Happy Birthday Dr. Julio Maglione!!
Dr. Julio Maglione (URU)
Honor Contributor (2012)
FOR THE RECORD: INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE BOARD MEMBER: 1996-present; FINA PRESIDENT: 2009 – present; FINA HONORARY TREASURER: 1992–2009; FINA HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENT: 1988-1992; FINA BUREAU MEMBER: 1984–1988; PRESIDENT UNION AMERICANA DE NATACION (UANA): 1979-1983, 1995-1999; PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN SWIMMING CONFEDERATION: 1976-1978; HONORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN SWIMMING CONFEDERATION: 1984; PRESIDENT OF THE URUGUAYAN SWIMMING FEDERATION: 1969-1985.
Dr. Julio Maglione was born in 1935, in Montevideo, Uruguay. After learning to swim, he soon became Uruguay’s National Champion and record holder in the 100 meter and 200 meter butterfly/breaststroke from 1949 to 1954. He was a participant in Porto Alegre, Brazil’s first University Games and a bronze medalist in 200 meter breaststroke and 100 meter butterfly with a silver medal in the 4 x 100 meter medley relay at the Latin American Games in Havana. He was a participant in the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City and was the South American record holder in the 4×100 meter medley.
In 1955, Julio then turned his attention to giving back to the sport he loved. As an administrator, he served as President of the Uruguayan Swimming Federation from 1969 to 1985, President of the South American Swimming Confederation from 1976 to 1978 and was elected Honor President of the Confederation in 1984. He was President of the Amateur Swimming Union of the Americas from 1979 to 1983 and from 1995 to 1999.
In 1984, Maglione was elected to the FINA Bureau and served as Bureau Member until 1988, when he was elected vice president. In 1992, he was elected Treasurer of the Bureau and served in that office for 16 years. In 2009, he was elected President of FINA at the FINA Congress and World Championships in Rome.
Among the many awards he received are the FINA Gold Pin; ANOC Order of Merit (1994); International Olympic Committee Centennial Trophy (1994); National Olympic Committee Gold Insignia; Royal Order of Merit in Sport of the Spanish Minister of Education and Science (1996); Legion of Honour of the French Republic (1998); Order of the Chinese Olympic Committee (1999); Order “Bernardo O’Higgins”, Chili (2000); Distinction of the International Pierre de Coubertin Committee (2002) and Honorary Citizen of Montevideo (2007).
Since 1996, Julio has served as a member of the International Olympic Committee. Dr. Maglione is married, has two children and is a forensic dentist by profession.
Throwback Thursday: Chad le Clos Chases Down Michael Phelps For Stunning Olympic Gold
by DAVID RIEDER – SENIOR WRITER
09 November 2023, 06:30am
Throwback Thursday: Chad le Clos Chases Down Michael Phelps For Stunning Olympic Gold
Before the 2012 Olympic final of the men’s 200 butterfly, no one had beaten Michael Phelps in a major final of the event for 12 years. For all the accolades Phelps earned in his greatest-of-all-time career, the 200 fly was his signature event, the one in which he made his Olympic debut as a 15-year-old and the one in which he earned his first world record and world title. In between Phelps’ first Olympic final of the event and his fourth, he won two Olympic golds (including one with leaking goggles) and five world titles while resetting the world record on eight different occasions.
But the London Games were the only one of Phelps’ five Olympics in which he did not show up in tip-top shape. Over the previous two years, Phelps had taken a handful of losses during in-season competitions, and this gold-medal pursuit, in which Phelps was aiming to become the first male swimmer to ever win three consecutive Olympic golds in one event, would be no easy task.
Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda, the World Championships silver medalist one year earlier and a consistent medal presence in the event, was considered the biggest threat to Phelps, and Matsuda had qualified first in the semifinals. But in between Matsuda and Phelps in the final was Chad le Clos, a skinny 20-year-old from South Africa considered a rising star in the sport. Le Clos, who had already won gold medals in the event at the Commonwealth Games and Short Course World Championships as a teenager, swam a time of 1:54.43 in the Olympic semifinals, an African record but nowhere near the best times of Phelps or Matsuda.
That did not matter. In the Olympic final, le Clos unleashed a career-defining performance. Refusing to be overwhelmed by the moment, le Clos stayed close to the favorites, saved up for a finishing burst — and won Olympic gold.
Phelps was long known for his clutch finishes, coming from well behind in the final meters to out-touch fading competitors. He did that to Ian Crocker in the 2004 Olympic final of the 100 fly and to Milorad Cavic in the same event four years later. But this time, it was a fading Phelps running out of gas as le Clos surged ahead. Coming down the stretch, Phelps had an arm-length lead, but he took a long stroke into the finish, gliding into the wall as his South African hit the finish perfectly. In a time of 1:52.96, his best time by one-and-a-half seconds, le Clos claimed Olympic gold.
As he realized what he had done, le Clos smashed the water in joy and disbelief. He was on the verge of tears as he sat on the lane line before dropping back into the pool to acknowledge Phelps, who had finished five hundredths behind for silver.
That moment made le Clos a star, and over the last decade, he has continued to put forth quality performances at international meets. Later on in London, he won silver in the 100 fly, and four years later in Rio de Janeiro, he used a scintillating start to take an early lead in the 200 freestyle final before holding on for silver. He faded to a surprising fourth in the 200 fly final, but he rebounded to finish in a three-way tie for silver in the 100 fly, joining Phelps and another familiar rival, Laszlo Cseh. In perhaps the most humorous moment of those Games, the three longtime rivals held hands as they climbed the medal podium together.
In his career, le Clos has won four individual world titles, winning the 100 fly in 2013 and 2015 and the 200 fly in 2013 and 2017. He has captured three further butterfly medals at the World Championships, and at Short Course Worlds, he has won a whopping 12 golds, spanning the three butterfly distances plus the 200 free, and 20 total medals. At the Commonwealth Games, the total is seven gold and 18 total medals.
For all those accomplishments, which have made le Clos one of the best swimmers ever from Africa, his signature moment remains that golden swim in the London final, when he earned just the third-ever Olympic swimming gold for a South African male, joining the 400 free relay team in 2004 and breaststroker Cameron van der Burgh two days earlier.
In that moment, le Clos was not intimidated racing the greatest swimmer in history, and that’s how he shocked the world.
Today we remember ISHOF Honoree, and the 1993 City of Fort Lauderdale’s Man of the Year, Jack Nelson on his birthday!!
Jack Nelson (USA)
Honor Coach (1994)
Every swimmer in the world seems to know this flamboyant and friendly coach whose energy and smile so motivates his athletes. Few know that he didn’t start his own swimming career until he was 21, just drafted in to the Air Force and looking for a fun way to get out of washing dishes and peeling potatoes. There never was a more unlikely swimmer, yet within three years, Jack swam the 100 and 200 meter butterfly in world record times and was on the U.S. Olympic team headed for Australia. He has been swimming or coaching swimmers ever since.
Jack Nelson was a football player, short but built like a tank, sort of a Don Nottingham type “human cannonball.” At the Melbourne Olympic Village in 1956, everybody asked how this wrestler (or weight lifter) got into the swimming compound, but once competition started they knew, as he muscled his way to a fourth place finish in the new power stroke called butterfly.
Nelson was hooked on the sport that has made him a household name among swimmers the world over. He is the only man in swimming ever to hold the distinction of placing in the finals at the Olympics and then going on to serve as an Olympic head coach (1976 women’s Montreal team). No one should forget the 24 women on the 1976 Olympic team who were at that time the breakers of four world records and nine American records. In 1976, Nelson was also named National High School Coach of the Year. He won a total of 30 combined boys and girls State Championships during his tenure at three Florida high schools: Ransom, Pine Crest and Fort Lauderdale.
As a swimmer, Jack learned his basics from several great coaches including Buddy Baarcke, Tom Lamar, Phil Moriarty, Charles Silvia and the Casey brothers, Willis and Ralph; but, like so many great coaches, Jack’s coaching is something he comes by instinctively with hands-on personal attention, hard work and great enthusiasm. His philosophy, “Access to success is through the mind” has inspired numerous Olympians and hundreds of All Americans. He wrapped up 40 years of coaching by winning six national team titles, men’s/women’s or combined. “Not everybody is going to win a gold medal, but everyone who tries is a winner,” says Coach Nelson.
Among the great athletes he has coached are: Joel Thomas, 1992 Olympic gold medalist; Seth van Neerden, American record holder 100 meter breast 1991-1994; Todd Pace, 1991 Pan Am gold medalist; Laurie Lehner, world record holder in the 50 meter free and the fastest 100 meter butterfly in 1980; Bonnie Brown, 1975 Pan Am gold medalist; Ann Marshall, 1972 Olympian and world record breaker in the 200 meter free; Andy Coan, considered by many, to be the world’s all time greatest high school swimmer and world record holder in the 100 meter freestyle; Dave Edgar, world record holder and 1972 Olympic gold medalist; Shirley Stobbs, 1960 Olympic gold medalist, Marilyn Corson, 1968 Olympic bronze medalist; Thom McAneney, who was his first American record holder. Among additional great Nelson swimmers are: Paige Zemina, Margie Moffit, Artur Wojdat, David Fox, Todd Torres and Brian Alderman.
His swimmers certainly agree that “Jack has the ability to say whatever makes you feel better about yourself. He is a super motivator, and if he could, he’d get up on the blocks and swim the race for you.” Nelson’s office is a photo testimony to all the swimmers he has believed in and who have believed in him – the ultimate test of a coach.
Jack is a member of four other Halls of Fame: Florida, North Carolina, Fort Lauderdale and the University of Miami. He graduated from Miami in 1960 and served as head swimming coach there from 1986-1990.
His most recent honor is the City of Fort Lauderdale’s Man of the Year for 1993. This award came from his “home” town. Nationally, his peers named him president of the American Swim Coaches Association 1974-1976.
1993 was his 40th year in coaching, but if you think that puts him close to retirement, Jack Nelson will jump up and down and say, “What do you mean, retire? I didn’t start swimming until I was 21!”
Happy Birthday Penny Heyns!!
Penny Heyns (RSA)
Honor Swimmer (2007)
FOR THE RECORD: 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: competitor; 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke); 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (100m breaststroke); FOURTEEN WORLD RECORDS: (2-50m breaststroke, 5-100m breaststroke, 4-200m breaststroke, 1-50m breaststroke (sc), 2-100m breaststroke (sc); 1994 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: bronze (100m breaststroke).
At the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Penny Heyns made Olympic swimming history when she became the first woman to win both the 100 meter and 200 meter breaststroke events at the same Olympic Games. She is also the only woman to hold as many as 14 World Records in breaststroke events and to hold all three breaststroke World Records simultaneously: the 50, 100 and 200 meter long course. She is the only swimmer to have broken a total of four individual World Records in one competition and she did it twice in 1999 in Los Angeles and Sydney. In Durban, she broke two short course World Records in one hour. At the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, she competed in her third Olympics winning the bronze medal in the 100 meter breaststroke.
As a latecomer to the sport at age 14, Penny knew nothing about Olympic competition as South Africa had been banned from the Olympic Games. With the ban lifted in 1992, she qualified as the youngest member of the team (17 yrs), competing in Barcelona and finishing 33rd and 34th in the breaststroke events. She then set her sights on Atlanta 1996 where she became the first Olympic gold medalist for South Africa in the post-apartheid era since Joan Harrison had won the 100m backstroke 44 years earlier in Helsinki.
Penny is a graduate of Amanzimtoti High School in Kwazulu-Natal Province and attended college at the University of Nebraska in the USA where she was an NCAA National Champion in the 200m breaststroke. She also trained with her coach Jan Bidrmen in Calgary.
Penny was named by Swimming World Magazine as the Female World Swimmer of the Year in 1996 and 1999. She has served as a member of the FINA Athletes Commission and currently is a business woman, motivational and public speaker and television presenter.
Happy Birthday Gail Johnson!!
Gail Johnson (USA)
Honor Synchronized / Artistic Swimmer (1983)
FOR THE RECORD: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1975 gold (solo, team); 1973 gold (duet, team); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1975 gold (solo, team); AAU NATIONALS: 26 (6 solo, 5 duet, 11 team, 4 figures); CANADIAN NATIONALS: 1969 (team), 1972 (duet, team); JAPANESE CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1974 (solo, duet, team); PAN PACIFIC GAMES: 1974 (solo, duet, team); TRI-COUNTRY: 1972 (solo, duet, team).
Gail Johnson was the champion among champions, first as a synchronized swimmer and them, after the untimely death of Hall of Fame coach Kay Vilen, as coach of the National, Pan American and World Champion Santa Clara Aquamaids. Her record of 26 National Championships over a 6-year period is phenomenal, particularly when you consider that for two years, she was commuting 120 miles every day to practice from her home in Walnut Creek to Santa Clara. Since 1979, with pressure from Canada and others to develop a U.S. National team concept, Gail has been a national team coach headquartered first in Santa Clara, then Portland, and now Detroit. Her coaches have been Jae Howell and the late Kay Vilen, who also coached her in coaching for 6 months before she died in 1976. Gail has won the Lawrence J. Johnson Award (no relation), the Helms Hall of Fame Honoree Award, and was a finalist first for her sport in the 1974 Sullivan Award, the U.S.A.’s Outstanding Amateur Athlete.
Happy Birthday Tim Shaw!!
Tim Shaw (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1989)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1976 silver (400m freestyle); 1984 silver (water polo); WORLD RECORDS: 10 (200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m freestyle; relay); AAU NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 7 (200yd, 200m, 500yd, 400m, 1500m freestyle; 3 relays); NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: 3 (500yd, 1650yd freestyle) ;WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1975 gold (200m, 400m, 1500m freestyle); World Swimmer of the Year: 1974, 1975 ; FINA Prize Eminence Award: 1974 ; Sullivan Award: 1975.
In 1974 Tim Shaw became the first swimmer ever to win the FINA Prize Eminence Award. He was also the World Swimmer of the Year in 1974 and 1975. He won the Sullivan Award as the greatest Amateur Athlete in the USA in 1975, beating out Bruce Jenner.
As a freestyler he set the world record at every distance from 200 meters to 1500 meters establishing 10 world records in just two years. At the 1974 U.S. Nationals, Shaw became the second man in history to hold the 200, 400, and 1500 meter freestyle world records at the same time. Shaw’s performance was all the more remarkable as he broke the three records in four consecutive days. In addition, he broke the 400 meter in the heats giving him four world records in four days. At the 1975 World Championships in Cali he battled dysentery and altitude but still managed three individual golds against the world’s best.
The record always proved his point until he came down with a bad case of anemia which kept him out of the water for a long time. On his return he tried too soon and a shoulder problem complicated his recovery even further. Shaw recovered enough to break his own 500 meter world record in the U.S. Olympic Trials and the Olympics but both times he was second to Brian Goodell who still went faster. After his silver medal in the 1976 Olympics, Tim concentrated on Water Polo, a family sport headed in the U.S. by his father. Tim was again snake bit as the U.S. Water Polo team didn’t go to Moscow. In 1984, at the Los Angeles Olympics, the U.S. team never lost a game but tied Yugoslavia in victories. The U.S. team was awarded the silver medal on fewer tournament points scored.
Tim Shaw was perhaps one of the world’s greatest swimmers never to win an Olympic Gold
Happy Birthday Robert Windle!!
Robert Windle (AUS)
Honor Swimmer (1990)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1964 gold (1500m freestyle), bronze (relay); 1968 silver (relay), bronze (relay); WORLD RECORDS: 5 (200m, 220yd freestyle; relays); COMMONWEALTH GAMES: 1962 gold (relay), silver (1500m freestyle), bronze (400m freestyle); 1966 gold (400m freestyle; relays); AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 11 (200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m freestyle; relays).
Bob Windle is one of those rare beings that made three Olympic teams. He won Tokyo in 1964, hit Rome on his way up in 1960 and retired for good after a Mexico City comeback in 1968. In addition to the gold for winning the 1500 at Tokyo where he beat, among others, the favored American superstar world record holder Roy Saari, Windle won a bronze in the 4×100 freestyle relay, followed with a bronze and a silver in Mexico, four years later. Oddly enough, Windle
won more Olympic medals (2) swimming relay 100’s than in any other distance, yet the 100 was the only freestyle distance he failed to win (by a touch out) in the Australian Championships during his long career. Between Tokyo and Mexico, Windle went to Indiana to swim for Doc Counsilman. He helped his Indiana team win the NCAA Championship by anchoring the victorious 800 yard freestyle relay. Windle returned to his Aussie Coach, Don Talbot however, to assist the Commonwealth Games team in Jamaica set a world record at 440 yards.
He won a total of 4 gold medals, a silver and a bronze in his two Commonwealth Games at Perth and Kingston. Bob Windle retired in 1967 but agreed to swim the shorter distances at Mexico in 1968 when Don Talbot talked him into a comeback. He won 2 medals for Australia in the relays. The versatile Windle is the only Australian to swim Olympic races from the 100 meter to the 1500 meter.
Happy Birthday Claudio Plit!!
Claudio Plit (ARG)
Honor Open Water Swimmer (2014)
FOR THE RECORD: CHAMPION MARATHON SWIMMER (1970’s– 1980’s); WORLD PROFESSIONAL RANKINGS: FIRST OR SECOND NINE TIMES BETWEEN 1974–1984; FINISHED FIRST, SECOND OR THIRD IN 45 INTERNATIONAL RACES FROM 1974–1984; SWAM IN ALL TEMPERATURE WATER; SWIMS INCLUDE: RIO CORONDO, MAR DEL PLATO, CAPRI-NAPLES, PASPEBIAC, SUEZ CANAL, PORT SAID, NILE RIVER, LAC ST. JEAN, LAKE ONTARIO, SAGUENAY RIVER, LA TUQUE, ATLANTIC CITY, LAC MEPHREMAGOG.
Enrique Tiraboschi. Lillian Harrison. Jeanette Campbell. Horatio Iglesias. Claudio Plit. These are the great names in Argentine swimming history.
Born in Rosario in 1954, Claudio Plit began swimming in the Paraná River as a boy and would go on to enjoy a professional swimming career that spanned three decades and over 250 marathon swims throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
After winning three consecutive national long distance championships, Claudio Plit made his first trip abroad in 1973. It was to Egypt for the Nile River marathon swim. Soon after arriving he fell sick with typhus. Only his desire, competitive spirit and physical strength enabled him to recover in time for the race. It was the beginning of his long and successful international campaign that would take him four times to the title of World Open Water Champion.
From 1974 to 1986, Claudio finished in the top three in 45 of the 48 races he entered. He was winner of the famous and spectacular Italian, Capri to Naples marathon, in 1979, ‘80, ‘81 and 86’, the same years he was World Champion. Five times he emerged victorious in the most arduous race on the international calendar, the Traversee of Quebec’s Lac St. Jean, in Canada. It was here he had some of his most memorable races and developed a fierce but friendly, decade-long rivalry with New Zealander Phillip Rush. Not only does the Traversee demand determination and guts to finish, but also great physical and mental strength to endure the 18 hour crossing in 55 degree waters.
He swam in 25 Lac St. Jean Traversees, 20 Atlantic City , New Jersey “Around-the-Island Marathon Swims,” and won races in the Nile River and the Suez Canal, and many more.
Now in retirement, Claudio is currently the Race Director of the annual FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cups in Argentina. He is also active as a coach-trainer and escorts swimmers participating on the professional circuit, and has been a guest presenter at FINA Open water swim seminars. For several years, Claudio was the founder and President of the Professional Marathon Swimming Federation Association.
Claudio Plit was not only a great swimmer, but is a tenacious advocate of swimming, who has helped introduce many into the hard but exciting world of the open water.
Happy Birthday Mary T. Meagher!!
Mary T. Meagher (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1993)
FOR THE RECORD: 7 WORLD RECORDS: 100m butterfly (2), 200m butterfly (5); OLYMPIC GAMES: 1980 (boycott), 1984 gold (100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 400m medley relay), 1988 bronze (200m butterfly); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1982 gold (100m butterfly), silver (200m butterfly, 400m medley relay), 1986 gold (200m butterfly), silver (400m freestyle relay, 400m medley relay), bronze (100m butterfly); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1979 gold (200m butterfly), 1983 gold (200m butterfly).
Known affectionately as “Madame Butterfly,” Mary T. Meagher has held the women’s world record for the 100 and 200 meter butterfly for over a decade. Meagher’s records, set in 1981, are steadily approaching the longest-standing world record of all time by Hall of Famer Willy den Ouden of Holland. Her 100m freestyle record remained untouched from July of 1933 to February of 1956– 23 years. Hall of Famer Dawn Fraser had the honor of breaking the famous mark at the Olympic Games in Melbourne.
A member of the 1980, 1984, and 1988 Olympic teams, Mary T. captured gold medals in the 100m butterfly, the 200m butterfly, and the 400m medley relay at the Games in Los Angeles. Her 100 and 200 fly times were both Olympic records.
In 1981, Meagher established world records in the 200 fly (2:05.96) and the 100 fly (57.93) at the U.S. Long Course National Championships in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. Her 200 fly time is rated as the fifth-greatest single event performance by Sports Illustrated magazine. Mary T. holds the top 11 times in history in the 200 fly and is the only woman to swim under 2:07.
Born to parents Jim and Floy of Louisville, Kentucky, Mary T. is the tenth of eleven children in a close-knit family and is known as Mary T. to distinguish her from the eldest Mary in the family, Mary Glen. The initial stands for her mother’s maiden name, Terstegge.
It all began for Mary, when as a 14-year-old girl who wore railroad track braces and traveled with a stuffed green frog named “Bubbles,” she set her first world record at the 1979 Pan American Games.
Coached by Dennis Pursely at Lakeside Aquatic Club in Louisville, Mary T.’s success continued as she qualified for the 1980 Olympic Games and then went on to swim to unparalleled world records in 1981.
Mary T. enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley in the fall of 1982 and met up with another all-star butterflyer, Hall of Famer and Berkeley head coach Karen Moe Thornton. During her collegiate career, Mary T. won NCAA Championship each year of her four years with the Golden Bears.
After her wins at the Olympic Games in 1984, Mary T. had planned to retire, but her desire to break her own world record and the fact that she still held 17 of the fastest 200 fly times in the world was enough to convince her to give it another try. More importantly to Mary, however, as a loyal and dedicated athlete, she would feel badly about staying home.
In a sport where tenths and even hundredths of a second separate first through last place, timing is everything. At the 1988 Games in Seoul, Mary finished third in the 200 fly final won by Kathleen Nord of the German Democratic Republic. It is worth mentioning that Mary T. swam faster at the U.S. Trials (2:09.13) than Nord’s winning time at Seoul (2:09.51).
Besides her butterfly prowess, Mary T. is known for her genuine personality and cheerful smile. She was a self-motivator whose desire to succeed, not only for herself but her team, led her to many gold medal performances.
Happy Birthday Manuel Estiarte!!
Manuel Estiarte (ESP)
Honor Water Polo (2007)
FOR THE RECORD: 1980 OLYMPIC GAMES: 4th; 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES: 4th; 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: 6th; 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver; 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: 4th; 1991, 1994 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver; 1998 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold; 1991, 1995, 1997, 1999 FINA WORLD CUP: bronze; 1983,1991, 1993, 1997, 1999 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (1991), bronze (1983,1993), 5th (1997), 6th (1999);
At just 5’8″ and weighing 145 pounds, Manuel Estiarte would seem to be an unlikely candidate to be considered the greatest player of all-time in a sport whose players average 6’3” and 200 plus pounds. But Manuel’s career proved once again that it’s not the size of the man, but the size of his heart and what’s in the head that counts the most. Born in Manresa, Spain, in 1961, Manuel Estiarte began playing water polo as soon as he could swim and at the Barcelona Swimming Club (BSC) was identified as a water polo prodigy. He was 15 when he made his international debut and within three years was the top scorer at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. He repeated as the leading scorer in 1984 Los Angeles with a record 34 goals as the Most Outstanding Player of the Games. He led all players in scoring again in 1988 at Seoul with 26 goals.
In 1992 Estiarte became a national hero after leading Spain to its first-ever Olympic medal, silver, in their host city of Barcelona. But finishing the Games as top scorer again was little comfort following a dramatic gold medal final against Ratko Rudic’s Italian team. Estiarte converted a penalty 42 seconds from full time to put Spain ahead, but nine seconds later Italy equalized and went on to win in extra time. Four years later, in Atlanta, Spain and Estiarte were once again in the Olympic final, but this time the result was different. With ten seconds to play and Spain up 7- 5 against Croatia, Estiarte took possession.
“I’ve dreamt of this moment all my life,” he said afterwards. “The last ten seconds of the Olympic final, I have the ball and Spain wins the gold medal. I waited five Olympics, but it finally happened.” All totaled, in a career that spanned over two decades, he competed in more Olympic Games, six, and scored more than any other player in Olympic history, 127. He competed in over 578 international games for the Spanish team, scoring over 600 goals. For many years, he played in the Italian Professional League with Club Pescara winning a water polo grand slam of four European Championships. In 1998, he was voted Best Player of the Perth World Championships. “I had the privilege to take part in six Olympic Games, and in each one of them I felt emotions too special to be described. From the first, when I was just a young man, to the last, where I won and I had the honour of carrying my homeland’s flag.”
Following his retirement after the Sydney Games he served as a member of the International Olympic Committee Athletes´s Commission until 2004.