Catching Up With Summer Sanders: ISHOF Honoree and Olympic Champ Staying Busy, But Family Always Comes First
by DAN D’ADDONA — SWIMMING WORLD MANAGING EDITOR
28 December 2023, 07:23am
Catching Up With Summer Sanders: Olympic Champ Staying Busy, But Family Always Comes First
Summer Sanders was only 19 years old when she won Olympic gold in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympics. Now 51, she recently shared some of her memories of her stellar swimming career with Swimming World…as well as the new memories made since then as a television personality, her involvement with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Foundation and the importance of family with her husband, Olympic skier Erik Schlopy, and two teenage kids.
It has been three decades since Summer Sanders triumphantly became an Olympic champion.
Ice swimmer breaks two world records crossing the worlds most dangerous waters Euronews
But Sanders (Schlopy), now 51, is never far from the water for long.
Whether it’s swimming an alumni practice at Stanford or surfing with her family, water is still an important part of her life.
When she married Olympic skier Erik Schlopy, the slopes were part of that routine as well.
“My kids liked swimming, but we never pushed that. But we made sure they were on the swim team. We surfed and skied as a family, and we needed the kids to be able to handle that (as swimmers),” Summer told Swimming World. “They are sports where there are great times for conversation. There is the lift and waiting for the next set of waves. It is a bonding experience. The joy my kids have on the ski hill versus the joy of looking at a black line, it couldn’t compare.”
Sanders remains close to the sport as well, but in a different way. She helps run the United States Olympic and Paralympic Foundation, and she joined Elizabeth Beisel to host the Golden Goggles.
“It has been very exciting for me to learn about fundraising through the lens of the Olympic movement,” she said. “We are the only country not funded by their government. Every dollar counts, and 80% goes to actual sports and training and mental health. Hosting Golden Goggles with Elizabeth Beisel was so cool to have two women hosting an event like that.”
A CAREER IN TELEVISION
Summer also does plenty of other things outside the world of swimming.
After her competitive swimming career was over, she became a television fixture, first as a commentator at the Olympics, then moving to jobs with “NBA Inside Stuff,” “Good Morning America,” “Today,” CNN, MTV, the Pac-12 Network, Nickelodeon and more.
She has interviewed people such as Michelle Obama, Joe Torre, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams, not to mention a slew of Olympians and NBA stars. She even got to “slime” Julius Erving and Joe Namath on her Nickelodeon show, “Figure It Out.”
Now in her 31st year of television, she is still a fixture on CBS’ “We Need to Talk,” and is a team-building speaker with Teamraderie.
“Swimming gave me a good education in time management. When you turn 50, you have a better understanding of your limitations. There is an authentic forgiveness to give yourself grace. You feel that at 50. I am good at being present with whatever I am doing at that time. I feel the need for balance to be complete,” she said.
ALL ABOUT FAMILY
But family is her driving force. Whether it is on the slopes, on the waves or spending a year in Spain, the bonding continues to grow.
Photo Courtesy: Summer Sanders
“We lived in Spain for a year. It was the greatest decision of our lives. We had freedom and the means to do it, but we rented our house and trusted we could create jobs for us when we got back. It was such a beautiful family time,” she said.
Summer and Erik have a daughter, Skye, who is a senior in high school, and a son, Charles “Spider,” who is 15. Skye plays rugby and is looking into colleges, while Spider is an avid skier. Erik runs a real estate company.
It keeps the family busy, but close.
As the 2024 Olympics approach, Summer is learning more about her great-great-uncle, Myron T. Herrick, who was governor of Ohio, then the U.S. ambassador to France from 1912-14 and 1921-29, including during the 1924 Paris Olympics.
“My great-great-uncle was the U.S. ambassador to France the last time the Olympics were in Paris. I visited the embassy, and the historian who had researched him said he was on the shores when Charles Lindbergh made the trip (across the Atlantic). It was remarkable. My grandmother’s maiden name was Herrick. The Olympics are always special to me. I think it is extraordinary to have a family member in diplomacy. He was there in very important times, war and conflict. He was an important figure during the War. He had incredible positive influence. What an interesting tie for the Olympics.”
INTERNATIONAL GLORY
And, of course, thinking about the upcoming Olympics makes Summer think of her own Olympic-glory moment, winning the 200 butterfly in Barcelona in 1992. She finished the meet with four medals, capturing another gold in the medley relay and earning a silver in the 200 IM and a bronze in the 400 IM.
“So much of an Olympian’s pressure comes from within. I had four individual races with a relay. The last person to do that before me was Shirley Babashoff,” Summer said.
“I didn’t start swimming the 200 butterfly until I was 15 when they changed the order of events. I choked on water one of the first times I swam it, and I couldn’t catch a breath for three strokes. So I decided I was going to breathe every stroke.”
The year before Barcelona, Sanders won three medals at the 1991 World Championships in Perth: gold in the 200 fly, silver in the 200 IM and bronze in the 400 IM. “I was expected to win (the 200 fly), but I was drained emotionally and physically.”
At the Olympics, Sanders admits, “It was just pure grit. None of it came easy. It was a matter of wanting it so badly. It was just going back to your stroke and not tighten up. I embraced the pain. It was desperation and a relief. I was 19. It was a lot. But I loved it. That moment was beautiful. Relief can be a beautiful emotion!”
HER “GOLD MEDAL” MOMENT
Surprisingly, when asked what her favorite memory of swimming was, it was not her Olympic gold medal in the 200 fly. That race earned “a silver medal” when remembering her swimming career.
Instead, Summer answered: “Winning the NCAA championship in 1992 as a team (with Stanford)—it is by far my greatest achievement.
“I love my gold medal…but I was a team swimmer and loved every minute of team swimming. That team was amazing. We started with a false start in our first relay, and we just rose up.” She finished her career with the Cardinal as a nine-time NCAA champion.
Now Summer’s “favorite team” is her family…and, of course, her hometown Sacramento Kings and her husband’s hometown Buffalo Bills!
“My husband is from Hamburg, N.Y. When I met him, I was working for the NBA and was in love with the Sacramento Kings. I grew up a 49ers football fan, but I wasn’t all in. It can be so fun and miserable at the same time.”
In fact, Summer and Erik often joke about when they were taking their wedding vows, they were actually asked, “Do you, Summer, take Erik…and the Buffalo Bills? And do you, Erik, take Summer…and the Sacramento Kings?”
It is yet another way her family comes together and bonds. Whether it be in Spain, on the ski slopes, in the water or cheering on their “teams,” the Schlopys put family first.
Happy Birthday Michelle Cameron!!
Michelle Cameron (CAN)
Honor Synchronized / Artistic Swimmer (2000)
FOR THE RECORD: 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (duet); 1986 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (duet, team); 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: silver (team).
Coach Debbie Muir knew exactly what she was doing when she paired Hall of Fame Honoree Carolyn Waldo with this upcoming star just after the 1984 Olympic Games. Waldo had just won the Olympic synchronized swimming solo silver medal in Los Angeles. The young rising partner-to-be had been on the National Team only three years, but the union was to be the best match of the era. Waldo and her new partner, Michelle Cameron, never lost a major international event for the next four years, an Olympic quadrennium.
Michelle started as a youngster extremely fearful of the water, failing her first swimming level four times. From a family of 10 children (5 girls, 5 boys), she learned to survive and by the time she was 13 years old, she started synchronized swimming in her hometown of Calgary, Alberta. Michelle Caulkins became her first coach, but in 1981 Debbie Muir became her mentor at the Calgary Aquabelles Club. After teaming up with Carolyn Waldo in late 1984, Michelle never looked back.
The duet of Cameron and Waldo won every major duet international competition they entered: 1985 Rome and Spanish Opens, 1985 FINA World Cup, 1986 Spanish Open, 1986 Commonwealth Games, 1986 World Championships, 1987 Pan Pacific Championships and the 1987 FINA World Cup.
The 1988 Olympic Games at Seoul were the highlight of her career. Michelle and Carolyn swam to the music of “Spartacus” for their Olympic duet. With their dramatic, technically difficult beginning, slow artistic middle and fast-paced, catchy ending, they beat the USA’s Josephson twins by .433 points to win the gold medal. For Michelle it capped a 13 year career which saw her win 8 national titles in duet and team.
Known as “Mick” or “Mish” by her friends and family, Michelle is known for her adventurousness and spontaneity. In duet synchronized swimming where athletes must synchronize their movements, perform with technical accuracy and be artistic in their approach, they must be equal in performance and ability. Cameron and Waldo were equals when they won their Olympic gold medals and international competitions That’s why they’re Hall of Famer Honorees.
After retirement from competition, Michelle participated in many causes and charities. In 1996, she continued in the Olympic spirit as Canada’s Athlete Services Officer at the Atlanta Games. She has been involved with Special Olympics, children’s charities, drug awareness programs and missions of preventative health and nutritional support to children in need all over the world. She has been on the Board of Directors for Rogers Broadcasting, the Canadian Coaching Association, the Canadian Sports Council, the Canadian Athletes Association and the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. As a performance development and motivational speaker, Michelle and her husband, Alan Coulter (two-time Olympic volleyball team member and captain) raise three children. One of her most prestigious awards has been the Order of Canada presented in 1989.
Happp Birthday Irene van der Laan!!
Irene van der Laan (NED)
Honor Open Water Swimmer (2015)
FOR THE RECORD: Three Times English Channel Crossing: 1979, 1982, 1988; Two-way English Channel Crossing: 1983; First person to win Rolex Watch two times for fastest English Channel: 1982 and 1983; Traversee international du lac St-Jean (42 km World Cup in Canada) 1983, 1984, 1987, 1997; Traversee International du lac St-Jean (64 km in Canada) 27x in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994-2011; Traversee International du lac Memphremagog (34 km in Canada) 20 x in 1987-1992, 1995-2005; Farosmarathon (16 km, Stari Grad, Croatia) 21x; Ijsselmeer (21 km The Netherlands) 15x; La Patagones – Viedma FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix (15 km in UAE) 2008; Maratono del Golfo Capri-Napoli (36 km Italy) 8x 1987-1992, Rosario Marathon Acuatico (15 km in Argentina) 8x 1994-1998, 2000, 2005, 2008;
The one thing successful open water swimmers all seem to have in common is their appreciation for their crew and team. It’s usually all they can talk about after a swim, and Irene van der Laan is no different.
Irene van der Laan learned to swim at the age of six in a pool in Amsterdam. She would go to the beaches during the summer but she was the only one in her family that knew how to swim. She eventually took stroke lessons at the pool and began swimming for Coach Jaap Ploeg, soon finding herself swimming on a team with Olympians. Irene was inspired!
After 11 years of pool swimming, she tried an open water swim of 500 meters in the rowing track in Amsterdam. The year after, she swam 1,000 meters, and she was hooked on open water racing. Her parents were very supportive as she began swimming longer and longer races.
In 1976, after getting special permission from the federation because she was not the minimum age of 16, Irene swam her first 16 kilometer race. Irene completed the race in 4 hours and18 minutes and was the first female to finish, but she wanted even longer races. In 1978, she went to the biggest event at that time, the 25 kilometer Lake Windermere race in the U.K. It was Irene’s first international race and she finished third.
The year 1979 was the pinnacle of her open water swimming: The English Channel. Irene easily swam it in 8 hours and 44 minutes. The pilot said, “I know you can do it two-way.” So, in 1982, Irene tried a two-way. She nearly finished the first half of the two way crossing in record time, but two ships got in her way. Because of the very fast first-half effort, her team decided to stop when they came in at France. In 1983, she finally succeeded at the two-way Channel crossing in world record time, 18 hours and 15 minutes. Irene also turned pro that year, as other long swims were waiting: Capri-Napoli was a favorite. In both 1982 and 1983 she won the Rolex watch for the fastest Channel swim of the year.
Irene loved to travel and swim; swimming in the summer and working part time in the winter. There were not really enough swims on the pro circuit each year, but still, she says, it was a good life. She loved traveling to Australia, Egypt, Argentina, Mexico, the USA, Canada and Italy, always finishing in the top three. Then in 1988, after five years of second place finishes, she became the Woman’s world champion of professional swimming.
Among her favorite races were the Traversee International du lac St. Jean, in Canada, where she raced 27 times; Farosmarathon in Stari Grad, Croatia, 21 times; and Lake Memphremagog, Canada, 20 times.
In her prime, Irene van der Laan was one of the fastest and most durable marathon swimmers in the world. Having competed in over 200 marathon swimming competitions during her career, she has arguably competed over a greater distance in the water than anyone in history.
Happy Birthday Novella Calligaris!!
Novella Calligaris (ITA)
Honor Swimmer (1986)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1972 silver (400m freestyle), bronze (800m freestyle, 400m individual medley); WORLD RECORDS: 1 (1973: 800m freestyle); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1973 gold (800m freestyle), bronze (400m freestyle, 400m individual medley); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1974 silver (800m freestyle), bronze (400m freestyle); 1970 bronze (800m freestyle); ITALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 36 (100m, 200m, 400m, 800m freestyle; 200m backstroke; 200m butterfly; 200m, 400m individual medley).
Tiny Novella Calligaris was petite but all guts — the first Italian to win a major swimming competition. (The 1973 Belgrade World Championship’s 800 Meter Freestyle.) She was Italy’s all-time greatest woman swimmer who set 82 Italian and 21 European records in distances that strained the Italian concept of what a Latin woman was suited to do (all but her coach Dennerlein). Her 36 Italian Championships, European and world acclaim, were mostly rugged distances in 200, 400, and 800 Meter Freestyle, 200 Meter Backstroke, 200 Meter Butterfly, and 200 and 400 Individual Medley.
Novella overcame the lack of first class competition in her own country and went abroad to win eight medals in major international competitions: three Olympic Medals at Munich (1972), three World Championship medals at Belgrade (1973), and two European Championship medals at Barcelona (1976). The “lone swimmer” joins the great Italian diver (Klaus Dibiasi) and water polo player (Mario Majoni) as honorees in the International Swimming Hall of Fame. She is currently coaching the famed Guistiniana Sports Club and training the Italian Junior National team in Rome.
How ISHOF Started and the History Behind it!
The timeline begins in 1928 with the City of Fort Lauderdale’s construction of the Casino pool (1928-1966) that once operated only 100 yards from today’s International Swimming Hall of Fame. The pool cost $150,000 to build and was filled twice a week with saltwater directly from the Atlantic Ocean.
Soon thereafter, the CSCAA had its first Coaches Forum in Fort Lauderdale. In 1937, the Forum expanded to include the Women’s National Aquatic Forum and attracted 44 colleges and universities, 28 prep schools, 28 clubs, and over 600 swimmers for holiday training. Fort Lauderdale soon became a hotbed for swimmers.
The College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) and its founding leaders for having the idea to approach the City of Fort Lauderdale back in the early 60’s to establish the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
CSCAA’s idea of creating a Swimming Hall of Fame became so strong, that in 1962 Mayor Burry of Fort Lauderdale, the entire city commission, 30 civic leaders, and even Florida’s Governor Farris all threw their support behind the idea. The Mayor went so far as to create a “Mayor’s Swimming Hall of Fame Citizen’s Committee”. Support was so overwhelming that the Amateur Athletic Union voted unanimously to select Fort Lauderdale as the first home for a Swimming Hall of Fame Fort over bids from Louisville and Houston at its annual convention on November 27, 1962 in Detroit.
The adjoining aquatic facility was completed in August of 1965 for $986,000. Three years later in 1968, the Swimming Hall of Fame Museum was dedicated for $295,000.
The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) museum opened its doors to the public in December of 1969 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That same year, the Fédérationi nternationale 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 Magazine and its multi-media platforms, merged with ISHOF to expand the museum’s reach and impact. Today, ISHOF is 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.
Today, we find ourselves in the exact same partnership with equal optimism as the City of Fort Lauderdale and the International Swimming Hall of Fame have torn down the old museum in the back to make way for a new and exciting aquatic center.
The Legacy of “Broadway Betty” Brey and the Impact on Notre Dame’s Basketball Program
by Kyle Sagendorph//USA Swimming
Mike Brey at the unveiling of his mom’s statue in her hometown of Weissport, Pennsylvania.
Six years ago, the Notre Dame men’s basketball team made its way through the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament, finding itself in the championship game pitted against the blue-blood North Carolina Tar Heels.
The scoreboard held tight throughout, with Notre Dame taking a five-point lead into halftime only to find themselves down eight points with just under 10 minutes to go. Eventually, behind Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant, a soon-to-be NBA first-round draft pick, the Fighting Irish would pull out a 90-82 win, giving the school its first ACC Tournament title in program history.
As Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey stood atop the ladder on the Greensboro Coliseum court, cutting down the last strand of netting to hang back in Notre Dame’s trophy case, he couldn’t help but think about his family, specifically his mother, who was in the stands watching.
“She saw Jack (Mike’s uncle, who played basketball at Duke) win the ACC title in 1960 in Greensboro as a player, and 55 years later she saw her son win in Greensboro as a coach,” Brey said.
The feat is a testament to the athletic genes that run deep through Brey’s family lineage, seeing Jack play basketball at Duke, Mike playing and coaching NCAA basketball, Brenda (Mike’s siter) earning NCAA All-American recognitions as a swimmer at LSU and more.
While these honors are all applause-worthy, the Brey family admittedly owes a large amount of their competitive nature and accomplishments to their mother, 1956 Olympic freestyler Betty (Mullen) Brey.
Betty’s story began in Weissport, Pennsylvania, a town that routinely hovers just around the 1,000-person mark on yearly U.S. Census data reports.
Betty’s father worked on the railroads, cleaning trains as they would pass through on the way to New York City. During a routine day at work, Betty’s father found a pamphlet for swim lessons at a YMCA in downtown New York. And thus, Betty Brey had become a swimmer.
“My sister and I called her Broadway Betty,” Mike explained. “They (Betty and her father) would go up to the city, catch a matinee on Broadway, and then go work out and then catch the train back.”
The training paid off, as Betty quickly rose through the swimming ranks in the 1940s, becoming one of the top female swimmers in the country. When she wrapped up with high school, she wanted to keep swimming, but at the time, women’s swimming was not an NCAA sport.
She knew she wanted to keep at it, so Broadway Betty did her research and found that one of the elite women’s swimming coaches at the time, Stan Tinkham, coached in West Lafayette, Indiana. Betty packed her bags and headed to Purdue University, where she became a full-time student, swimmer in her free time, and even a baton-twirler in Purdue’s historic “All-American Marching Band.”
“There’s a picture in my office of her twirling at the 50-yard line at Notre Dame Stadium,” Mike explained. “Purdue came up here and beat us when we were No. 1 in 1950, and I got a picture of it. People go ‘get out of here,’ when they see it, but I just say ‘that’s my mom’ back to them. She’s doing a back bend with a baton.”
The spare-time training that Betty did with coach Tinkham in West Lafayette paid off, as Betty continued her pursuit of becoming one of the nation’s best female swimmers. Suddenly, after years of trying to make the Olympic roster, her dream became a reality.
“She tried in ’48, didn’t make it. Tried in ’52, didn’t make it. Then she hung in there for ’56 and made it as ‘the old lady’ of the ’56 team,” Mike said.
That ‘old lady’ title came to Betty at just 24 years old, the age that current U.S. National Team stars Simone Manuel, Lilly King, Kathleen Baker and more are continuing to dominate today’s headlines at.
While it seems odd to give a 24-year-old the ‘old-lady’ title, at that time, it was unprecedented to be a woman in her mid-20s and still be competing at a high level. Of the female swimmers on the 1956 U.S. Olympic Team to have their age on record, Betty was the only woman in her 20’s and had five years on the next-closest swimmer to her age.
At the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Betty swam in the prelims of the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay, an event that the U.S. team would go on to claim silver in during the finals. Back then, only athletes who competed in the finals of a relay were awarded tangible medals back then, so while Betty played an integral part in the U.S. relay team’s silver medal, she was not awarded an actual medal.
Though she does not have an actual medal from the 1956 Olympic Games, the title of Olympian holds a lot of weight among the Brey family tree of athletes.
“That’s why I have pictures of her all over my office, it’s a reminder of her work ethic and I’m so proud to call her my mom,” Mike explained of the athletic influence her legacy holds. “It’s a reminder of the edge and the mentality to wake up every day and compete your tail off to be successful. She drove that into my sister and I.”
The legacy carried over when Mike and his two siblings, Brenda and Shane, were growing up. Betty and Paul, her husband and the father to Mike, Brenda and Shane, enrolled the kids in swim lessons in early. For Mike, his swimming career lasted until he was around 10 years old when he realized he wanted to switch to basketball.
With the fear of letting down his Olympic-swimming mom, Mike opted not to deliberately quit swimming, but rather strategically place his gear at the end of the pool by the exit door during summer swim camp. Betty would drop him off at camp, watch a few laps, and then when she went out to run errands, Mike would exit stage left and head to the basketball court.
Then, one day, it happened. Mike got caught.
In the car ride home, he sheepishly admitted to his mom that he may want to commit to basketball over swimming. The fear started to sink in.
To his delight, Betty responded: “Yeah, we’ve got you signed up for basketball camp beginning next week.”
The support of Betty meant the world to Mike, who went on to play collegiately at George Washington University before coaching five years at Delware and now being in his 21st year on Notre Dame’s coaching staff.
While basketball remained at the forefront for Mike’s playing and coaching career, he has continued to hold swimming near to him, going to the pool a few times a week. Mike views it as a sense of therapy; a time to be alone, go over practice plans, recruiting strategies and be himself with no distractions. He even relied on long-time Notre Dame swim coach Tim Welsh for tips and equipment and would even bring Notre Dame’s basketball team to the pool for workouts in the offseason.
From the mental side, Mike credits his mom with his coaching philosophy.
“Watching her coach, teach and really just interact with people and swimmers who she coached was maybe the greatest mentorship I could have had,” Mike explained. “She had that balance of intensity, confidence, instructing and even adding humor to loosen athletes up was an unbelievable role model for me as an instructor and educator for me.
“Dang Betty, she’s got me so that I can’t relax or retire, I still have to be chasing this thing. That’s because of her. Her genetics still has me chasing success and being crazy every day wanting to beat someone or something. I say that to vent, but then I think, ‘God bless her’ and ‘I’m glad I got it’ because those genetics have served me well.”
That intensity and mentorship is what stuck with Betty for her whole life, even when health complications started to show up in her later years.
In 2015, she suffered a heart attack and passed away at age 84. It was the morning of a March Madness game against Butler, where Notre Dame won in overtime, and just seven days after she watched Mike’s Notre Dame team beat North Carolina for the ACC Championships title in the Greensboro Coliseum.
“When she passed, people spoke at her service nonstop for an hour about the type of person she was,” Mike said. “The swimmers she coached are now in their 60s, and many of them came back to talk about her as a person and an educator.”
Broadway Betty held numerous titles over her lifespan: mother, coach, teacher, Olympian, veteran, role model, baton twirler and more. Above all else, her legacy is one of both compassion and competitiveness.
“Little ol’ Weissport, Pennsylvania, she got out of there and kept kicking doors down in the ‘40s and ‘50s, then swam Masters after until she was into her 60s.
“She was 65 and would come back to me and say, ‘I’m disappointed in my time,’ and I would tell her that she should be proud since she is 65 and still swimming. But she would tell me that she was at the bottom of her age group now and was determined to crush those 68-, 69- and 70-year-olds. That was her attitude until the day she died, and that’s why she was special.”
The sport of swimming meant the world to Betty, but it was what she did with the sport that will carry over for years to come.
Flashback Friday: When Pieter van den Hoogenband Took the 100 Freestyle Into Sub-48 Territory
by JOHN LOHN – EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
21 December 2023, 05:32am
Throwback Thursday: When Pieter van den Hoogenband Took the 100 Freestyle Into Sub-48 Territory
In this latest installment of World Record Flashback, we celebrate the greatness of Pieter van den Hoogenband. The Dutchman produced a Hall of Fame career that featured seven Olympic medals, including three gold, and landed him enshrinement into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2013.
Sometimes, the topics of our World Record Flashback series are easy to select, as there is a predominant performance from an athlete to highlight. At times, the decision-making process is difficult, given the multiple squares of greatness on the Bingo card of success. See Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky as examples.
In the case of Pieter van den Hoogenband, the Dutch standout offered two options for this series. As the Olympic movement ventured into the 2000s, with Sydney serving as host, van den Hoogenband was nothing short of phenomenal during his trip Down Under, as he unassumingly became an Olympic champion.
If we chose the 200-meter freestyle as the focal point of this piece, it would have made sense. After all, over four laps is where van den Hoogenband upset Australian Ian Thorpe, the hometown favorite and poster boy of the Sydney Games. But that triumph has received its due through the years, so it seemed fitting to recognize the occasion when van den Hoogenband cracked the 48-second barrier in the 100 freestyle.
The 100 freestyle has long been considered the Blue-Ribbon event of the sport, dating back to the early days of the 20th century, when Charlie Daniels and Duke Kahanamoku etched their names in the history books. They were followed by the dominance of the legendary Johnny Weissmuller, with greats such as Don Schollander, Michael Wenden, Mark Spitz, Matt Biondi and Alexander Popov eventually claiming Olympic glory over the two-lap discipline.
As experts analyzed the Sydney Games and the podium challengers across the schedule, van den Hoogenband was certainly accorded medal-contender status in the 100 freestyle. As an 18-year-old at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, “Hoogie” announced his presence on the global stage. Behind a pair of fourth-place outings in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle, van den Hoogenband just missed the podium, but established the framework for the stellar career that would follow.
In the years between Atlanta and Sydney, VDH became a multi-time European champion, his skill molded by coach Jacco Verhaeren. It was a matter of time before that excellence extended from the continental level to worldwide dominance.
While he wasn’t the overwhelming favorite for gold in the 100 free upon his arrival in Sydney, that label changed when van den Hoogenband set a world record (1:45.35) in the semifinals of the 200 freestyle. He then equaled that global standard to upend Thorpe in the final and became the man to beat for the two-lap event. VDH’s defeat of Thorpe was a shock moment, since the Aussie teen was widely expected to sweep the 200 free and 400 free. Indeed, Thorpe delivered in the longer distance, but the Dutch star had a surprise prepared for the 200 free.
Van den Hoogenband still faced a gauntlet in the 100 freestyle, specifically the tandem of Russia’s Alexander Popov and Australian Michael Klim. Popov was the two-time defending champion, having claimed Olympic crowns in 1992 and 1996. More, he entered the week as the world-record holder at 48.21.
Meanwhile, Klim was riding a wave of momentum and had the full support of the Australian crowd. On the opening night of action, his leadoff leg of 48.18 propelled Australia to gold in the 400 freestyle relay, a title which handed the United States its first Olympic loss in the event. Klim’s time also broke Popov’s world mark and enhanced the plot of the 100 freestyle
One night after toppling Thorpe in the 200 freestyle, van den Hoogenband eased through his preliminary heat of the 100 freestyle in 48.64. That effort was the lone sub-49 marker of the opening round and good for the top seed entering the semifinals, where van den Hoogenband figured to do just enough to assure a center lane for the final. Yet, as was the case in the semifinals of the 200 free, the Flying Dutchman opted to press the pace – at a level never before seen.
Unlike many of his rivals, van den Hoogenband did not boast a hulking physique. A 6-3, 175-pounder, he possessed a wiry frame, with a concave chest that paid dividends in the water. Van den Hoogenband and the Dutch coaching staff often noted that his build resembled the hull of a catamaran and created less drag.
Racing in the second semifinal at the Sydney Aquatic Centre, van den Hoogenband turned in an opening lap of 23.16 and came home in 24.68. Today, sub-25 closing performances are the norm, with Kyle Chalmers and David Popovici having been 24-low. But van den Hoogenband was ahead of his time with his closing speed, and his competition paid the price.
Via his world record of 47.84, van den Hoogenband sliced .34 off what Klim managed a few days earlier in relay duty. Forever, VDH would go down in history as a barrier breaker, joining Jim Montgomery (sub-50 in 1976) and Matt Biondi (sub-49 in 1985) in swimming lore.
In the final, van den Hoogenband could not match his speed from the semifinals, but still comfortably prevailed. His time of 48.30 was nearly a half-second adrift of his newly minted world record, but well ahead of Popov’s mark of 48.69 for the silver medal, and the 48.73 of American Gary Hall Jr. for the bronze. Locked out of the medals was Klim, who could not replicate his relay heroics in the 100 freestyle and finished fourth in 48.74.
Van den Hoogenband was minimalistic in the assessment of his work.
“I won two gold medals and broke two world records,” he said. “At this moment, I am the best.”
For good measure, van den Hoogenband capped his trip to Sydney with a bronze medal in the 50 freestyle. Clocking 22.03, the Dutchman finished just behind the American tandem of Anthony Ervin and Hal Jr., who shared the gold medal in 21.98. For “Hoogie,” that additional piece of hardware was a surprise, as he touched the wall ahead of sprint specialists such as Popov, Bart Kizierowski and Mark Foster.
Four years later, when the Olympic Games returned to their birthplace of Athens, van den Hoogenband repeated as champion of the 100 freestyle and earned silver in the 200 freestyle, with Thorpe exacting revenge from Sydney. More, his world record endured for more than seven years and remains a superb time in the present day.
“At the end of the day (we had one major goal): To break 48 seconds for the 100 freestyle,” Verhaeren said. “We didn’t say we wanted to win, or we want to do this and that. Of course, the likelihood when you do that is winning. But we wanted to be the first athlete to break 48 seconds and we’d go from there.”
The job was done.
Happy Birthday Zoltán Szécsi!!
Zoltán Szécsi (HUN)
Honor Water Polo (2016)
FOR THE RECORD: 1998 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver; 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold; 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 2005 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver; 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver; 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold
Hungary is a land of thermal springs and although landlocked, swimming and water sports are ingrained in their culture. This love of water led to an early domination of international swimming and diving competitions in the late 19th and early 20th century. In the 1920s, it was water polo that came to symbolize Hungary’s unique strengths and individuality. From 1928 to 1980, the Hungarian National Water Polo Team dominated the sport like no other nation, reaching the podium at twelve consecutive Olympic Games. During this streak the Hungarians won six gold medals, three silver medals, three bronze medals, and back to back titles twice: 1932 and 1936 and, 1952 and 1956. It came to be that anything less than the gold medal was considered a failure.
So it became something of a national catastrophe and source of embarrassment when the pride of Hungary failed to medal in four consecutive Olympic contests. After finishing fourth in 1996, the Federation reached out to a young coach, who had made a name for himself coaching in Italy and Australia, to rescue the program.
Denes Kemeny started by building his team around two young men who had helped Hungary finish fourth at the 1996 Games in Atlanta: Tibor Benedek and Tamas Kásás.
Benedek was one of the most talented youngsters to ever play the game. He had joined the National Team as a teenager prior to the 1992 Olympic Games. His speed, quickness, rifle left arm and goal-scoring in Barcelona earned him the Hungarian Player of the Year titles in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Tamas Kásás took up water polo at the age of six, being taught by his father Zoltan, a famous coach and silver medalist in 1972. Because of his world-class swimming speed, defensive skills, accurate shooting and passing he would come to be regarded as one of the world’s best defensive and all around players of his era.
Born in Szeged, Tamás Molnár was selected for the national team in 1997. He was a powerhouse at the all-important center position and could score or draw exclusions against the best defenders in the world.
The youngest to join the team in 1997, was 19-year old Gergely Kiss. He was not only a brilliant left-hander and center defender, but at 6’6”, 245 pounds, he was one of the most physically intimidating players in the sport.
It was 1998 when Péter Biros joined the team. Born in Miskolc, Biros had combined water polo with handball until the age of 17. He could play any position and could score from anywhere in the pool.
The final piece of Kemeny’s team was the goalkeeper, 21-year old Zoltán Szécsi. Standing 6’6” tall, he had learned to swim as an infant, but grew up playing a variety of other sports, like basketball and tennis, which was good training for his position.
Kemeny’s new approach brought immediate results, as the Hungarians won gold at the 1997 European Championships, silver at the 1998 FINA World Championships and gold at the 1999 World Cup.
At the 2000 Sydney Games, Hungary regained its Olympic water polo success by winning their first Olympic medal in 24 years, and their record seventh water polo gold medal, by routing Russia, 13-6.
Four years later, at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Gergely Kiss scored four goals, including the game-winner in an 8-7 come-from-behind victory over Serbia-Montenegro to defend their title.
In Beijing, at the 2008 Olympic Games, the Hungarians faced off against the surprising team from the USA. In a wild shoot out, the Magyars took command in the fourth quarter for a 14-10 victory.
The win gave Hungary an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic title. While a total of 21 players won Olympic gold medals playing for Hungary over the period of 2000 to 2008, only six own three by themselves. It is to them, and their coach, that we honor the Hungarian Men’s National Water Polo Team as the first team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Happy Birthday Dagmar Hase!!
Dagmar Hase (GER)
Honor Swimmer (2013)
FOR THE RECORD: 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (400m freestyle), silver (200m backstroke, 4×100 medley relay); 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (400m freestyle, 800m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle), bronze (200m freestyle); 1991 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (4x200m freestyle); 1994 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (200m backstroke); 1998 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (4x200m freestyle), silver (200m backstroke), bronze (400m freestyle); 1995 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (25m): silver (200m backstroke, 4x100m freestyle; 1991 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (4x100m medley, 4x100m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle), bronze (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke); 1993 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (400m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle); 1995 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (4x200m freestyle), silver (200m backstroke); 1997 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (400m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle); NINE GERMAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1-50m backstroke, 2-100m backstroke, 2-200m backstroke, 4-400m freestyle.
She was born in Thale, a small town in East Germany into a family that wasn’t interested in sports. However, at age seven under the East German sport system, she was discovered by talent scouts, learned to swim, started to compete and was soon sent to a centralized sports academy away from home to further develop her talent.
Maybe it was her stubbornness that made her so ambitious as an athlete, for she soon began to rise to the top. Her first big success came at age ten, winning three gold medals at the National Championships in Leipzig.
She had to wait another ten years to celebrate her first big international success, when at age 20, she won the gold medal in the 200 meter backstroke at the European Championships, beating Hungary’s all-time great Kristina Egerszegi. In 1990, she switched teams to Magdeburg under Coach Bernd Henneberg, staying with him until retirement.
A great middle distance freestyle swimmer, she won seven Olympic medals, the first a gold in the 400 meter freestyle at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, when she upset world record holder Janet Evans and silver medals in the 200 meter backstroke and the 4×100 meter medley relay. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, she won another four medals – three silver in the 400 meter freestyle, 800 meter freestyle, 4×200 meter freestyle relay and a bronze in the 200 meter freestyle.
Competing in three World Championships, Dagmar earned two gold, three silver and one bronze medal. At the 1994 World Championships, she gave up her spot in the 200 meter freestyle to the up and coming Franziska van Almsick who qualified ninth, failing to make the finals, but went on to win the gold medal in world record time. For her ultimate act of sportsmanship, Dagmar received Germany’s prestigious fair play award in 1995. At the European Championships from 1989 to 1997, she earned six gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
After her retirement, she couldn’t stay away from the water for long, playing water polo and coaching age group swimmers on her hometown Magdeburg team since 2002.
A Special Good Bye and Thank you to long time ISHOF employee, Laurie Marchwinski
The International Swimming Hall of Fame would like to take this opportunity to say good bye and thank you to Laurie Marchwinksi, for her 43 years of dedicated service to ISHOF. Laurie started at ISHOF as an 18 year old, part-time employee, when she first moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1980. She eventually worked her way up to Chief Operating Officer, put in charge by Brent Rutemiller, during Covid, while he was stuck in Arizona and unable to travel to Ft. Lauderdale as CEO.
During that time, and not having any background in these areas, Laurie put a small team together that researched, organized, and finally catalogued all of the 55+ years of ISHOF memorabilia, which we had been trying to do for years. She also is the one, who led the way in getting the entire back (original) West Museum organized, packed up, and eventually moved to our new climate controlled storage unit located off site, in time for the demolition of the building. It was a 2+ year process. This was probably one of her greatest contributions of her 43 years at ISHOF, but there were many others; too many to list.
We want to thank Laurie for all that she has done for ISHOF, giving her many years of service. We truly appreciate you. Thank you Laurie! We wish you good luck and success in the future. You will be missed.