Today we Celebrate what would have been 1984 Honor Swimmer Bill Mulliken’s 81st Birthday !
BILL MULLIKEN (USA)
1984 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1960 gold 9200m breaststroke); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (200m breaststroke); AAU NATIONALS: 1 (220yd breaststroke); NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1 (200yd breaststroke); AMERICAN RECORDS: 5 9200yd, 200m, 220yd breaststroke).
Sometimes it’s not so much who you beat as when you beat them. That’s the case for Bill Mulliken, the Chicago lawyer and Masters swimmer.
Mulliken is credited by 1960 U.S. Olympic coach Gus Stager with the surprise Olympic gold medal that inspired the U.S. team to beat the favored Australians. The USA had not won an Olympic breaststroke since 1924, yet nobody should have been too surprised noting Mulliken’s past record.
While it was true that Mulliken only occasionally beat the Michigan and Indiana breaststrokers in U.S. Collegiate or AAU competition, he had, on occasion, beaten everybody at everything. As his coach Raymond Ray so proudly put it, “Bill has held, at one time or another, the National Collegiate 200yd (breaststroke) record, the National Indoor 220 yd (breaststroke) record, the Pan-American 200m and the Olympic 200m breaststroke records.” Ray might have added the U.S. Olympic trial, for without this one more unexpected win, Bill Mulliken would not have been in Rome to put Australia in his Mulliken stew.
Welcome Bill Mulliken to the International Swimming Hall of Fame where winners are always remembered.
We look back on one of ISHOF’s first Masters Swimmers, Tim Garton, as we celebrate what would have been his 78th Birthday
TIM GARTON (USA)
1997 Honor Masters Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD, MASTERS SWIMMING: WORLD RECORDS (21: freestyle, butterfly, individual medley), USMS RECORDS: (52: freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, individual medley); 1984 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (50m, 100m, 200m freestyle, 50m, 100m butterfly, 200m, 400m IM, 50m breaststroke); 1985 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (50m, 100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM); 1986 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM, 100m butterfly); 1988 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM, 100m butterfly); 1990 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM, 100m butterfly); 1992 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m freestyle), silver (400m freestyle, 200m IM), bronze (400m IM); 1994 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m, 200m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM), silver (400m freestyle); 40-44 Age Group: 5 WORLD RECORDS; 45-49 Age Group: 9 WORLD RECORDS, 16 NATIONAL RECORDS; 50-54 Age Group: 7 WORLD RECORDS, 13 NATIONAL RECORDS; 30-34 Age Group: 6 NATIONAL RECORDS; 35-39 Age Group: 5 NATIONAL RECORDS; US MASTERS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (85): 63 short course (100yd butterfly, 200yd breaststroke, 50yd, 100yd, 200yd, 500yd freestyle, 100yd, 200yd, 400yd IM), 26 long course (100m butterfly, 50m, 100m 200m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM).
Few male swimmers have been as dominant as Tim Garton in Masters Swimming from both the beginning of the program and the beginning of the first age group, 25-29. Over Tim’s 25 years of competing in Masters Swimming, he has accumulated over 39 world age group records and 144 national records, all in the toughest age group categories.
After all, swimming was a big part of his family. He learned to swim at age two and one-half in Elkhart, Wisconsin. But, after that age, his older and bigger brother began holding him underwater. Tim didn’t receive any sympathy from his mother, and she informed him he would either have to get tougher or learn to swim better. So, she woke him every morning at 7:00 a.m. to train until he got as strong as his brother. Although he succeeded in a few months, the workout routine lasted a lifetime.
He swam in the AAU Wisconsin age group program and in high school, but his first big opportunity to swim in a serious program came when he attended Yale University from 1960 to 1964. Yale workouts were approximately 2000 yards in distance and represented a 500% increase over his minimal high school program. He faced daily workouts with 1964 Olympians Steve Clark and others, resulting in faster times in all events. He was twice elected to the NCAA All American team, based on relay performances. He failed to make the 1964 US Olympic team after graduation, but the pent up frustrations of not having achieved his swimming goals may have given Tim the motivation to prove himself in the Masters Swimming program once it started in the early 1970s.
Garton moved to Vail, Colorado in 1967, and has lived there ever since. In 1972, he read about the results of the Masters National Championships, and he and his close friend Chuck Ogilby of Indiana University, decided to train for the 1973 championships. He was the surprise new comer, winning the 200m IM and 200m and 100m freestyles, setting a national record in the 100m, the first of 144 national records through 1996. The older he got, the faster his times were improving. By his late 30s and early 40s, his times compared favorably with some of his college efforts.
In 1984, Tim hired Mark Schubert’s assistant coach at Mission Viejo, Al Dorsett, to work closely with him to help develop a Masters program and build a better swimming facility in Vail. All three endeavors succeeded.
Tim competed in the first International and World Masters Championships and throughout the past seven championships has won 36 gold, three silver and one bronze. Twenty gold medals were earned in the 40-44 age group, and he won no less than six titles at each championship in 9 events – 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 50m, 100m butterfly, 50m breaststroke, and 200m, 400m IM. His versatility is overwhelming, and he has set 39 world records in the freestyle, butterfly and individual medley, to the present.
He has attended over 24 US National Championship Masters meets winning 94 first places, 30 of those 94 as national records. Tim holds 144 total national records.
In 1991, Tim was diagnosed with lymphoma, considered an incurable cancerous disease of the lymph system. During chemotherapy and radiation treatments, he continued to train at reduced levels. When his cancer was declared in remission, in August of 1991, some of the doctors credited his devotion to swimming as being largely responsible. In 1992, he started competing again, and in the World Championships in Indianapolis, he won his 100th national and international victory by winning the 100m freestyle. Tim has been a member of the United States Masters Swimming All-American team every year from 1979 to 1996. He was the first man in the 50-54 age group to lower the USMS national record for the 100yd IM to under one minute, a time many of the 25-29 swimmers wish they could do.
Tim Garton lost his battle with cancer in late April, 2016. His wife Mara, still keeps Tim’s memory alive at ISHOF and recently become a member of the One in a Thousand Club!
Happy Birthday JOHN KINSELLA !!!
JOHN KINSELLA (USA)
1986 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1968 silver (1500m freestyle); 1972 gold (relay); WORLD RECORDS: 4 (400m, 1500m freestyle; 2 relays); AAU NATIONALS 11 (200yd, 400yd, 500yd 1650ye, 400m 1500m, 4 mile freestyle); NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: 6 (500yd, 1650yd freestyle; 2 relays); AMERICAN RECORDS: 9 (500yd, 1650yd, 400m, 1500m, 1 mile freestyle; 1 relay); 1970 Sullivan Award; World Professional Marathon Champion: 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979.
John Kinsella was a big, big swimmer at 6 ft. 3 in. and 200 lbs.
He won the Sullivan Award as the USA’s #1 amateur athlete of the year in 1970, halfway between his two Olympics. He was the dominant high school middle distance swimmer, swimming for Don Watson in Hinsdale, Illinois, and the dominant college middle distance swimmer for Doc Counsilman’s Indiana University. He also dominated and set records lasting 12 years in the U.S. National AAU.
Afterwards, in his professional career, Kinsella was unbeatable, being declared the World’s Professional Champion on a point system including all sanctioned races from 1975 through 1979. During this time he won races across Lake Ontario, the English Channel, and all around the world circuit, usually in world record time. He retired in 1979 with no more swimming worlds to conquer having used his professional earnings to put himself through Harvard Business School.
As a milestone achievement, Kinsella was the first swimmer in history to break 16 minutes for the 1500 Meter swim in 1970.
Let’s celebrate, on this date in 1931 one of the greatest Water Polo Players in Hungarian history was born: Kalman Markovits
KALMAN MARKOVITS (HUN)
1994 Honor Water Polo Player
FOR THE RECORD: 1952 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 1956 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 1960 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze; 3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (1954, 1958, 1962); WORLD STUDENT GAMES CHAMPION (1954); Coach of 1992 Hungarian Olympic Team; gold; Coach of 1968 Hungarian Olympic Team: bronze.
Not only is Kalman Markovits a water polo player extraordinaire, but he has the master ability to coach his players onto an Olympic gold medal. One of the famous Hungarian trio with Hall of Famers Deszo Gyarmati and Gyorgi Karpati, Kalman Markovits was one of the cleverest and fastest water polo players to compete for Hungary, a country that has dominated the sport of water polo for decades.
Markovits was on Hungary’s Olympic gold medal teams of 1952 and 1956. At the 1960 Olympics, the Hungarian team took a bronze. Kalman Markovits played on the 1954, 1958 and 1962 gold medal European Championship teams. All told, he played in 137 international competitions for his native country.
After retiring from playing, Markovits coached the 1968 Hungarian Olympic team to a bronze medal and won the Europe Cup and Super World Cup that same year. He moved on to the Spanish National Team in 1985 and spent two years with the Mexican National Team before he made his way home to Hungary and the Hungarian National Team.
Markovits once again made his country proud as the 1992 Hungarian Olympic water polo team won the gold medal in Barcelona.
The world of water polo and all of aquatics lost Kalman on December 5, 2009.
ISHOF Honoree and The Race Club’s Two New Metrics to Evaluate Breaststroke….
Click Here:
https://theraceclub.com/aqua_note/two-new-metrics-to-evaluate-breaststroke/
August 24 – Celebrate the birth of one of Hawaii’s greatest sons and 1965 ISHOF Honoree, DUKE KAHANAMOKU
DUKE KAHANAMOKU (USA)
1965 Honor Swimmer
The Duke was a great friend to ISHOF in the early days. He helped ISHOF and Buck whenever and however he could He flew all the way to Fort Lauderdale for the grand opening of the pool in the mid 1960’s and for his induction. He was part of the first class of the greatest aquatic athletes ever. Along with Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe, the trio were always the crowd favorites.
Below is the 1965 bio for Duke’s induction. Also are some photos of his career and visits to ISHOF. One of the great ones……..
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1912 gold (100m freestyle), silver (4x200m freestyle relay); 1920 gold (100m freestyle; 4x200m freestyle relay), 4th (water polo); 1924 silver (100m freestyle); 1932 team member (water polo); WORLD RECORDS: freestyle.
The history of modern swimming started with the English in 1838. It was the breaststroke, and still the breaststroke, when Matthew Webb swam the Channel in 1875; yet, bas-reliefs dating to 880 B.C. taken from the palace of Nimroud (now in the British Nimroud Gallery) show a fugitive escaping from soldiers by swimming a river using a head high overarm crawl. This stroke was evolving painfully in the western world until a bronzed Duke Kahanamoku swam out of the Hawaiian Islands with it in 1911. His world record times no one would believe.
Jam Handy describes The Duke as a superbly conditioned athlete planing and crawling over the top of the water as no one his size and only one smaller man, Perry McGillivry, seemed able to do. Only after ten years in Hollywood did a 42 year old Duke Kahanamoku in 1932 finally fail to make an Olympic team in swimming. He made it in water polo. He made his first Olympic team in 1912. “He still swam well,” says Handy, “but in the water like other mortals, he was no longer in that superb condition needed to get his body planing up on top of the water.” Kahanamoku, the perennial Sheriff of Honolulu, and island king in so many movies, was and is a real Duke by christened surname, as well as in deference to his royal Hawaiian blood. His father, Captain Kahanamoku, born in Princess Ruth’s palace during a visit of the Duke of Edinburgh, named him Duke in honor of that occasion.
In swimming, he rates his dukedom by Olympic titles as well as his ambassadorship in first introducing surfing around the world, including Australia where it has become a national sport. Duke’s royal position in swimming took time to be recognized. He first startled the swimming world by shattering both the 50 and 100 yard world records on the anniversary of Hawaiian annexation day, August 2, 1911, just 12 days before his 21st birthday–doing 24 1/5 in the 40 or 1 3/5 seconds better than the record, and 55 2/5 in the 100, 4 3/5 seconds better than the record. Unfortunately the cast was all Hawaiian and the times were so unbelievable that the Amateur Athletic Union, headquartered in New York, refused to recognize them in spite of the careful reports that were compiled showing that the course in Honolulu Harbor had been measured before the race and 3 times after; had been surveyed by a registered surveyor, that the swimmers were swimming against the tide; and that his nearest competitor, Lawrence Cunha, was 30 feet behind.
After considerable correspondence back and forth, President Wahle of the AAU wrote:
“According to my mind, this matter should be treated very carefully and with extreme caution before the 100 yard record is to be accepted as an AAU record. If his 55 2/5 seconds were accepted and he should afterwards compete in the U.S. or Europe and be beaten by swimmers, the correctness of his 55 2/5 seconds would be seriously questioned as well as the good faith of the AAU.
For this reason, I would like to see Kahanamoku beat the fast men first and have the record accepted afterward.”
In the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, Longworth of Australia was the favorite but Duke won the Olympic championship in 63 2/5 seconds. Eight years later at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, on his 30th birthday, the Duke had to win his gold medal twice. The Australians protested his first win saying their man had been boxed, so the Duke had to win it again. Australia was fourth with Hawaiians first, second and third.
Duke putting his “handprints in cement”
Olympic gold medal and wreath of olive branches in 1912, the Duke has been an international idol, the first and foremost in a long line of Hawaiian world record holders, national and Olympic champions. These tiny islands dominated world swimming from 1912 until 1956 when the six Hawaiians on the U.S. Olympic team were no match for the Australians. Swimming had gone full cycle for it was the Australians who had been dominant in swimming when Duke swam past them in 1912.
Duke’s original Honoree alcove in the “new” ISHOF museum
Duke adding Hawaiian waters to the new pool
Johnny Weissmuller, Duke, Buster Crabbe
Happy Birthday to our 2020 Honoree JON SIEBEN !!!
Jon Sieben (AUS)
2020 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (200m butterfly), bronze (4x100m medley); 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: 4th (100m butterfly), 6th (4x100m medley); 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: 6th (4 x 100m medley); ONE WORLD RECORD: 100m butterfly; 1982 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (4x100m medley), bronze (200m butterfly); 1985 PAN PACIFIC GAMES: silver (100m butterfly), silver (4 x100m medley); 1987 PAN PACIFIC GAMES: silver (100m butterfly), bronze (4 x 100m medley); 1991 PAN PACIFIC GAMES: silver (100m butterfly); 1985 UNIVERSIADE GAMES: gold (100m butterfly); 2005 UNIVERSIADE GAMES: 8th (men’s water polo team); 2009 UNIVERSIADE GAMES: gold (men’s water polo team); LONG COURSE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 16; OPEN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 11; U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (200m butterfly); NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (200y butterfly) bronze (100y butterfly)
Jon Sieben set the world record with a blistering 1:57.04 in the 200m butterfly, winning the event in the major upset of the 1984 Olympic Games. The record stood for 11 months until Michael Gross of Germany regained it in 1985. Swimming as a NCAA swimmer, he competed for the University of Alabama under Coach Don Gambril, but Laurie Lawrence was his coach at the Olympic Games, as he competed for Australia. He competed in three Olympic Games, the first time since Dawn Fraser had participated in three Olympic Games in 1956, 1960 and 1964.
Happy Birthday INGE DE BRUIJN
Inge de Bruijn (NED)
2009 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: 8th (100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle); 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly), silver (4x100m freestyle); 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (50m freestyle), silver (100m freestyle), bronze (100m butterfly, 4×100 freestyle); ELEVEN WORLD RECORDS: four (50m freestyle), two (100m freestyle), two (50m butterfly), two (100m butterfly); 2001 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (50m, 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly); 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (50m freestyle, 50m butterfly); 1999 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (25m): gold (50m freestyle), silver (4x100m freestyle).
Inge de Bruijn is the most successful athlete of all time in Dutch sports history. In Olympic swimming history, she won four gold, two silver and two bronze medals in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events and joins Debbie Meyer (1968), Shane Gould (1972), Janet Evans (1988), Kristin Otto (1988) and Krisztina Egerszegi (1992) as the only female swimmers to win three gold medals in individual events at one Olympic Games (2000).
Although de Bruijn competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics finishing 8th in the 100m freestyle, it wasn’t until 1999 that she won the European Championships 50m freestyle gold medal and started setting world records eleven by the time she retired.
She fell into a slump during the Olympic year of 1996 and connected with Hall of Fame coach Paul Bergen in Portland, Oregon, training under his guidance. Four years later, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she won the 50m and 100m freestyles and the 100m butterfly, setting world records in all three events. With a silver medal in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay, her nickname became “Invincible Inky”. In 2000 and 2001, she was named World Female Swimmer of the Year. At the 2001 and 2003 World Championships, she won world records in the 50m and 100m freestyle and the 50m and 100m butterfly.
All totaled, she won eight Olympic medals, seven World Championship medals and 26 Dutch National Championships.
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Nicolas Granger 2016 MISHOF Honor Swimmer
Nicholas Granger, 2016 MISHOF Honor Swimmer
and two-time Cancer Survivor – He’s One in A Thousand!
When asked why he wanted to join the International Swimming Hall
of Fame’s One in A Thousand Club, Granger said, “ISHOF was not even on
my radar, because in France, most of the Masters swimmers don’t even know that ISHOF
exists.
When I was awarded my first “Swimmer of the Year
” nomination in 2012, I discovered a new goal to strive toward, because as
a French Masters swimmer, you rarely if ever, are given that distinction.
Swimming has always been a great source of pleasure to me, especially
after my second bout with cancer in 2003 (first in 1991), and I decided to do
my best to become the first French swimmer to be inducted into MISHOF. That dream came true in 2016 and I’m so proud
about it, mostly because it was such a long time after my sickness….
Today, I look forward to being able to visit Fort Lauderdale, the
new pool and new museum. Swimming is
still one of the greatest pleasures in life, along with spending time with
my family. I expect our next vacation or
the next time a meet is held in Florida, we will finally be able to discover
ISHOF.
I will always be grateful that I earned a spot as a member of the
MISHOF and am proud that I will always be some small part of the history of
Masters swimming. Thank you to ISHOF for doing so much for the memory of
our sport.”
Join the One in a Thousand Club by helping ISHOF on a monthly or
one-time basis.
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$10 Monthly Commitment
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Commitment
For larger corporate sponsorships and estate-planning donations,
please contact us at customerservice@ishof.org
Nicolas Granger (FRA)
2016 Honor Masters Swimmer
INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS (SWIMMER): World Points-781, Pre 1986
Points- 0, Total Points-781; Since 1993, he has competed in 5 age groups (25-29
through 45-49). 25 FINA MASTERS WORLD RECORDS
Nicolas Granger began competitive swimming as a six-year-old and
has been competing ever since. He was an outstanding age-group swimmer and
joined the French National Team as a sixteen-year-old in 1983. Ten years later,
while still a member of the national team he entered his first Masters meet in
the 25-29 age group. He finished the year in the Masters World Top-Ten and has
made the list every year since.
He has competed in six FINA World Masters Championships,
beginning in 1994, and has won a total of 23 Championship gold medals and six
silver. As a versatile swimmer, he has set 29 FINA Masters World Records, 17
long-course and 12 short-course, in the freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and
I.M.
In addition, he has set or broken 55 European Masters records,
and 110 French Masters records. Swimming in the United States since 2015, he
also has broken five U.S. National Masters Records.
Nicolas is very proud of the fact that he has been his own coach
since 1989. He was also the Coach of the French Junior and A team from 1993
through 1995.
In 1991 and again in 2003, Nicolas was diagnosed with testicular
cancer. He says he was able to beat his cancer, not once, but twice, due to
practice, his routine and to his healthy lifestyle over the last 42 years. In a
nutshell: to SWIMMING.
The
International Swimming Hall of Fame wants to know if you are one in a thousand.
We think you are! Show how special you are and become a member of the
International Swimming Hall of Fame’s “One In A Thousand” Club. Help
keep the International Swimming Hall of Fame moving forward toward a new vision
and museum by joining now!
During these unprecedented times, the ISHOF Board is calling on
every member in the aquatic community to make a small monthly commitment of
support to show how special you are and how special the International Swimming
Hall of Fame is to everyone.
“Our goal is simple. If we get 1,000 people to simply commit
$10, $25 or $50 per month, we will generate enough revenue to go beyond this
Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis.” – Bill Kent – Chairman
of the ISHOF Board
“Those that believe in our vision, mission, and goals can
join us in taking ISHOF into the future and be a part of aquatic history.”
– Brent Rutemiller – CEO and President of ISHOF
Since 1965, ISHOF has been the global focal point for recording
and sharing the history of aquatics, promoting swimming as an essential
life-skill, and developing educational programs and events related to water
sports. ISHOF’s vision for the future is to build a new museum and expand its
reach by offering its museum artifacts digitally through a redesigned website.
The ISHOF Board of Directors is calling on all members of the
aquatics community to make a small monthly commitment to show their dedication
to aquatics and how special the International Swimming Hall of Fame is to
everyone.
About ISHOF Take a Virtual Tour
The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) museum opened
its doors to the public in December of 1968 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That
same year, the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) – the governing
body for Olympic aquatic sports – designated the ISHOF museum as the “Official
Repository for Aquatic History”. In 2018, Sports Publications Inc,
publisher of Swimming World Magazine and its multi-media
platforms, merged with ISHOF to expand the museum’s reach and impact.
Today, ISHOF’s vision is to be the global focal point for recording and sharing
the history of aquatics, promoting swimming as an essential life-skill, and
developing educational programs and events related to water sports. Show
your support for the sport of swimming by becoming a member of ISHOF.
ISHOF Vision Statement
To be the global focal point for recording and sharing the history of aquatics,
promoting swimming as an essential life-skill, and developing educational
programs and events related to water sports.
ISHOF Mission Statement
To collaborate with aquatic organizations worldwide to preserve, educate and
celebrate history, showcase events, share cultures, and increase participation
in aquatic sports.
The International Swimming Hall of Fame, Inc. is registered as a
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, incorporated in the State of Florida.
Contributions to ISHOF are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
ISHOF’s tax identification number is 59-1087179. A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL
REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF
CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE OR FROM
THE WEBSITE, www.800helpfla.com. REGISTRATION
DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. You can
find out more about us on guidestar.org under
International Swimming Hall of Fame, Inc.
Happy Birthday IET VAN FEGGELEN !!!
Iet van Feggelen (NED)
2009 Honor Pioneer Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: ELEVEN WORLD RECORDS: Three (100m backstroke), Two (200m backstroke), One (400m backstroke), One (150y backstroke), One (100m backstroke), Two (3x100m Medley Relay), One (3x100y Medley Relay); 1964, 1968 OLYMPIC GAMES: Coach With Dutch Swimming Team; STARTED FIRST SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING TEAM IN EUROPE.
For a 20 year period, Dutch backstroke swimmers held all the World backstroke records with Rie Mastenbroek, Nina Senff, Cor Kint and Iet van Feggelen in the 1930’s, 1940’s, and 1950’s. Van Feggelen reached her swimming prime following the Olympic Games of 1936. In 1938 and 1939, she set eight World Backstroke Records in distances from 100 yards to 400 meters.
Her Olympic ambitions were denied when World War II prevented her from competing in the cancelled Games of 1940. There were no Olympic Games in 1944; but she kept swimming and almost ten years later, following the war, she swam on Holland’s 3 x 100 medley relay teams setting three world records in the process.
In 1947, she toured the USA with Hall of Fame teammate Nel van Vliet, during which time she discovered synchronized swimming. Upon her return home, she started the first synchronized swimming team in Holland and Europe. Holland’s Jan Armbrust followed Iet’s Dutch synchro success with his own team a few years later eventually becoming very active in the international synchronized swimming scene. During this time, Iet’s brother Rudy was playing water polo on the Dutch National Team and won the bronze medal at the 1948 London Olympic Games.
The Dutch Swimming Federation selected her as a coach for the Olympic swimming teams of 1964 and 1968.
