 Worlds, Great Britain’s Ben Proud and the USA’s Michael Andrew. Hafnaoui will have to deal with Lukas Martens in the 400 free while the distance events should be exciting with the veteran trio of Gregorio Paltrinieri, Mykhailo Romanchuk and Florian Wellbrock in town after none of the trio won pool medals at last year’s Worlds.
In the absence of superstar Leon Marchand, American Carson Foster could have a big meet in the IMs, as he will face off with Great Britain’s Duncan Scott (200 IM) and Japan’s Daiya Seto (400 IM). Butterfly specialists Krzysztof Chmielewski of Poland, Tomoru Honda of Japan and Diogo Matos Ribeiro of Portugal will also be seeking podium returns in Doha, as will 200 back bronze medalist Roman Mityukov.
Olympic relay qualification will be on the line in Doha, with only the medal-winners from each relay event at last year’s Fukuoka Worlds having secured their spots in Paris. That means the United States and Australia have little at stake in Doha while the aforementioned British team plus countries like China and Canada still have work to do. It’s unclear which relays each country will contest, although the American women might sit out some relays with a squad lacking depth behind Douglass and Claire Curzan.
Happy Birthday Sylvie Bernier!!
Sylvie Bernier (CAN)
Honor Diver (1996)
FOR THE RECORD: 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (3m springboard); 1983 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: bronze (3m springboard); 1982 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: silver (3m springboard); 1983 FINA WORLD CUP: bronze (3m springboard); 1983 WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES: bronze (3m springboard); 1983-1984 CAN-AM-MEX: gold (3m springboard); FIVE CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (3m springboard).
She took her first step off a diving springboard when she was eight years old and from that moment on, springboard diving for Sylvie Bernier was never to be the same. A 3m springboard queen was born. Sylvie was to become one of the world’s best female divers.
From Ste-Foy, Quebec, Sylvie began her international career in 1973 under coach Jean Plamondon from 1975 to 1982 and Donald Dion from 1982 until her retirement in 1984. During her career, she was a five-time Canadian national Champion and still holds the Canadian record on the 3m springboard at 544 points.
During the 1980s, Sylvie’s international achievements really surfaced. All of her competition was on the 3m springboard. In 1981, she won the gold in Dive Canada Nationals and silvers at the USA Hall of Fame International Meet and Bolzano Invitational International. 1982 was a repeat of ’81 except for the addition of her gold medal at the Torneo International Eleventh Can-Am-Mex. At the 1982 Commonwealth Games she won the silver medal. 1983 saw a USA Hall of Fame International gold medal and bronze medals at the World University Games, Pan American Games and 3rd FINA World Cup. She won the gold medal at the East German Rostock Invitational.
Then it was 1984, the year of the Olympics, in the warm up meet at the USA Hall of Fame International two months before the Los Angeles Games, Sylvie won the gold medal. At Dive Canada again she won gold. She knew if she dived consistently in Los Angeles she could win.
But, it was supposed to be the Americans and Chinese battling it out for the gold. They were the favorites. They didn’t know that Sylvie had been working on her entries during the winter months and was confident going into the meet. After Bernier’s third dive in the final round, a reverse dive pike, she jumped ahead of all others and kept the lead throughout the competition, fighting off silver medalist Kelly McCormick and bronze medalist Chris Seufert, both of the USA.
Sylvie had become Canada’s first ever gold medalist in diving and only its second Olympic diving medal winner, with Irene MacDonald’s bronze medal performance on the 3m springboard in 1956. Her diving performances had made her the most successful diver in Canadian history, and she was named the Canadian Female Athlete of the Year in 1984. Upon her retirement following the Los Angeles Games, Sylvie was named a member of the Order of Canada, member of the International Olympic Academy and the Canadian Olympic Association.
Bernier went back to university to obtain a Certificate in Administration, and in 1985 started a career in television delivering chronicles, interviews and serving as commentator for the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games. She is now a TV commentator on a morning show, salesperson for different companies and a lecturer across Canada. Being asthmatic since she was a child, Sylvie has dedicated herself to the well-being of children suffering form breathing diseases, especially asthma. She offers motivational and visualization conferences across Canada. She is married to Gilles Cloutier and is a mother of 3 daughters Catherine, Annabelle and Florence.
Sylvie did for Canada what no other diver has done, a gold medal performance at the Olympic Games.
Betty Brussel Breaks Three Age Group World Records at Age 99
Photo Courtesy: Swimming Canada
by DAN D’ADDONA — SWIMMING WORLD MANAGING EDITOR
29 January 2024, 08:18pm
At 99 years old, Betty Brussel is still in the water two days a week training.
The Dutch-born British Columbia resident simply put her love for the sport in an interview with the Washington Post: “When I swim, I feel so happy”
At 99, she broke three world records for the 100-104 age group (which she is a part of because of the year of her birth, 1924). She swims Canadian Masters for the White Rock Wave Swim Team.
Brussel broke the 400-meter free style record by finishing in 12 minutes, 50 seconds, shattering the previous age group world record by close to four minutes.
She also broke the 50 backstroke record in 1:24 and the 50 breaststroke in 1:52.
According to the Washington Post story, Brussel grew up in the Netherlands as the second born of 12 children and looked after her siblings during World War II.
Brussel and her late husband immigrated to Canada in 1959 where she became a seamstress.
She got in the water for the first time in a competition in 1991. Since then, she has set several records and will be the subject of an upcoming documentary, according to the Post report.
“I’m very fortunate that I’m able to do all this stuff, and I have good health,” Betty Brussel told the Post.
She will turn 100 in July.
Happy Belated Birthday to Abdellatief Abouheif!!
Abdellatief Abouheif (EGY)
Honor Pioneer Open Water Swimmer (1998)
FOR THE RECORD: Abdellatief Abouheif, Honor Open Water Swimmer
World’s Great Marathon Swimmer from 1953-1972;
Longest Distance Swim – 60 miles of Lake Michigan in 34 hours, 45 minutes;
Competed in over 68 International Races between 30km and 80km in length.
1964, ’65 & ’68 World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation Champion.
Famous swims, with first place finishes, include:
1953 – Seine River (Paris) France, 18 miles, 5:46.40;
1954 – St. Nazaire LaBaule, France, 26 miles, 7:41.15;
1955 – English Channel (France to England), 21 miles, 11:44.00;
1955 – St. Nazaire – La Baule, France, 26 miles, 9:32.00;
1956 – Nile River, U.A.R., 42 miles, 17:01.01;
1956 – Ouvers, Oise, France, 11 miles, 4:24-00;
1956 – Seine River (Paris) France, 18 miles, 6:37.50;
1957 – Saida, Beirut, Lebanon, 25 miles, 13:05.00;
1961 – Saida, Beirut, Lebanon, 23 miles, 10:47.00;
1962 – Lake Ohrid, Yugoslavia, 21 miles, 9:27.07;1963 – Capri, Naples, Italy, 23 miles, (tie) 8:49.35;1963 – Lake Michigan USA, 60 miles, 34:45.00;1963 – Toronto (CNE) Ontario, Canada, 15 miles, 7:37.26; 1964 – Capri, Naples, Italy, 23 miles, (tie) 10:43.57;1964 – Rio Corond, Argentina, 38 miles, 10:38.50; 1964 – Toronto (CNE) Ontario, Canada, 30 miles, 19:00.00;1965 – Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 10 miles, 5:18.54.2; 1965 – Lac St. Jean, Quebec, Canada, 25 miles, 8:34.35;1965 – Rio Parana, Argentina, 55 miles, 10:31.41; 1966 – Montreal, Quebec, Canada (30 hr. team race), 251 laps;1968 – Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada, 28 miles, 9:10.00; 1968 – Molson Sprint, 10:44.08;1968 – Narragansett, Rhode Island, 15 miles, (tie) 8:11.00; 1969 – Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada, 28 miles, 10 hr.;1969 – LaTuque, Quebec, Canada, 24 hr. team swim, 62.5 laps.
In a country where marathon swimming is the premier sport, Abdellatief Abouheif is Egypt’s national hero. Revered and respected, his fellow countrymen bow down to him, streets and buildings are named after him and when the great Abouheif speaks, people listen. To the rest of the world, he is an extraordinary phenomenon.
Very few other marathon swimmers can match the achievements of this amazing long distance swimmer. His death defying distance swims and open water races have been held in most of the major bodies of water in the world and under extreme conditions. For example, in a swim hosted by ISHOF Gold Medallion recipient Jim Moran, Abouheif accomplished the 60 mile Lake Michigan Crossing of 1963, spending 34 hours 45 minutes in the chilly 52 degree F. water. In 1962, he spent over 9 hours in the 84 degree F. water, completing the 23 mile Mar Del Plata swim in Argentina. But like all of his swims, he endures, takes himself to the limit and recovers.
Between 1953 and 1972, he competed in over 68 international races of lengths from 30k to 80 kilometers. In 1964, 1965 and 1968, he was the World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation Champion of a circuit of races held in Canada, United States, Italy and South America. Of these 68 races he most often finished first and in only 12 races did he finish below third place. International competitions were hosted by France, Argentina, Lebanon, England, Yugoslavia, Mexico and Holland.
Abouheif was born in 1929, the eighth of fifteen children and the son of a school teacher and Parliamentary member. He received his secondary education at Eaton and Sandhurst Military Academy in England. He returned to Egypt to serve in the army rising to the rank of colonel. Along the way he learned to play the piano, speak six languages, marry a beautiful Greek opera singer and become the world’s professional swimming champion.
Abouheif’s five foot ten inch frame that weighs between 200 and 240 pounds, is well covered with fat to endure the exposure to cold water. His eating had no rules and he would eat anything that smelled good at the time, which, before a race, could include two whole roast chickens and a quart of orange juice and milk.
He was held in awe by every swimmer on the circuit. If there was ever any doubt as to whether or not a race could be completed, due to weather conditions, Abouheif would erase that doubt and battle the elements to the finish line. No body of water was too difficult a challenge for him, either fresh or salt water. He has crossed or traversed the English Channel, Lac St. John, Capri-Naples, Canadian National Exposition, La Tugue, Quebec City, Chicoutimi, the Nile River, the Seine River and many more. His trademark was a flurry of strokes and a finish sprint that carries him to the finish line to strive with unyielding competitiveness and to endure in the battle with mother nature.
If an emblem were made that represents Abouheif and his feats, it would have a big set of beautiful white teeth amidst a friendly grin and a picture of a huge stomach. He became the greatest marathon swimmer in the history of the sport and set the standards for today’s open water swimmers.
Happy Birthday Petra Thumer!!
Petra Thumer (GDR)
Honor Swimmer (1987)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1976 gold (400m, 800m freestyle); WORLD RECORDS: 5 (400m, 800m freestyle); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1977 (200m, 400m, 800m freestyle); USSR-DDR MEET: 1977 gold (400m, 800m freestyle); 1978 gold (800m freestyle).
Barbara Krause, the world record holder in 400 meter freestyle and almost every other freestyle event, was sick at home in East Germany, but the GDR team hardly missed her as a relatively unknown, Petra Thumer, won the 400 by one and one-half feet over USA’s Shirley Babashoff. Both were under Krause’s world record. Babashoff was America’s best swimmer in 1976 and the longer the event, the better she got. Therefore, it is an even greater credit to Thumer that she again set a world record winning the 800 freestyle, the longest women’s freestyle event in the Olympics up until that time. She was largely responsible for the USA being shut out of individual women’s Olympic swimming medals for the first time since they first entered a woman’s team in 1920. She took Miss Babashoff in her two best events and world records were necessary to do it in both races.
Petra Thumer went on to set three more world records in her two pet events in 1977 and added the 200 in her tally of three golds at the 1977 European Championships. She would up her brief but brilliant career on a down note as she failed to place in the 1978 Berlin World Championships in all three of the middle distance freestyle events she had owned for two years.
Doping Disclaimer: In a German court of law, after this swimmer was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, team officials confessed to administering performance enhancing drugs to this swimmer, who therefore obtained an illegal and unfair advantage over other athletes. For more information, click here.
Happy Birthday Giorgio Lamberti!!
Giorgio Lamberti (ITA)
Honor Swimmer (2004)
FOR THE RECORD: 1 WORLD LONG COURSE RECORD: 200m freestyle; 2 WORLD SHORT COURSE RECORDS: 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle ; 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: 5th (4x200m freestyle relay); 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: 5th (4x200m freestyle relay);1991 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (200m freestyle), bronze (100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay); 1987 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (200m freestyle); 1989 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle relay); 1991 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (200m freestyle), bronze (100m freestyle, 400m freestyle); 18 ITALIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS.
Born January 28, 1969, Giorgio Lamberti became the fastest freestyle swimmer in the world. At age six, his body weak and frail, doctors suggested swimming to build himself up. He began swimming competitively. At age 17, in 1986, as an unknown, he won his first of 18 Italian National Championships. His swimming physique was like that of Roland Matthes twenty years earlier – light and thin, but his heart was unstoppable and his tactical intelligence was great.
Coming from Brescia, a town halfway between Milan and Verona, and swimming for Coach Pietro Santi at Club Leonessa Nuoto, Lamberti was named to the 1986 World Championship team from Italy. Lamberti finished in the “B” final in the 200m freestyle and was on the 4x100m freestyle relay. But he was soon on his way to becoming European and World Champion.
After a coaching change, Alberto Castagnetti took over as club coach and became Lamberti’s mentor for his career. In 1988, at the Arena Festival in Bonn, Lamberti set short course world records in both the 200m and 400m freestyle. Seven months later, at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Giorgio finished a disappointing 12th place. The burden of preparing for his final academic examinations and the constant hounding by the Italian press towards this new and exciting rising star of Italian swimming paid its toll on Lamberti’s performance. He took a short break.
It was at the 1989 European Championships in Bonn, that Lamberti began to excel again. He won gold in both the 100m freestyle and the 200m freestyle. His 200m freestyle was in world record time, 1:46.69, a record which stood for ten years until broken by Grant Hackett of Australia in Brisbane, 1999. This ten-year period is the longest period of time in which any individual has held the 200m freestyle world record since Freddy Lane (AUS) established the first recorded record of 2:28.6 on August 18, 1902. By defeating Arthur Wojdat of Poland and Anders Holmertz of Sweden, Lamberti set Europe on fire with his three gold medals which also included the 4x200m freestyle relay.
At the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Australia, Lamberti showed he was the fastest swimmer in the world in his event, the 200m freestyle. He won a second gold medal as a member of Italy’s 4x200m freestyle relay team. He competed later in the year at his third European Championship, winning the silver medal in the 200m freestyle, only .05 seconds behind Arthur Wojdat, and the bronze medal in the 100m freestyle and 400m freestyle behind Alexander Popov (URS) and Evgeni Sadovyi (URS) respectively.
Giorgio competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, placing fifth with the 4x200m freestyle relay. All totaled, he had four world records, one in the 200m freestyle long course, two in the 200m short course and one in the 400m freestyle short course. He became the most celebrated swimmer in Italy.
After retirement in 1993, Giorgio has served in numerous swimming capacities including the 1994 Rome World Championship Organizing Committee, the Brescia Provencial Delegate to the Italian Swimming Federation (FIN), president of the G.A.M. Team Sport Society of FIN and the Italian Disability Sport Federation, as well as a consultant to other swimming and sport organizations.
Happy Birthday Greg Louganis!!
Greg Louganis (USA)
Honor Diver (1993)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1976 silver (platform), 1980 (boycott), 1984 gold (springboard & platform), 1988 gold (springboard & platform); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1978 gold (platform), 1982 gold (springboard & platform), 1986 gold (springboard & platform); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1979 gold (springboard & platform), 1983 gold (springboard & platform), 1987 gold (springboard & platform); FINA CUP: 1979 gold (platform), 1981 silver (springboard), 1983 gold (springboard & platform), 1987 gold (springboard); U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 47.
Known as the king of diving, Louganis reigned over his sport for more than a decade with grace, power, and unequaled precision.
Winner of the coveted James E. Sullivan award for outstanding achievements in athletics in 1984, Greg established himself as the USA’s best athlete. Not only is Louganis the only male diver in history to win both springboard and platform gold medals for diving in consecutive Olympic Games, 1984 and 1988, a third set of double wins would have probably been his, too, if it were not for the USA’s boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games.
One man who came close to matching Louganis’ Olympic record was his first coach, Dr. Sammy Lee, who won consecutive platform titles at the 1948 Olympic Games in London and the 1952 Games in Helsinki. It was Sammy Lee who spotted the talents of Louganis in 1971 when Louganis scored a perfect ten at the age of eleven at the AAU Junior Olympics. Louganis was soon training with Sammy Lee and went on to win a silver medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. It was evident that Greg was on his way to becoming one of the best divers the world has ever seen.
In 1978 Ron O’Brien, also a world-class diver like Lee, joined the staff at Mission Viejo. That year Greg won both World championships titles and defeated the long-time platform champion Klaus Dibiasi of Italy. For the next decade, Greg Louganis was the man to beat on the boards, dominating every national and international competition he entered.
Like many athletes, Greg anticipated the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Unfortunately, the United States government boycotted the Games in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Disappointed, but not discouraged, Louganis decided to continue to pursue his dream.
In 1984 Louganis became the first man in 56 years to win two Olympic gold medals in diving. Hall of Famer Pete Desjardins of Miami had done it at the 1928 Games in Paris. In 1988, competing against divers half his age, Louganis became the first man to win double gold medals for diving in two consecutive Olympic Games, a feat duplicated only once in Olympic history by women’s champion Pat McCormick in 1952-1956.
Happy Birthday Libby Trickett!!
Libby Trickett (AUS)
Honor Swimmer (2018)
FOR THE RECORD: 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100m freestyle), bronze (50m freestyle); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (100m butterfly, 4x100m medley), silver (100m freestyle), bronze (4x100m freestyle); 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4x100m freestyle); 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): bronze (50m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle); 2005 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (50m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle, 4x100m medley), silver (100m butterfly, 4×200m freestyle); 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4×100 m freestyle, 4×100m medley); 2009 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): silver (4×100 m medley), bronze (100m freestyle, 4×100 m freestyle); 2004 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC): gold (100m freestyle, 4×100m medley), silver (50m freestyle, 4×200m freestyle), bronze (50m butterfly, 4×100m freestyle); 2006 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC): gold (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4×200m freestyle, 4×100m medley) silver (4×100m freestyle); 2006 Commonwealth Games: gold (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 4×100m freestyle, 4×200m freestyle, 4×100m medley), silver (200m freestyle, 100m butterfly)
Libby Lenton, joined her first swim team at age four. By age ten, she was one of Queensland’s top age groupers. In 1995, the family moved to Brisbane, where Libby started training under coach John Carew, mentor of Hall of Famer, Kieren Perkins. But in early 2002, Libby began training under coach Stephan Widmar.
Her progress under Widmar was rapid and explosive. Suddenly, the 18-year old girl who had never reached the podium at the state level, stood on the top step four times, for the 50 and 100m freestyle and 50 and 100m butterfly, at the Queensland Champs in January, 2003. This qualified her for the Australian Senior National Team.
She made her international debut in April at the inaugural Mutual of Omaha “Duel in the Pool” meet in Indianapolis. She beat Hall of Famer Jenny Thompson to win the 100m freestyle. She finished first in the 50m freestyle in 24.92, but she was disqualified for a false start. However, officials later ruled her start was fair and she was credited with setting a new Australian record and the first Australian to break 25 seconds.
Libby qualified for and swam in three events in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. She earned a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle and her 4x100m freestyle relay team made up of Libby, Petria Thomas, Jodie Henry and Alice Mills overtook Team USA on the final leg to win the gold in the event for the first time in 48 years!
Libby cemented her position among the world’s top swimmers in 2005. First at the Montreal FINA World Championships by reeling in gold in the 50m freestyle, silver in the 100m butterfly and two golds and a silver for the three relays. Back in Australia, she twice broke the world record in the 100m freestyle at the Telstra Australian Short Course Championships.
In 2006, it was on to Shanghai, for the Short Course World Championships, where she repeated her performance, won five of Australia’s twelve gold medals, as well as being named “Leading Female Swimmer of the Meet”.
Libby won five more gold medals at the 2007 FINA World Championships. This time, three individual, the 50 and 100m freestyle and the 100m butterfly as well as two relays, with the 4x100m freestyle relay in a record-breaking time of 3:35.48. A week later, at the third USA-Australia “Duel in the Pool” in Sydney, she led off the 4x100m mixed relay against Michael Phelps. Although Phelps beat her to the wall, her time of :52.99, broke the world record of Britta Steffens by nearly a third of a second. A race she says she’ll always remember. Four days later, on April 7, 2007, Libby married fellow swimmer, Luke Trickett and started swimming under the name Libby Trickett.
Her performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games brought her two gold, one silver and one bronze. She was part of the world record winning relay team, the 4x100m medley relay, that brought home the gold, and her 4x100m freestyle relay team took bronze. Individually, Trickett won a gold medal in the 100m butterfly and took silver in the 100m freestyle.
Libby briefly retired from swimming in 2009, at the age of 24, but decided to return to competition in 2010 to be part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team at the 2012 London Olympic Games, winning yet another gold, her fourth and final Olympic gold medal of her career. Libby retired in 2013 for the final time.
Libby gave birth to daughter Poppy in 2015 and struggled with the transition to motherhood. Trickett had struggled with depression throughout other times in her life as well. She had worked with sports psychologists and by seeking that advice and guidance, Libby says, that “the biggest lesson she learned was that it’s OK to ask for help and that help is really valuable.” Libby is currently Queensland’s Mental Health Ambassador. On February 28, 2018, Libby and her husband Luke had their second daughter, Eddie.
Simple Superb Filmmaking – Vindication Swim to Launch on March 8
By: The Daily News Of Open Water Swimming
To educate, entertain, and enthuse those who venture beyond the shore
SHARED FROM: DNOWS / January 22, 2024
“Simply superb…a constant visual treat”, raves Peter James.“Beautifully shot and very moving”, says The Lady.
The next wave of films about open water swimmers is underway. First with Nyad, initially released in the USA starring Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, and Rhys Ifans, and currently showing worldwide on Netflix. Next up is the Vindication Swim about the life and achievements of Olympian and channel swimming icon Mercedes Gleitze that will be released on March 8th in the UK and Ireland, starring Kirsten Callaghan who portrays Gleitze and John Locke who portrays her coach Harold Best.
There are several other films currently under development, an exciting new era of filmmaking about open water swimmers.
But right now, the next film up for public consumption is the Vindication Swim produced by Relsah Films with Sally Humphreys, Douglas McJannet and Simon Hasler. The movie will be launched on International Women’s Day, and was written and directed by Elliott Hasler. Starring Kirsten Callaghan, John Locke, Victoria Summer, James Wilby, and Douglas Hodge. The film is scored by Emmy winner and Grammy nominee, Daniel Clive McCallum, with post-production completed at Warner Bros. De Lane Lea Studios.
For additional details of the film, visit here.
The film website is here.
Vindication Swim follows Gleitze, who became the first British woman to swim the English Channel in 1927. The film depicts her upstream struggle in overcoming both the cold waters of the English Channel and the oppressive society of England in the 1920’s. However, after a rival comes forward claiming to have accomplished the same feat, Gleitze is forced into battle to retain her record and her legacy.
And what a legacy it was.
In 1933 Gleitze explained, “It’s having the willpower to endure the cold and not be disconcerted at the nearness of porpoises, dolphins and even sharks, to bear the pain of aching shoulders, knees and shins and to remain floating in the water with your arm seized with cramp and remain unperturbed when a large steamer passes too near. When you cannot have the hot drinks you’ve longed for and when an attack of sleep threatens to send you to the land of oblivion, but to have the courage to say I want to carry on.”
Gleitze (1900-1981) was a British pioneer and marathon swimmer from London who is a dual inductee having been voted by the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Swimmer in it Class of 1969 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Open Water Pioneer Swimmer in its Class of 2014.
Open Water Swimming Highlights
In 1927, she became the first British woman to swim 33.5 km across the English Channel on her eighth attempt in 15 hours 15 minutes from France to England.
She attempted to cross the 35 km North Channel 6 times, but never finished on any attempt:
Three times in 1928, Gleitze attempted the North Channel crossing of the Mull of Kintyre from Donaghadee, Ireland to Portpatrick, Scotland, each time ending in hypothermia.
She attempted both the North Channel Swim course and the Dál Riata Channel Route, but those swims were also aborted.
In 1928, she became the first person to swim the Strait of Gibraltar in 12 hours 50 minutes, starting in Cruces, Tarifa, Spain and finishing in Punta Leona, Morocco at the age of 28.
She accomplished a variety of marathon swims in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa including setting a British female record of 10 hours 45 minutes for swimming in the Thames River in 1924.
In 1929, she swam Lough Neagh in Ireland in over 20 hours.
In 1940, she swam Hellespont in over 2 hours.
In 1941, she swam across Galway Bay in over 19 hours in Eire, Ireland.
In 1941, she swam across Sydney Harbour in Australia.
She swam in Cape Town, South Africa in 1942 to bring the total number of marathon swims to a 51 with 25 of her swims taking at least 26 hours to complete.
She completed a 40-hour endurance swim in the Eglington Street Swimming Baths in Cork, Ireland in February 1940.
In 1924, she swam in the Thames, setting the British Ladies’ Record for Thames Swimming over a 42 km stretch between Putney and Silvertown, in 10¾ hours.
Between July 18th and 29th 1926, she swam down the Thames from Westminster Bridge to Folkestone (193 km total in stages).
On October 6th 1926, she swam 33.5 km across the English Channel from France to England.
In 1929, she swam across The Wash, Lough Neagh (widthwise and lengthwise), Loch Ryan, Firth of Forth, from Portstewart to Moville that was called short after 5 hours due to rough conditions, 22.5 km in Lough Foyle from Moville to Portstewart in 6 hours 55 minutes, commissioned by the Town Clerk of Portstewart Urban Council to boost tourism,
Between June 14th and 18th 1940, she swam around the Isle of Man (193 km in stages).
In 1940, she swam across the Hellespont (Dardanelles) from Europe to Asia Minor (both ways), in the Sea of Marmara, and across Wellington Harbour in New Zealand.
In 1941, she swam from Rangitoto Island to Cheltenham in New Zealand, won the Manly Swimming/Floating Competition (48 hours) in Sydney, Australia, and swam across Galway Bay in Eire, Ireland.
In 1942 in South Africa, she swam between Cape Town and Robben Island (both ways), in the Swartkops River and Cape of Good Hope, in the Buffalo River in East London, in the Modder River, Glen, Bloemfontein, in Germiston Lake in Johannesburg, in the Hartebeestpoort Dam in Pretoria, and in the Vaal River in Vereeniging.
She was not afraid to challenge herself and did not complete many attempts including:
In 1928 and 1929 between June to November, she made 6 attempts at swimming across the North Channel.
In September 1928, she swam 14 hours in Blackpool, UK, but her target was 25 hours.
In 1940, she made attempts in the Moray Firth and across the Bristol Channel, and across the English Channel.
In 1944, she attempted one last attempt at the English Channel from England to France at the age of 44.
She also did a number of endurance swims in pools around the world
26 hours: Edinburgh in 1929 and 1940 in the Infirmary Street Baths
28 hours: Dublin, Eire in February 1940 in the Tara Street Baths
40 hours: Cork, Eire in February 1940 in the Eglinton Street Baths
41 hours: Liverpool in March 1940 in the Westminster Road Baths
42 hours: Derby in March 1940 in the Reginald Street Baths
44 hours: Huddersfield in April 1940 in the Ramsden Street Baths
44 hours: Belfast in April 1940 in the Ormeau Baths
45 hours: Leicester in May 1940 in the Belgrave Baths, Cossington Street
46 hours: Sheffield in May 1940 in the Glossop Street Baths
46 hours: Douglas in June 1940 in the Henry Bloom Noble Baths
48 hours: Stafford in July 1940 in the Royal Baths
49 hours: Wolverhampton in July 1940 in the Municipal Baths
40 hours: Leicester in September 1940 in the Belgrave Baths, Cossington Street
40½ hours: Dundee in September 1940 in the Central Baths
41 hours: Hull in October 1940 in the Madeley Street Baths
41½ hours: Newcastle in October 1940 in the Northumberland Baths
42 hours: Dublin, Eire in November 1940 in the Tara Street Baths
42½ hours: Wellington, New Zealand in 1940 in the Boys Institute Baths, Tasman Street
44 hours: Auckland, New Zealand in January 1941 in the Auckland Tepid Baths
44½ hours: Christchurch, New Zealand in March 1941 in the Manchester Street Tepid Baths
44 hours: Adelaide, Australia in April 1941 in the Crystal Swimming Pool, Unley
44½ hours: Melbourne, Australia in April 1941 in the Brunswick Baths
45 hours: Rotherham in December 1941 in Main Street Baths
45½ hours: Chesterfield in January 1942 in the Central School Baths
46 hours: Cape Town, South Africa in March 1942 in the Long Street Baths
46½ hours: Huddersfield in 1944 in the Cambridge Road Baths
46 hours: Worthing in May 1944 in the Corporation Baths
Gleitze was also the subject of a documentary film by Clare Delargy entitled Mercedes: The Spirit of a New Age.
Gleitze’s legacy also indirectly touches channel swimmers to this day. Her English Channel crossing helped launch the first waterproof watch made by Rolex, marketed as the Rolex Oyster.
For more information and updates, visit Vindication Swim Film here.
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