Petar Stoychev to Receive the 2020 Poseidon Award
FORT LAUDERDALE – The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) will recognize Petar Stoychev for his high-level achievement in marathon swimming with the 2020 Poseidon Award. The Award will be presented to Petar, on Saturday evening, during the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremonies, on May 2nd in New York City.
The Poseidon Award is presented annually by the International Swimming Hall of Fame to the organization or individual for high level achievement from personal effort or initiative in a field of endeavor that contributes to the performance of marathon swimmers or to the development and status of Marathon Swimming to the world.
This year’s award honors Petar Stoychev. As a swimmer he has won an unprecedented eleven consecutive FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix titles, with over 60 victories in individual professional marathon swims, including the 42 km (26-mile) Traversée Internationale du Lac Memphrémagog in Canada, the 36 km (22.5-mile) Around the Island Swim in Atlantic City, USA, the 32 km (20-mile) Maratona del Golfo – Capri Napoli in Italy and the 57 km (36-mile) Maratón Sante Fe – Coronda, Argentina. He was the 2011 FINA 25km World Champion and has six FINA World Championship medals. He competed in four Olympics in both the pool and Open Water and was the flag bearer for the Bulgarian Olympic Team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Petar was the first swimmer to cross the English Channel in under seven hours and has set Ice Swimming World Records.
He has served as a swimming administrator/coach for the last 10 years. From 2009 to 2017 on the FINA Athletes Committee, in 2013 as Sports Minister in Bulgaria, a Board Member of the International Ice Swimming Association, coaching other professional swimmers and Team Manager of his club Levski.
He was inducted as an Honor Swimmer in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (IMSHOF) in 2008 and inducted as an Honor Swimmer in the International Swimming Hall of Fame 2018. For his singular contributions to marathon swimming on the international stage, Petar has been awarded the 2020 Poseidon Award.
For additional information, please call Ned Denison in Ireland, (+353) 87-987-1573, or ISHOF at (954) 462-6536, or visit http//:www.ishof.org
Happy Birthday Honor Diver Sue Gossick !!!
SUE GOSSICK (USA) 1988 Honor Diver
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1964 4th place (springboard); 1968 gold (springboard); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1967 gold (springboard); AAU NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 5 (springboard); 1966, 1968 WORLD DIVER (springboard); 1967 Los Angeles Times “Woman of the Year”; Women’s Southern Pacific Association Springboard Diver of the Year: 1964-1968.
By the time Sue Gossick came along as a member of the 1964 and 1968 Olympic teams, Southern California diving had gone into a partial eclipse. She and her coach Lyle Draves proved it was a short eclipse. She was a medalist in 21 of 24 national springboard diving championships she entered beginning in 1962. Sue Gossick was coached early on by her father Dr. Gustav Gossick.
Placing fourth in the 1964 Games at Tokyo, Gossick won the 1966 pre-Olympics against the world’s best at Mexico City but almost didn’t make the team when she hit her hand on the board during the U.S. Olympic trials in 1968. Despite a back injury, which had kept her out of the pool for five weeks, she made it to the 1968 trials and finals and took the gold — thanks to treatments from the team doctor of the Los Angeles Rams.
At age nine, Miss Gossick was singled out by the U.S. Olympic Development Committee in 1957 as a “future Olympic champion” and 11 years later she made believers of them and their brash projection. In between, she won the U.S. Nationals five times, a gold medal in the 1967 Pan American Games and was the Southern Pacific AAU’s Springboard Diver of the Year four times. She won world diving first place ratings in 1966 and 1968. After she won the gold at the Mexico City Olympics at age 20, she was honored as the youngest ever “Woman of the Year” by the Los Angeles Times.
Happy Birthday to Mr. 46.06 !!! (Jason Lezak)
Jason Lezak (USA) 2019 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100m medley), silver (4×100m freestyle); 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100m medley), bronze (4×100m freestyle); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100m freestyle, 4×100m medley), bronze (100m freestyle); 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (4×100m freestyle); 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (4×100m medley), silver (4×100m freestyle); 2005 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (4×100m freestyle, 4×100m medley); 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold medal (4×100m freestyle); 2011 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): bronze (4×100m freestyle); 2002 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC): gold (4×100m freestyle, 4×100m medley); 2004 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC): gold (100m freestyle, 4×100m freestyle, 4×100m medley); 2006 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC): silver (4×100m medley), bronze (4×100m freestyle);
From the beginning, Jason Lezak showed great promise in the pool, but he constantly butted heads with his coach, Dave Salo, over his commitment to training. Recruited to swim at UC Santa Barbara, Jason’s problems with authority continued until coach Gregg Wilson finally dismissed him from the team. This was the wake-up call he needed. He loved to swim and compete, and after promising to improve his training habits, he rejoined the team. In his Senior year, he was named Big West Conference Swimmer of the Year,
At the 2000 Olympic Trials, Jason finished fourth in the 100m freestyle. While he failed to qualify individually, his result was good enough to make the 4x100m freestyle relay team, an event Team USA had never lost in the Olympic Games. In Sydney, the Australians pulled off the unexpected upset in their home pool and the USA settled for the silver.
Over the next four years, Jason was the top sprinter in the world, and at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials in Long Beach, he qualified for the Olympic Games in both the 50m and 100m freestyle.
In Athens, the US freestyle relay team was trying to win back the title it had lost in Sydney four years earlier. Instead, they finished third behind South Africa and the Netherlands. The next day Jason did not swim as well as expected and failed to reach the semi-finals. Individually Jason finished fifth in the 50. Success came when he swam the freestyle leg behind Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, and Ian Crocker to win the medley relay gold medal, in world record time.
In 2006, Dave Salo left Irvine to take the coaching job at USC, leaving Jason without a coach. He began coaching himself and proved by qualifying for his third Olympic Games that he had the discipline to train daily without a team or trainer at his side.
When he finished second in the 100m freestyle at the Olympic Trials in Omaha, he was 32 years old, the oldest male swimmer to make the team and was selected by his teammates as a captain.
At the 2008 Games in Beijing, his first event was the 4x100m freestyle relay. The USA hadn’t won this race since 1996 and this time the USA was not the favorite. That distinction belonged to the team from France, with 100m world record holder, Alain Bernard as its anchorman. Swimming last, and starting nearly a fully body length behind, Jason chased down Bernard in the final 20 yards to win the gold medal by eight-one-hundredths of a second. Jason’s split time of 46.06, is still the fastest 100m split in history.
The next day, Jason won bronze in the 100m freestyle for the first individual Olympic medal of his career. On the final day of competition, he anchored the USA’s world record setting medley relay that gave Michael Phelps his historic eighth gold medal.
Continuing to swim on his own after Beijing, Jason passed up the opportunity to compete in the World Championships to participate in the Maccabiah Games in Israel, where he won four gold medals and celebrated his heritage as a Jewish athlete.
In 2012, at the age of 36, Jason qualified for his fourth Olympic team by finishing sixth at the Olympic Trials in the 100 free. In London, he swam in the preliminaries and helped earn a spot in the final for the silver medal winning U.S. team. In doing so, he became the first male swimmer in Olympic history to win four medals in the same event, in the 4×100m freestyle relay, in four consecutive Olympic games.
Jason ended his Olympic career with a total of eight medals, four gold, two silver and two bronze. Today, Jason is a proud husband and father of three and a popular motivational speaker who is successfully balancing his family life with business opportunities.
Happy Birthday Frank Gorman !!
Frank Gorman (USA) 2016 Honor Pioneer Diver
FOR THE RECORD: 1964 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (3m springboard); HARVARD UNIVERSITY: never lost a dual meet diving competition; NCAA ALL-AMERICAN DIVER: 1m, 3m springboard from 1957-1960.
Before 1973, there were no World Championships, World Diving Cups or Grand Prix Diving series. For divers there was only one chance to test their skills in the international arena every four years and that was at the Olympic Games.
In 1952, Francis Xavier Gorman became the youngest boy to win the New York City Public School Athletic League Diving Championships. When he won the title for the fourth time in a row, he caught the eye of Harvard University’s coach, Harold Ulen. At Harvard, Gorman became an immediate success. He was an All-American on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards in each of his four years, from 1957 through 1960 and amazingly, never lost a dual meet competition. In 1960, he was the Eastern Intercollegiate Champion on both boards.
After graduating, he set his sights on the Olympics, but failed to make the team. Extremely disappointed, Frank entered the Navy, where he was eventually assigned to the physical education department at the US Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland.
For three years, Frank agonized over not making the 1960 Olympic team and he vowed if he ever got another chance, he would make the most of it. He contacted his friend and fellow competitor, Tom Gompf, who recommended they train together with coach Dick Smith, who at the time, was one of the world’s greatest diving coaches.
At the 1964 US Olympic Diving Trials, Gorman qualified for the Tokyo games on the 3-meter springboard with a record breaking point total. Of the 12 available slots on the US Men’s and Women’s Diving Team, Coach Dick Smith’s divers claimed six of them – with Frank Gorman and Tom Gompf taking two of the spots.
In Tokyo, Frank Gorman gave one of his finest performances. With the highest scores of the competition on each of his first eight dives, Frank was firmly on track for the gold medal, but on his second to last dive he missed badly. Although he recovered to receive the highest scores of the competition on his last dive, he still finished two points behind teammate Ken Sitzberger – but 14 points ahead of teammate, Larry Andreasen to claim the silver. For anyone at the event, there was little doubt that except for one dive Frank Gorman had turned in one of the truly outstanding performances of the 1964 Olympic Games.
After Gorman’s career as an athlete ended, he continued to stay involved in diving and giving back to the sport he loved
On this day in 1934, Honor Diver Paula Jean Myers Pope was born…
Paula Jean Myers Pope (USA) 1979 Honor Diver
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1952 silver (platform); 1956 bronze (platform); 1960 silver (springboard, platform); NATIONAL AAU DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS: 11 (1m, 3m, platform); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1955 team member; 1959 gold (springboard, platform).
Paula Jean Myers Pope medaled in three Olympics — 1952, 1956 and 1960. For most of her career this talented diver was a bridesmaid to two of the greatest and most versatile women divers of all time. First it was Pat McCormick twice a double Olympic winner (the only such male or female), 1952 and 1956, and then to Ingrid Kramer, 1960 double winner.
Paula Jean first upset Pat McCormick in 1953 off the springboard (Indoor) and off the tower the following summer (Outdoor). All three of these great women divers of the era were a rarity in that they were equally strong off both the springboard and the tower. In spite of Pat’s competition much of the time, Paula Jean won 11 nationals, two Pan Am titles and a total of four Olympic medals — three silver and one bronze. In 1957 Paula Jean scored a grand slam of U.S. National Women’s Diving by winning all five competitions – Indoor and Outdoor. In 1958 she repeated Outdoors with a summer slam off the 1- and 3-meter boards and the tower and followed this by winning both the springboard and tower in the Pan Am Games at Chicago in 1959. She also won the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1960 and won the silver medals in Rome, finishing second to Ingrid Kramer.
Paula Jean was the first woman to do double twisting 1 1/2 somersault and inward 2 1/2 somersault in competition off the 10-meter. She had three coaches, Rusty Smith (1948-51), Lyle Draves (1952-57), and Sammy Lee (1958-60 and again in 1964). She placed in the Nationals under all three.
Married in 1958 to Karl Pope, Paula Jean had five children and with her husband, ran the Ojai Valley Racquet (swimming & tennis) Club. She was a graduate of U.S.C. in Dental Hygiene.
Paula Jean died in 1995.
Sid Cassidy to Receive the 2020 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award
FORT LAUDERDALE – The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) will recognize Sid Cassidy, for his extensive contributions to the administration of open water swimming with the 2020 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award. The Award will be presented to Sid, on Saturday evening, during the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies, on May 2nd in New York City. The Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award is presented annually by International Swimming Hall of Fame to the organization or individual who has contributed the most to the administration of open water swimming.
This year’s award honors Sid Cassidy. As a swimmer Sid achieved a 4th place world ranking in 1979 as professional marathon swimmer and was part of a record setting English Channel double crossing relay in 1991.
As an administrator, Sid has been a leader of the sport since 1982 when first named to USA Swimming Open Water Committee. Over nearly four decades, he has been National Team Coach; USA Swimming Administrator; FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee (TOWSC) member; Swimming Safety Task Force member; Olympic official, race announcer, race director, and strong advocate of the sport. Cassidy has done nearly everything there is to do in the sport.
He is also part of the team with Chris Guesdon and Dennis Miller credited with developing the strategy to have a marathon swimming event included in the Olympic Games which happened in 2008.
For additional information, please call Ned Denison in Ireland, (+353) 87-987-1573, or ISHOF at (954) 462-6536, or visit http//:www.ishof.org
Colin Hill to Receive the 2021 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award
FORT LAUDERDALE – The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) will recognize Colin Hill, for his extensive contributions to the administration of open water swimming with the 2021 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award. The Award will be presented to Colin during a future International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Induction and Award Ceremony. The Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award is presented annually by International Swimming Hall of Fame to the organization or individual who has contributed the most to the administration of open water swimming.
This year’s award recognizes Colin Hill, an open water swimming administrator from Great Britain who has served the sport for more than 15 years. He has contributed via a wide range of roles and assisted at many events across the world. Colin’s swimming organization roles included: Technical Manager for 2012 London Olympics and 2018 European Open Water Swimming Championships; FINA Open Water Swimming Consultant (2013 to present) and Correspondent plus created the Great Swim Series (for the Great Run Company), Swim Serpentine (with London Marathon), Chillswim (2012 – 2018) and currently Ullswater Swim Place.
He assisted at marathon swimming events as FINA’s OWS Consultant in the following countries: Argentina, Canada, China, Dubai, England, Hungary, North Macedonia, Portugal, Qatar, Seychelles and Taiwan.
Selected examples help illustrate the range of Colin’s contribution:
Technical Manager for 2012 London Olympics – the second Olympics for the open water marathon held in the Serpentine, in the middle of a London Park, showcased the sport of open water marathon swimming to a new generation.
Founder of the Great Swim – tens of thousands of swimmers got their first taste of open water competition in these 1-mile swims and spawned a generation of new marathon swimmers. This provided a massive publicity boost for the sport.
Colin has assisted thousands of long-distance swimmers to complete swims in the English Lake District.
Colin is an accomplished marathon swimmer: English Channel in 10 hours and 30 minutes, winner 25 km Madeira and the first man from Great Britain to complete an ice mile. His understanding of the swimmers and experience as an organizer and administrator was key toward Colin’s leadership in the success and expansion of marathon swimming in the world.
For additional information, please call Ned Denison in Ireland, (+353) 87-987-1573, or ISHOF at (954) 462-6536, or visit http//:www.ishof.org
Today we celebrate the birthdate of Florence Chadwick
FLORENCE CHADWICK (USA) 1970 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: First woman to swim the English Channel both ways, 1950 (France to England); 1951, 1953, 1955 (England to France); First woman to swim the Catalina Channel (1952); Straits of Gibraltar (1953); Bosporus (one way) 1953; Dardanelles (round trip) 1953.
For a period of 10 years going on immortality, Florence Chadwick owned the English Channel, a piece of flooded real estate that has changed hands about every quarter century. First it was Captain Webb in 1875, then Burgess in 1906, followed by the remarkable women Channel swimmers Ederle 1926 and Chadwick 1950.
After 18 years as an amateur swimming shorter ocean races off hometown San Diego, then training in the Persian Gulf while saving her money for a Channel try, Florence Chadwick left the Arabian American Oil Company and was off to England and preparation for her lifetime ambition, a try at the English Channel. Swimming from France to England, she made it in 13:23 finally breaking the women’s record (14:34) set by Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim it. Eleven others had made the Channel between Ederle and Chadwick, but all in slower times. Chadwick’s #13 women’s crossing lowered the record by an hour and 11 minutes. Counting males as well as females, Florence was the 32nd person to complete the crossing, called impossible until Capt. Webb accomplished it in 1875. No other man made it until 1906 and Miss Ederle was the first woman in 1926.
Florence Chadwick, age 32, was denied entry (no previous record or reputation) in the 1950 half-century contest sponsored by the London Daily Mail so she went about conquering the Channel at her own expense (boat, trainer, navigator). She tried and missed in July, staying in the water 14 hours. On August 8, she left Cape Gris Nez, France and crawled ashore at Dover, a record 13 hours 23 minutes later, with the comment that “I feel fine. I am quite prepared to swim back.” This she did the following summer, the first woman to swim it from England to France (16:22) and the first woman to swim it both ways.
From there it was around the world swimming straits and channels that had defied man and woman. In 1952, it was the Catalina Channel, the first woman to swim it and in an over-all men’s and women’s record from island to mainland. She had been preparing for this since childhood swimming San Diego Bay at age 10 and later winning ten 2 1/2 mile rough water ocean swims at La Jolla.
Barnstorming during the summer of 1953, Florence Chadwick swam again from England to France (14:42, a new women’s record); the Straits of Gibraltar (5:06–men’s and women’s record); then off to Turkey for the Bosporus (one way) and the Dardanelles (round trip). In 1955 she again squashed the England-France Channel record (13:55)
Less it all sound too easy, there were the agonizing near misses fighting icy water and tides at Juan de Fuca, across Lake Ontario and twice the Irish Sea which she tried on her last great swim in 1960.
After that it was sportsman’s shows, swim schools, radio and TV, public appearances to teach children to swim and to encourage people of all ages to extend themselves physically. At 51, Florence Chadwick began a successful new career as a stockbroker. Her first full market year (1969-70) would be a challenge to anyone, but what is rough water after you’ve made it a habit to swim the English Channel?
On this day in 1948, ISHOF Honor Swimmer, Sharon Stouder was born….
SHARON STOUDER (USA) 1972 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1964 gold (100m butterfly; 4x100m freestyle relay; 4x100m medley relay), silver (100m freestyle); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1963 gold; U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 7; Girl Age-Group Swimmer of the Year: 1961; World Woman Swimmer of the Year: 1964 (by “Sports Illustrated”, ABC T.V., and “Swimming World”).
15 year-old Sharon Stouder’s performance in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics was one of the most brilliant all-round Olympic swimming exhibitions by a woman up to that time. With her 3 golds and a silver medal at a single games, Sharon Stouder equaled Chris von Saltza’s accomplishment in the 1960 Olympics by winning one individual gold medal, one individual silver medal, and two relay gold medals. Since then only Debbie Meyer (1968) and Shane Gould (1972) have equaled, but not exceeded, Stouder’s 3 gold medals in a single Olympics. (*at the time of her induction in 1972)
Miss Stouder’s Olympic record in the 100 meter butterfly stood 8 years until 1972, but her best swim may have been her silver medal in the 100 meter freestyle, as she finished a touch behind the great Dawn Fraser. In this race, Stouder was only the second girl in history to go under a minute and she pushed Fraser to a new Olympic record. Sharon Stouder joins Dawn Fraser as the premier women sprinters recognized in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Stouder’s other Olympic gold medals were on the winning U.S. Medley and Freestyle Relays.
Sharon started swimming at 3, going into competition at 8 when she won two firsts and set two age-group records in her first meet. At 12 she won 20 firsts in national age-group events and won all 6 of the National Junior Olympic ratings available in her age group. That year, (1961), the “American Swimmer Magazine” picked her as Girl Age-Group Swimmer of the Year.
The next year (1962) Sharon, at age 13, entered her first Senior Outdoor Nationals in Chicago and placed second. At 14 she won 2 Pan American Games gold medals. Her biggest year, however, was the 1964 Olympic year when Miss Stouder was picked World Woman Swimmer of the Year by “Sports Illustrated”, by “ABC TV” and by “Swimming World”.
Sharon won 7 individual Nationals as she became the Super Star of Coach Don Gambril’s star studded, National Champion, City of Commerce team.
In a comeback attempt Sharon Stouder finished 4th and missed the 1968 Olympic team. Stouder and Toni Hewitt had exactly the same time, 1:05.02, but the judges gave 3rd place to Hewitt. It was a controversial call.
Scholastically she was an honor student from Glendora High School, a graduate of Stanford and then went into coaching while doing graduate work at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Happy Birthday Bob Windle, 1990 Honor Swimmer from Australia
ROBERT WINDLE (AUS) 1990 Honor Swimmer
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.