Happy Birthday Andras Hargitay!!
Andras Hargitay (HUN)
Honor Swimmer (2008)
FOR THE RECORD: 1972 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (400m I.M.); ONE WORLD RECORD: 400m I.M.; 1973 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (400m I.M.); 1975 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (200m I.M., 400m I.M.); 1974 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (200m butterfly, 400m I.M.), bronze (200m I.M.); 1977 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (200m I.M.).
The small, European country of Hungary is noted for producing the world’s great individual medley swimmers including Olympic champions, Tamas Darnyi and Attila Czsne. But it all began with a young 16 year old swimmer, who in 1972 won the Olympic bronze medal in the 400 IM in Munich, less than one second behind Gunnar Larson of Sweden and Tim McKee of the US who finished with identical times. Under the coaching guidance of Tamas Szechy, Andras Hargitay was on his way to become the great IM swimmer of the 1970’s.
At the first World Championships in 1973 Belgrade and again in 1975, Hargitay beat the competition by over three seconds to win gold in the 400 meter IM as well as a gold medal in the 200 IM in 1975. At the Vienna European Championships of 1974, he not only won the gold medals in the 200 meter butterfly and 400 IM, he broke Gary Hall’s 400 IM five-year old world record by two seconds, holding the record for two years until it was broken by his team mate, Zolton Verraszto. In 1977, he again won the European Championships, this time in the 200 IM. All told, he won six titles at World and European Championships and was named the Hungarian Sportsman of the Year for 1975.
Happy Birthday Tom Gompf!!
Tom Gompf (USA)
Honor Contributor (2002)
FOR THE RECORD: 1964 Olympic Games: bronze (10m platform); 3 National AAU Championships: (trampoline-1, 10m platform-2); 4 Foreign National Championships: Japan (3), Spain (1); 2 World Professional High Dive Championships; 11 years Diving Coach: University of Miami (FL) (1971-82); 1976, 1984 U.S. Olympic Diving Team: Coach/Manager; U.S. Olympic Committee Executive Board of Directors: Member (1977-2000); 1984-2004 FINA Technical Diving Committee: Chairman (1988-2000); U.S. Diving, Inc.: President (1985-90); U.S. Aquatic Sports: President (1999-present); Executive Board of Amateur Swimming Union of the Americas: member (1999-present).
Tom Gompf loves all aspects of diving; always has, always will. He started as a young local
competitor, advanced to the Olympic Games, performed in professional competition and grew to serve the international diving community as an administrative leader. He is a hard worker for the good of the sport and a friend to all. Gompf has had a profound international influence on the sport of diving.
As a youngster, growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Tom won five National YMCA Diving titles and two National AAU Junior Nationals Championships. He was coached in the early years by Ray Zahn, George Burger and Lou Cox.
By the time he graduated from college at Ohio State University in 1961, diving for Hall of Fame Coach Mike Peppe, Tom had won the NCAA National Trampoline Championships and a year later, the U.S. National AAU Diving Championships twice on the 10m platform. In 1964 at the Tokyo Olympics, and under the eye (1961-1965) of coach Dick Smith, Tom won the bronze
medal on the 10m platform, only two points behind gold medalist Bob Webster (USA) and one point behind silver medalist Klaus Dibiasi (Italy) both Hall of Famers. Tom went on to win National Championships in Spain and Japan and then competed in and won first place in the 1970 and 1971 World Professional High Diving Championships in Montreal. His next competition
was diving off the cliffs of Acapulco. He survived. All this was while flying several hundred combat missions in Vietnam from 1965 to 1967 earning the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Air Medal with multiple silver clusters.
From 1971 to 1982, he coached diving at the University of Miami (FL) developing divers, winning six National Championships and competing on World, Pan American and Olympic teams. Steve McFarland, Melissa Briley, Julie Capps, Greg Garlich and Greg Louganis were among his team members.
But perhaps Tom’s greatest contribution came from behind the scenes as a leader in the sport. Universally acknowledged for his low-key, amiable manner, his stock-in-trade is his ability to work effectively and silently to promote the sport. Extremely intelligent, he can be very persuasive. Says one veteran, “Tom can make you believe a watermelon is an apple.” Since 1977, he has served on the United States Olympic Committee Board of Directors (1977-2004) and Executive Board, working to autonomize the four aquatic disciplines under the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. He helped establish U.S. Diving, Inc. in 1980 and serves as the only continuous board member. He served four years as its president (1985-90) and since 1998 has been president to United States Aquatic Sports which represents all the disciplines and reports directly to FINA.
On the international scene, Tom serves on the Executive Board of the Amateur Swimming Union of the Americas (ASUA). In 1984, he was elected to the FINA Technical Diving Committee and continues in that position today. He served three, four-year terms as chairman during which time he proposed and passed legislation to include 1 meter diving in the FINA World Championships (1986) and synchronized diving for World competitions, with its debut at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. “It lends the element of team, which every other sport has. It’s TV and a proven crowd favorite,” says Tom. Tom is responsible for the renovation of international judging, initiating a judges’ education program involving clinics and manuals. Tom has served as the
Chairman of the FINA Diving Commission for the World Swimming Championships (1990-98) and as Chairman of the FINA Diving Commission for the Olympic Games (1992-2000).
Tom has received the FINA silver and gold pins, served as the U.S. Team Manager for the 1976 and 1984 Olympic Games, was Chairman eight years (1991-98) for the ISHOF Honoree Selection Committee and served four years (1986-90) on the ISHOF Board of Directors. All the while, Tom was airline captain for National (1967-80), Pan American (1980-91) and Delta Airlines (1991-2000). He has received the Mike Malone/Glen McCormick Award (1984) for outstanding contribution to U.S. Diving, the Phil Boggs Award (1995), U.S. Diving’s highest award and the 1997 Paragon Award for competitive diving.
Tom’s accomplishments were never for personal fame, but always an honest attempt to help the sport he loves. He has applied the same determination and passion that made him an Olympic medalist to pursuing the goal of advancing and improving all aspects of diving on the international scene for the good of the sport and the athletes.
Today We Remember Virginia Hunt Newman on Her Birthday
Virginia Hunt Newman (USA)
Honor Pioneer Contributor (1993)
FOR THE RECORD: Swimming instructor of infants; Produced film on how to dive springboard. 1967–published Teaching An Infant To Swim; Best know for developing the non-forceful, non-traumatic method of teaching infants to swim.
Virginia Hunt competed in swimming for the Indianapolis Athletic Club from 1932 to 1940, winning numerous Midwest and national titles. From 1940 to 1948 she competed in diving for the Los Angeles Athletic Club where she won several Southern Pacific Association titles and a national title.
During World War II, Virginia traveled with the United Service Organization and the Hollywood Victory Committee, appearing in water shows with Hall of Famers Johnny Weissmuller, Stubby Kruger, Buster Crabbe, and Dutch Smith, for the armed services.
Although she was quite successful as a swimmer and diver, Virginia is renowned for her accomplishments as an infant swimming instructor. She began teaching swimming to infants and pre-schoolers in 1950 and became an aquatic director and diving coach at a private boys’ school. During this time, Virginia wrote and directed a series of films on springboard diving and served as Secretary of the Southern Pacific Association Diving Committee for two years.
In 1962 she came to a major turning point in her career. Her star student, two-year old Mary Crosby, daughter of entertainer Bing Crosby and his wife Kathryn successfully passed the skill test for the Red Cross Beginners Certificate. At this time, Mary was the youngest child in the history of the Red Cross to do this. So impressed with her achievements and the fact that she was the daughter of Bing Crosby, Mary’s award was personally presented by the director of Red Cross Safety Services and Hall of Famer Johnny Weismuller on national television and covered by Life, Look, and Time magazines and headlined in the Los Angeles newspapers.
This event led to the compiling of Virginia’s methods in her book Teaching An Infant to Swim in 1967. It gave world-wide attention to non-forceful or non-traumatic teaching methods. Her book became so popular that it was published in England, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Italy, and Japan. She later published her next book Teaching Young Children To Swim And Dive, in 1969.
Besides her success with young Mary Crosby, Virginia was also the swimming instructor for the children of John Wayne, Bob Hope, Harry Cohen, Jerry Lewis, Alan Ladd, Bob Newhart, Max Factor, Sonny & Cher, and Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman.
Her methods, distraction from normal fears associated with learning to swim and rewards for trying and performing skills, have been accepted by thousands of swim instructors world-wide.
For her accomplishments, Virginia received both the National Service Award in 1971 and National Honor Award in 1983 from the Aquatics Council of American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Virginia later opened Newman Swim Academy in Hollywood, California, in 1973 and became the executive director of the United States Swimming Foundation in 1980. Today Virginia continues to give many national and world workshops, clinics, and lectures on teaching children how to swim.
Happy Birthday Dmitry Sautin!!
Dmitry Sautin (RUS)
Honor Diver (2016)
FOR THE RECORD: 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (3m springboard); 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (10m platform); 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (10m platform synchro), silver (3m springboard), bronze (10m platform); 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (3m springboard); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (3m springboard); 1994 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (10m platform); 1998 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (10m platform, 3m springboard); 2001 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (3m springboard), bronze (3m springboard synchro); 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (3m springboard synchro), bronze (3m springboard); 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze (3m springboard);1991 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (10m platform); 1993 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (10m platform);silver (3m springboard); 1995 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (3m springboard), bronze (10m platform); 1997 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (3m springboard); 1999 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (10m platform); 2000 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (10m platform, 10m platform synchro, 3m springboard), silver (3m springboard synchro); 2002 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (3m springboard, 3m springboard synchro); 2006 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (3m springboard), silver (3m springboard synchro); 2008 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (3m springboard, 3m springboard synchro); 2010 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze (3m springboard synchro)
Dmitry Sautin’s steep climb up the international sports ladder began in 1991, when he won silver for the Soviet Union on the 10-meter platform event at the European Championships, in Athens, Greece, at the age of 17. But later that same year Dmitry was brutally attacked on a street in Moscow. He was stabbed numerous times in his legs and body and almost bled to death before reaching the hospital. But true to his grit, discipline and determination, he fought back and by the summer of 1992, against all odds, he won the bronze medal behind Hall of Famers Mark Lenzi and Tan Liangde on the 3-meter springboard at the summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.
Dmitry Sautin began diving from the 10-meter platform at age nine, and the beating his body took from the thousands of practice dives from 33 feet above the water, took its toll. For over two decades, he overcame injuries to his wrists, shoulder and back to compete in a multitude of events, including the European Championships, the FINA World Championships, and the Olympic Games, between the years of 1992 and 2008. Sautin won his first Olympic gold medal on the 3-meter springboard in Atlanta in 1996, but the highlight of his career would arguably have to be the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney Australia. These were the first games where synchronized diving was added to the Olympic program, raising the number of diving events from two to four for both men and women. Sautin received medals in all four events, winning individual gold on the 10-meter platform, bronze on the 3-meter springboard, gold again on the 10-meter synchronized event with partner, Igor Lukashin and silver on the 3-meter synchronized event with partner, Aleksandr Dobroskok.
In a career remarkable for it’s longevity, Dmitry Sautin competed in ten European Championships, six FINA World Championships, and five Olympic Games, winning a total of 20 gold medals, six silver and nine bronze. His eight Olympic medals are the most by any male diver in history.
Happy Birthday Pieter van den Hoogenband!!
Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED)
Honor Swimmer (2013)
FOR THE RECORD: 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES: 4th (100m freestyle, 200m freestyle); 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (100m freestyle, 200m freestyle), bronze (50m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle); 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (100m freestyle), silver (200m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: 5th (100m freestyle); THREE WORLD RECORDS: 100m freestyle, 2-200m freestyle; 1998 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (4x200m freestyle), bronze (200m freestyle); 2001 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle); 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (100m freestyle, 200m freestyle), bronze (50m freestyle); 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (200m freestyle); 1999 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (25m): gold (4x200m freestyle), silver (4x100m freestyle), bronze (200m freestyle); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: (50m) 10 gold, 5 silver, 4 bronze; (25m) 6 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze; 1998 GOODWILL GAMES: 2 gold; 2001 GOODWILL GAMES: 2 bronze; (4x100m medley); WORLD SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: 2000; EUROPEAN SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004; DUTCH SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR: 1999, 2000, 2004.
His mother, Astrid Verner, is a former 800 meter freestyle silver medalist of the European Championships. His father Cees is the team doctor with the PSV Eindhovan professional football team and a FINA doctor. Astrid became coach of the Dutch swimming team and Cees provided the foundation to secure a financial base to keep the team operating.
Pieter van den Hoogenband was well on his way to become Holland’s greatest male swimmer alongside female swimmer Inge de Bruin. His international breakthrough came at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when at 18, he exceeded expectations by finishing fourth in the 100 meter and 200 meter freestyle.
After winning six gold medals at the 1999 European Championships, he was one of the favorites at the 2000 Olympic Games. But in Sydney, he faced hometown favorite Ian Thorpe in the 200 and two time Russian Olympic Champion Alexander Popov in the 100 meter freestyle. “Hoogie” beat them both in world record time. His 100 meter freestyle record of 47.84 stood for a phenomenal eight years, longer than any other swimmers since Johnny Weissmuller in 1924. Pieter earned bronze medals in the 50 meter and 4 x 200 meter freestyle. At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, he won another gold medal in the 100 meter freestyle and silver in the 200 meter freestyle and 4 x 100 meter freestyle. In 2008, by finishing 5th in the 100 meter freestyle he became the first-ever swimmer to make the finals in four consecutive Olympics in the same event.
Throughout his career he received many prestigious awards, the most distinctive being World Swimmer of the Year in 2000.
Happy Birthday Ron O’Brien!!
Ron O’Brien (USA)
Honor Diver (1988)
FOR THE RECORD: NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1959 (one meter); AAU NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1961 (3 meter); OLYMPIC COACH: 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988; Assistant Coach: 1968; WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS COACH: 1975, 1978, 1982, 1986; PAN AMERICAN COACH: 1967, 1975, 1983, 1987; WORLD CUP COACH: 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987; 1974 Malone Memorial Award; 1976 Fred Cady Award; 1979-1987 Mike Peppe Award; 1984 Ohio State University Sports Hall of Fame; Winner of 62 National Team Championships while coaching at University of Minnesota (1962-1963); Ohio State (1963-1978), Mission Viejo (1978-1985) and Mission Bay (beginning 1985-1988).
Ron O’Brien has done it all in diving from NCAA and AAU national champion under Mike Peppe while a six letter man (gymnastics and diving) at Ohio State to the top professional water show act (with Hall of Famer Dick Kimball), to the Ph.D. that made believers out of the academicians, to a top college, club, national and international coach. He has won U.S. Diving’s Award as the “Outstanding Senior U.S. Diving Coach” every year since the award was inaugurated in 1979.
It seems like Ron O’Brien has always been a diving coach. Standing next to the deep end (now a diving well), speaking in sort of a stage whisper, animated by body language and hand signals of what the diver did or did not do. His face is constantly sunburned–his green eyes bloodshot with crinkle smile lines around his mouth. His ears and nose peeling as he does a dance in place, teetering on the edge of the pool.
In his first 25 years of coaching, his divers have won 154 gold, 90 silver and 78 bronze medals in major Olympic, world, national, NCAA and Big Ten Conference diving championships. This doesn’t take into account the dozens of medals in prestigious invitational meets around the world. He has coached everyone from beginners to the famed Greg Louganis.
Ron narrowly missed the 1960 Olympic team himself placing third or fourth in the Olympic trials where only two were taken. Perhaps this experience gave him the patience, persistence and understanding to be the coach of every Olympic team since 1968. “It certainly was a good motivator,” he says. “It made me want to make it as a coach. But what keeps me going is not winning,” O’Brien says, “but the quest for reaching potential in myself as a coach and my kids as divers. It’s the pursuit of excellence.”
If you had to pick a highlight from his first 25 years of coaching at Minnesota, Ohio State and the two Missions, it might be the 1982 World Championships when O’Brien’s divers from Mission Viejo won all four of the diving gold medals, the first and only time this has happened in diving history.
Happy Birthday Tim McKee!!
Tim McKee (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1998)
FOR THE RECORD: 1972 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (200m I.M., 400m I.M.), 5th (200m backstroke); 1976 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (400m I.M.); 1971 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: silver (200m backstroke); FIVE AMERICAN RECORDS: short course (200y, 400y individual medley, medley relay), long course (200y individual medley, 110y and 220y backstroke).
For a moment back in 1972, the world felt he was an Olympic gold medalist. We looked at the scoreboard at the Munich Olympic Pool and saw the Number One by his name. Then we saw Sweden’s Gunnar Larson’s, Number One. For 8 minutes both times read 4:31.98 and both were listed first place. After consultation, the officials took the time from the timing machine computer tape declaring Gunnar Larson the gold medalist and finishing two one thousands of a second, (10 times faster than the blink of an eye), ahead of Tim McKee of the United States. The Guinness Book of Records called it the closest race in sports history. Using the rules of today, his race results would be considered a tie.
Tim McKee is quoted as saying “You waste the present and the future when you dwell in the past.” His whole swimming career was geared to competing your hardest each and every day. Tim was the fourth child in a family of 9 children – all swimmers at the Suburban Swim Club of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. His father, Big Al McKee, a former All-American swimmer on the Ohio State University’s National Championship Teams of 1938 and 1939, made sure that the family had a swimming pool for the kids on the property where they resided, even though they lived in the “stables.” All the McKee boys became All-American swimmers. Al coached the Suburban Team from 1962 to 1968.
At 5’8″, Tim had to work hard to compensate for a small body size. But he was strong and flexible with great natural ability. He trained with Frank Keefe in Pennsylvania, graduated form Malvern Prep School in 1971, and enrolled at the University of Florida, swimming for coach Bill Harlan. As a freshman he placed 4th in the 400 I.M. at the NCAA Championships.
Although his time continued to drop, his training for the 1972 Olympics was interrupted by a debilitating bout with mononucleosis. But he fought back and qualified for the U.S. team in the 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley and the 200m backstroke. In Munich he won silver medals in both the 200m Individual Medley and 400m Individual Medley. Following the 400m IM, he laid out cold on the pool deck as his body, still with remnants of the mononucleosis, tried to recover from 4 minutes 31.98 seconds of 100% physical exertion. In the 200m backstroke, Tim qualified for a third final and finished fifth in the race.
As Tim looked back over his career, it was obvious that the color silver was with him the most. At the 1971 Pan Am Games of Cali, Columbia, he silvered in the 200m backstroke, at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, he silvered in the 400m individual medley behind teammate Rod Strachen, even though he bettered the world record in the event by 1.4 seconds. In 1976, the 200m individual medley had been dropped from Olympic competition.
McKee held 6 American Records in the backstroke and individual medley. Just like Canada’s ironman of the 1960s, Ralph Hutton, who pushed others to win the gold, McKee was the ironman of the 1970s, the perennial tough guy.
Today as a Miami Beach Safety Officer, he continues to use his swimming to set records – by rescuing drowning bodies from the ocean and keeping lives afloat.
Happy Birthday Rick Carey!!
Rick Carey (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1993)
FOR THE RECORD: 9 WORLD RECORDS: 100m backstroke (3), 200m backstroke (2), 400m medley relay (4); OLYMPIC GAMES: 1984 gold (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, 400m medley relay); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1982 gold (200m backstroke, 400m medley relay), silver (100m backstroke); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1983 gold (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, 400m medley relay).
During a sixteen year period from 1967-1983, only three men held the world 100-meter backstroke record: Hall of Famers Roland Matthes, John Naber and Rick Carey. A five-time world record holder in the 100 and 200 meter backstroke and the 400 meter medley relay.
A native of Mt. Kisco, New York, Rick Carey was the exception to the rule among the majority of American swimmers–he never left home for the bluer waters of the West Coast or the balmy weather in Florida after reaching the national level. Rather, Carey chose to remain with the Badger Swim Club in Larchmont, New York, where he first began swimming at age 12 under the tutelage of Coach John Collins.
A natural swimmer, Carey set the first of his many national backstroke records beginning in 1977, just two years after joining his local swim club. Although Carey made the 1980 Olympic team, it wasn’t until 1981 that his career sky-rocketed. That year, he not only captured his first national titles in the 100 and 200 meter backstroke, but he also established his first American record in the 200 backstroke.
That same year, Carey began his college career at the University of Texas under coach Eddie Reese. At Texas, Carey won three consecutive NCAA 200 yard backstroke championships (1982-1984) and two 100 yard backstroke championships (1983-1984).
Of all Carey’s record performances, perhaps his biggest claim to fame is that he is the man who broke John Naber’s 1986 world backstroke records in 1983. That same year, at the Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela, Carey swam on the world record breaking 400 meter medley relay team which consisted of four current world record holders–Rick Carey (backstroke), Steve Lundquist (breaststroke), Matt Gribble (butterfly) and Rowdy Gaines (freestyle).
Women’s History Month: Celebrating Four Legends In the Sport
30 March 2022, 03:07am
Women’s History Month: Celebrating Four Legends In the Sport
As part of Women’s History Month, this article honors four female swimmers who made history at past Olympic Games. These swimmers competed from the mid-1980s and into the 2010s. Specifically, from Los Angeles 1984 to London 2012. Due to the extensive and rich history of women within the swimming sport, choosing which athlete to highlight for this piece was the hardest challenge. That said, the ultimate distinction was swimmers who won more than six Olympic medals throughout their careers.
Dara Torres, United States
Torres had one of the longest careers in Olympic history. Her Olympic career started in Los Angeles 1984, where she won a gold medal with the 400 freestyle relay. Then, Torres competed in Seoul 1988, where she won a silver medal with the medley relay and a bronze with the 400 freestyle relay. Four years later, in Barcelona 1992, Torres won another gold medal with the 400 freestyle relay. However, this Games seemed to produce her last Olympic medal as she embarked on a career as a TV host and model.
Torres eventually returned and with less than two years of training, she qualified for Sydney 2000. Remarkably, Torres won three bronze medals in three individual events (50 free, 100 free, and 100 fly). Complementary to this, she won two gold medals in relays. Once again, after the Olympics, she stopped swimming, this time for six years. Then again, Torres came back and qualified for Beijing 2008. At that time, she was 41 years old and won a total of three silver medals and finished her Olympic career lacking only an individual gold medal. The result of her outstanding career is a total Olympic medal count of four medals of each color.
Franziska Van Almsick, Germany
Her first participation at the Olympic Games occurred in Barcelona 1992. She was only 14 years old and finished second in the 200 free and third in the 100 free. In addition, she won two more medals with the German medley and 400 freestyle relays. Then, two years later, she broke an eight-year-old world record in the 200 free, thanks to a time of 1:56.78. However, during the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, Almsick finished second in the event. Van Almsick added a silver medal with the 800 freestyle relay and a bronze medal with the 400 freestyle relay.
Four years later, in Sydney 2000, she won another bronze medal after swimming the leadoff leg in the 800 freestyle relay. Van Almsick’s last participation at the Olympic Games was in Athens 2004, where she picked up two more bronze medals with German relays. Her final Olympic medal count is four silver and six bronze medals in four different Olympic Games. Van Almsick was awarded World Swimmer of the Year honors in 1993.
Susie O’ Neill, Australia
At 19 years old, O’Neill started her Olympic career in Barcelona 1992 with a bronze medal in the 200 butterfly. However, she also swam three more individual events and was part of the medley relay. Then, in Atlanta 1996, O’Neill increased her medal count after becoming Olympic Champion in the 200 butterfly. Moreover, she won silver and bronze medals on the medley and 800 freestyle relays.
Three years later, O’Neill broke a 19-year-old world record in the 200 butterfly, taking down the iconic mark of American Mary T. Meagher. Her last Olympic Games were Sydney 2000, where she finished first in the 200 freestyle and second in the 200 butterfly. She won two more silver medals with Australian relays. O’Neill’s final Olympic medals count is two golds, four silvers, and two bronze.
Rebecca Soni, United States
Even though Soni only participated in two Olympic Games, she is considered one of the best breaststrokers in history. At Beijing 2008, Soni swam the 100 breaststroke and finished second. More, she made history in the 200 breaststroke after finishing in first place. On the way to gold, Soni became the first woman to ever swim this event under 2:20 (2:19.59). Soni concluded her participation in Beijing with a silver medal in the 400 medley relay. Four years later, in London 2012, she swam the same events. Surprisingly enough, the results on the individual events were the same (a gold medal in the 200 and a silver medal in the 100). However, this time, she won a gold medal on the medley relay.
Besides her Olympic achievements, Soni also made history due to her unconventional breaststroke technique, which became a case study for many coaches and swimmers. Her technique was distinguishable for its abbreviated leg kick that aligned with rapid arm sweeps. As a result, she used to slow down less than everybody else. Soni retired with six Olympic medals and five world records.
Michelle Ford Joined By Australian 800m freestyle Greats Shane Gould and Jenny Turrall For A Trip Down Swimming’s Memory Lanes
JUST FOR THE RECORD: Three of Australia’s world record holders over 800m freestyle (L-R) Jenny Turrall, Michelle Ford and Shane Gould, rubbing shoulders at the launch of Turning The Tide. Photo Courtesy Anthony Edgar.
by IAN HANSON – OCEANIA CORRESPONDENT
11 March 2024, 08:33pm
Michelle Ford Joined By Australian 800m freestyle Greats Shane Gould and Jenny Turrall For A Trip Down Swimming’s Memory Lanes
Australia has a proud history when it comes to the women’s 800m freestyle with no less than seven swimmers between 1956 and 1978 re-writing the world record books in the event which was first swum at the Olympics in Mexico in 1968.
WHAT A MEMOIR: Michelle Ford with book at Elouera Beach. Photo Courtesy John Veage.
And it is not every day that swimmers from bygone eras get the chance to mix and mingle and remember the days when they too ruled the pool – and it’s not every day that Olympic gold medal great Michelle Ford launches her memoir.
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But it was like bees to a honey pot for a special day in Michelle’s career in at Glebe bookstore in inner Sydney.
In fact extra special to have Australia’s only 800m freestyle Olympic champion Michelle home in Sydney over the last week from her home in Switzerland to launch her book – MICHELLE FORD Turning The Tide (With Craig Lord) and joined by fellow former world record holders in Shane Gould and their fellow Sydneysider Jenny Turrall as well as host of members from the 1980 Australian Olympic team.
The Book was launched by US swimming legend and triple 1984 Olympic gold medallist Tracy Caulkins (Stockwell) who trained with Ford under Don Talbot in Nashville but missed the Games through the US boycott.
And the tales of 40 years ago rolled off the tongues as if it was yesterday and the feats of Turrall, Gould and Ford very much to the fore.
Australia’s list of world record holders over 800m began with another Sydneysider and recent Swimming Australia Hall of Fame inductee Lorraine Crapp who kick-started the world record rush in 1956 – the year she won Olympic gold in the 400m freestyle at the Melbourne Games – the 400m being the longest women’s event of the day.
Before Ilsa Konrads launched her world record assault also under Talbot – Ilsa lowering the world mark for 880 yards freestyle no less than four times between 1958 and 1959.
Sydney golden girl Karen Moras in 1970 and Gould in 1971 adding their names to the growing WR list – Gould at one stage holding every world record for every freestyle event -100,200,400,800 and 1500m.
TELLING IT HOW IT IS: Michelle Ford Launches Turning The Tide. Photo Courtesy Anthony Edgar.
Before another Sydney school girl in Jenny Turrall came along in 1974 and 1975, twice lowering the mark and becoming Australia’s first world champion in Cali, Columbia in 1975.
And it set the stage for a ding-dong world record onslaught from Ford and the mighty Tracey Wickham who between them re-wrote the world record books four times (two each) in 1978 – Wickham’s time of 8:24.62 lasting nine years.
But just one Australian, Michelle Ford, has won that coveted 800m freestyle gold medal at an Olympic Games, in 1980 in Moscow.
Shane Gould (Silver in Munich in 1972) had been the only medallist before Michelle’s gold with Julie McDonald (Bronze in Seoul in 1988), Hayley Lewis (Silver in Barcelona in 1992) and Ariarne Titmus (Silver in Tokyo in 2020) the only three Australian medallists in the event over the past nine Olympiads.
Ford recalls the battle for supremacy in front of sell-out crowds in Sydney and Brisbane as her and Wickham swam their way to the top of international swimming – both making the 1976 Olympic team at just 13 years of age.
Their exploits and those of their coaches Dick Caine (Ford) and Wickham (Bill Sweetenham and Laurie Lawrence) as they prepared for the 1978 Worlds in West Berlin, the Moscow Olympics and 1982 Commonwealth Games makes for interesting reading – but only one would take on the might of the East Germans in Moscow.
With Wickham choosing to withdraw from the boycotted Games team and a swim team which now had Sweetenham as Head Coach – ironically adding the Midas Touch to Ford’s Moscow gold.
MICHELLE FORD – Turning The Tide (with Craig Lord) Fair Play Publishing and Amazon.
TURNING THE TIDE: Michelle Ford’s telling tale of the right to swim and the fight to win. Photo Courtesy Anthony Edgar.
TRAINING PARTNERS AND FRIENDS FOR LIFE: Olympic gold medallists Michelle Ford and Tracy Caulkins (Stockwell). Photo Anthony Edgar.
MOSCOW FLAG BEARER: Moscow 1500m freestyle bronze medallist Max Metzker who carried the Australian Flag in the 1980 Opening Ceremony. Photo Courtesy Anthony Edgar.
SIGN OF THE TIMES: Michelle Ford autographs a book for Tracy Caulkins and husband, 1984 triple Olympic medallist Mark Stockwell. Photo Courtesy Anthony Edgar.
THREE’S ALLOWED: LA triple medallist Mark Stockwell, 1980 Olympic gold medalist (4x100m medley relay) Mark Kerry with wife Lynda. Photo Courtesy Anthony Edgar.
MOSCOW MEMORIES: Michelle Ford with fellow 1980 Moscow Olympian, decathlete Peter Hadfield. Photo Courtesy Anthony Edgar.
HERE’S LOOKING A YOU KID: Toasting the Turning Off The Tide. Photo Courtesy Anthony Edgar.