Happy Birthday Stephanie Rice!!
Stephanie Rice (AUS)
Honor Swimmer (2019)
FOR THE RECORD: 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (200m I.M, 400m I.M, 4x200m freestyle; 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): bronze (200m I.M, 400m I.M.); 2009 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): silver (200m I.M, 4x100m medley); bronze (400m I.M.); 2011 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): bronze (400m I.M., 4x100m medley); 2006 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze (200m I.M., 400m I.M); 2006 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (200m I.M, 400m I.M)
She first showed promise of being a great swimmer at 16, when she qualified for the 2005 Junior Pan-Pacific Championships. It was there that Stephanie Rice won two gold medals for Team Australia.
Rice burst onto the international senior scene in 2006 under coach Michael Bohl, winning two gold medals in both IMs at the Commonwealth Games in her home country. The next year at the World Championships also in front of a home crowd, Rice won two bronze medals in both IMs, lowering the Australian record in the 200.
In March 2008 at the Australian Olympic Trials in Sydney, Rice unexpectedly broke the world record in the 400m IM by a full second. Three days later, she broke the 200m IM world record that had stood for 11 years and qualified for her first Olympic team.
At the Olympic Games in Beijing, Rice became just the sixth Australian athlete to win three gold medals at a single Olympics when she won both IMs and led off Australia’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.
Stephanie became the first woman to break 4:30 in the 400m IM and lowered her own world record in the 200m IM later in the meet. To finish off her meet, she broke the Australian record in the 200m freestyle en route to Australia breaking the world record in the 4x200m freestyle relay. Rice was honored as the World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine and in January 2009 was awarded the prestigious Order of Australia Medal.
After the Olympics, Rice started dealing with nagging shoulder pain while she swam. At the 2009 World Championships, she won silver in the 200m IM and bronze in the 400m IM, not quite as good as her Olympics performances.
In 2010, her shoulder pain had gotten so bad, she underwent surgery, causing her to drop out of international competition.
Her surgery was successful but nine months before the 2012 Olympic Games in London, she tore a tendon in her shoulder. She was going to need surgery with a six-month recovery, but with the Olympic Trials only ten weeks away, full surgery was not an option. She elected for a smaller surgery that would hopefully keep her healthy for the Olympics. Despite these injuries, Rice qualified for the London Olympics in both the 200m and 400m IM, posting times near the top of the world rankings at the Olympic Trials.
In the weeks leading up to the Olympics, the pain in her shoulder continued to get worse. She was cutting her work load in the pool to ease the pain, but it was still a struggle. With all the injuries behind her, Rice was proud of her 4th place 200m IM and 6th place 400m IM performances in London and announced her retirement in 2014 at the age of 24.
She co-authored the book, The Art of Wellness, and is an ambassador for numerous well-known Australian health brands. Rice’s passion in life is to share her wealth of knowledge and her insights to positively impact others’ lives and inspire them to be the best they can be.
She is now giving back to the sport of swimming with her coach Michael Bohl. They are planning to build Learn-to- Swim programs all throughout India. In addition, they plan to develop the “Stephanie Rice Elite Academy,” with the goal of producing India’s very first Olympic swimming medalist in the next decade.
Happy Birthday Michael Gross!!
Michael Gross (FRG)
Honor Swimmer (1995)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1980 silver (4x100m medley relay); 1984 gold (200m freestyle, 100m butterfly), silver (200m butterfly); 1988 gold (200m butterfly), bronze (4x200m freestyle relay); WORLD RECORDS: 12 (4-200m freestyle, 1-400m freestyle, 1-100m butterfly, 4-200m butterfly, 2-4x200m freestyle relay); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1982 gold (200m freestyle, 200m butterfly), silver (100m butterfly), bronze (4x200m freestyle relay); 1986 gold (200m freestyle, 200m butterfly), silver (4x100m medley relay, 4x200m freestyle relay); 1991 gold (4x200m freestyle relay), silver (100m, 200m butterfly), bronze (4x100m medley relay); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1981 gold (200m butterfly); 1983 gold (200m freestyle, 100m, 200m butterfly, 4x200m freestyle relay), silver (4x100m medley relay); 1985 gold (200m freestyle, 100m, 200m butterfly, 4x100m medley relay, 4x200m freestyle relay); 1987 gold (200m butterfly, 4x200m freestyle relay), silver (100m butterfly), bronze (200m freestyle); EUROPEAN RECORDS: 24.
What does this West German superstar’s Porsche and swimming have in common? They are both very, very fast.
At 19, Michael Gross set his first world record at the German nationals in 1983. The next three years Michael broke his own record in the 200meter freestyle four times and set world marks in the 200m butterfly (four times) and 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle. At one time, Michael actually held four world records in four different events.
This 6-foot-6 record breaker has dominated the surface of the water for a decade as one of the greatest West German swimmers in history. His stature is so large that his wing span reaches almost lane-to-lane. For this, he has been coined, the “Albatross.” Michael says he likes his nickname, “because there are much more stupid nicknames in the world.”
Throughout his swimming career, Michael won gold medals at the European Championships in 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987; the World Championship Games in 1982, 1986 and 1991; and was a triple gold medalist and a silver medalist at the 1984 Olympics. In the 1988 Olympics he won the gold again in the 200m freestyle and two silver medals in both butterfly events.
Michael’s last meet was at the 1991 World Championships in Perth, but he has no intention of leaving the world of sports. He is looking forward to enjoying sports such as skiing and marathon running.
Aside from his swimming, Michael is a philosopher and holds a doctorate in this thought provoking science. To him, this achievement is as important as being an Olympic champion. Gross believes, “The worst thing in life is to have no wishes, no goals, because then you have nothing to reach for, nothing to live for.” Needless to say, Michael has had much to live for.
Happy Birthday Steve Clark!!
Steve Clark (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1966)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1960 (participant); 1964 gold (4x100m, 4x200m freestyle relay; 4x100m medley relay); WORLD RECORDS: 50yd, 100yd, 100m, 200yd, 200m freestyle.
Steve Clark swam the 1960 Olympics out of Los Altos High School and the 1964 Olympics out of Yale and Santa Clara. He won five NCAA individual championships at Yale and six AAU titles for Santa Clara Swim Club. He won 3 gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, setting a world record of 52.9 for the 100 meter freestyle.
Clark is the first man in the world to have swum faster than 21 seconds for 50 yards, 46 seconds for 100 yards, 53 seconds for 100 meters, 1:50 for 200 yards and 2 minutes for 200 meters.
Clark’s 9 world records would have been at least 29 in an earlier time when FINA was accepting short course times for 50, 100, 200 and 220 yard, 100 meter and 200 meter freestyle. Steve Clark was Santa Clara’s first great male swimmer at the time Hall of Famer Chris Von Saltza was Santa Clara’s premier woman swimmer. Whereas Chris’ father characterized Chris by saying, “The longer the distance, the better the Von Saltza”, he might have added, “and the shorter the distance, the better the Clark.” Steve Clark was unquestionably the World’s fastest freestyle sprint swimmer for five years retiring to Harvard Law School with his records unchallenged.
In speculating on what might have been, swim buffs will always wonder on the fate that might have kept Steve from being the first man to win four gold medals in an Olympiad. Steve had tendonitis in his shoulder during the USA’s sudden-death Olympic Trials. His fourth place made the team, but only as a relay swimmer. By Tokyo, the tendonitis was gone, but U.S. rules limited Steve to 3 relays and 3 gold medals. He started off the 400 freestyle relay in the fastest gun start 100 of the Olympics. It was a new world record, but Steve didn’t get to do it when it would count for that fourth gold medal.
Clark’s book, Competitive Swimming As I See It , is a swimming best seller.
Happy Birthday Chi Lieh Yung!!
Chi Lieh Yung (CHN)
Honor Swimmer (2013)
His talent for swimming was recognized while playing at a beach in Hong Kong, by coaches of the Lai Tsun Swimming Union of the Chinese Y.M.C.A. Under the guidance of his coaches, Chan and Huang, he was shown how frogs leapt great distances by releasing explosive power in their legs and learned to swim the breaststroke. Taking this cue from nature and with the dream of becoming the “King of the Frogs,” Chi became the most celebrated swimmer in Hong Kong. Having the option to represent Hong Kong, Formosa or the New China in international competition, Chi chose the latter and crossed the border on April 8, 1954 to join the training camp in Guangdong.
Coached by a collaborative of Hungarian, Russian and Chinese coaches, and from his own observations and studies, Chi developed a unique style of swimming that came to be known as “the high sailing position,” that utilized his powerful kick. During the national swimming championships in 1955, his efforts paid off as he won first place in the men’s 100 and 200 meter breaststroke.
In October of 1956, Chi Lieh Yung was one of 12 swimmers, 11 male and 1 female, selected to represent the People’s Republic at the 16th Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. The only female swimmer, Dai Lihua, later became Chi’s wife. Unfortunately, politics intervened and China did not send its team.
The following year, on May 1st, a swimming competition was organized to commemorate the International Labor Day. Chi was in his prime, and all the best breaststrokers were entered. He broke the world record in the men’s 100 meter breaststroke with a time of 1:11.6. This was the first world record by a Chinese swimmer recognized by FINA. His accomplishment was an immense source of pride and an inspiration for the new nation. Although Chi never got the chance to compete in the Olympics, he did realize his childhood dream of becoming “The King of Frogs” and he will forever be remembered as China’s first world record setter in swimming.
After retiring, he and his wife devoted themselves to coaching the national swimming team until 1976 when they returned to Hong Kong, where Chi started his own successful business. His interest has always been swimming and music, even now he spends more than one hour a day in the pool.
Happy Birthday Ulrika Tauber!!
Ulrika Tauber (GDR)
Honor Swimmer (1988)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1976 gold (400m individual medley), silver (200m butterfly); WORLD RECORDS: 9 (200m, 400m individual medley); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1975 gold (400m individual medley), silver (200m individual medley); 1978 silver (400m individual medley), bronze (200m individual medley); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1974 gold (200m, 400m individual medley), silver (100m, 200m backstroke); 1977 gold (200m, 400m individual medley); World Swimmer of the Year 1974, 1977.
Dr. Ulrika Tauber was named World Swimmer of the Year in both 1974 and 1977. Even though it is difficult to compare times historically with the present, we all know the individual medley requires adeptness at all four strokes. In Ulrika Tauber’s case, she broke the 200 individual medley record three times in 1978 and was two seconds ahead of everybody else in the event. In the 400, she was even farther in front of the world. Ulrika won the gold in the 200 & 400 I.M. in the 1974 and 1977 European Championships and placed second behind her GDR teammates in the 100m & 200m back (1974).
Dr. Tauber set nine world records and won six Olympic and World Championship medals while studying for medical school. She retired from swimming to become mother and physician. Ulrika, who trained at the famed Karl Marx Stadt Swim Club, joins 1988 Barbara Krause and seven previous honorees from the German Democratic Republic in the Hall of Fame.
Doping Disclaimer: In a German court of law, after this swimmer was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, team officials confessed to administering performance enhancing drugs to this swimmer, who therefore obtained an illegal and unfair advantage over other athletes.
US Olympic Team Trials Three-Day Tickets on Sale for 2024
by DAN D’ADDONA — SWIMMING WORLD MANAGING EDITOR
15 June 2023, 08:37am
One year from the start of competition, three-day ticket packages are now on sale for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming here. The nine-day event will be held in Indianapolis from June 15-23, 2024 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Three-day ticket packages will be available for the following windows – June 15-17, June 18-20 and June 21-23 – and will provide fans with the opportunity to catch all prelims and finals sessions during each three-day period.
This week, Indiana Sports Corp hosted festivities to celebrate one year out from the competition. On Wednesday, swimming was the theme at the quarterly Locker Room Lunch Series, and then Women in Sports & Events (WISE) Indianapolis hosted a panel discussion featuring female Olympians and the women working behind the scenes to produce the 2024 Trials.
On Thursday, a press conference featured the mayor of Indianapolis and the CEOs of USA Swimming, OneAmerica, Indiana Sports Corp and Boys and Girls Clubs of Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium, followed by a youth swimming clinic and community event at Broad Ripple Park.
The influx of visitors for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming is set to bring more than $100 million in economic impact to Indianapolis, while the unique configuration inside Lucas Oil Stadium will be broadcast to an estimated 25 million viewers on NBC.
New for 2024, and to align with the competition schedule in for the Olympic Games in Paris, the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming includes nine days of competition with 17 sessions (eight preliminaries, nine finals). The order of events can be found here
Three temporary pools – two 50-meter and one 25-meter – will be installed over the field in Lucas Oil Stadium. With this unique configuration, the stadium will seat up to 30,000 fans for each session.
The Toyota Aqua Zone, an interactive fan experience, will be held at the Indiana Convention Center. USA Swimming Live on Georgia Street and USA Swimming House presented by OneAmerica will offer fans additional hospitality and entertainment opportunities during the competition.
USA Swimming and the Local Organizing Committee have launched Swim IN Safety, serving as one of several legacy initiatives surrounding the Trials. In partnership with the Indy Aquatic Alliance longitudinal program, Swim IN Safety aims to teach 25,000 people over the age of five to be water safe in 2023 and an additional 25,000 in 2024. Indiana Sports Corp is currently collecting interest forms from organizations throughout Indiana here.
Information on single-day tickets for the Trials will be available at a later date. The USA Swimming Foundation is offering all-inclusive packages and VIP tickets for those seeking an elevated experience.
For more information on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming, visit here.
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ANTHONY ERVIN AGAIN – HOW OLD IS OLD?
Shared from Olympic Stats
Anthony Ervin won the men’s 50 metre freestyle tonite 16 years after he won the same race at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Anthony Ervin is 35-years-old, which is Methuselah-like for an Olympic swimmer. How does this compare to previous elderly Olympic swimmers, especially successful ones?
Ervin became the 7th oldest Olympic swimming medalist tonite, at 35-079 (years-days), and the 6th oldest man
He became the 4th oldest USA Olympic swimming medalist, after Dara Torres (41-125 in 2008), Jason Lezak (36-260 in 2012), and Edgar Adams (36-151 in 1904).
Ervin became the oldest Olympic swimming gold medalist, surpassing Dara Torres from 2000, when she was 33-162 and 33-155 when she won relay gold medals; and among men, Jason Lezak, who was 32-279 and 32-273 in 2008, also winning in relays.
He is the 4th oldest individual swimming medalist, after Torres from 2008 (50 free), William Robinson (GBR-1908, 200 breaststroke; 38-026), and Edgar Adams (1904 plunge for distance; 36-151).
Ervin is easily the oldest individual swimming gold medalist ever, surpassing Inge de Bruijn (NED-2004, 30-363) among all swimmers, and among the men, going way back to Duke Kahanamoku (USA-1920, 30-009), although Michael Phelps had bettered that earlier in Rio.
Happy Birthday Dr. Denes Kemeny!!
Dr. Denes Kemeny (HUN)
Honor Water Polo (2011)
FOR THE RECORD: 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP S: gold; 2003 FINA WATER POLO WORLD LEAGUE: gold; 2004 FINA WATER POLO WORLD LEAGUE: gold; 1999 FINA WATER POLO WORLD CUP: gold; 1997 EUROPEAN WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold; 1999 EUROPEAN WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIP S: gold; 2000 LEN WATER POLO EUROPEAN LEAGUE: gold.
Born in Budapest 1954, Denes Kemeny began playing water polo at the young age of six. For the next 21 years, he played for six teams making the Hungarian National Team from 1974 to 1986 and competing in over 17 international games for his country. But his competition days were only preparing him for what was to come. In a country where water polo is the national sport, Kemeny would become one of Hungary’s most successful water polo coaches ever.
He graduated college in veterinary medicine, but later with a degree of water polo master trainer, he assumed the head coaching reigns of the National Team of Hungary; a country that had won an Olympic medal at all 12 Olympic Games from 1928 through 1980, but had not won an Olympic medal for the 20 year period from the1980 Moscow Olympics to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Kemeny changed all that! Within two short years as National Team Coach in 1978, his style, leadership and coaching ability returned.
Hungary to world prominence and water polo world dominance. Everything he touched turned to gold: the 2000 Olympic Sydney Olympic Games defeating Russia with the biggest goal margin in the history of Olympic finals; the 2004 Olympic Athens Games defeating Serbia & Montenegro coming back from a two goal deficit in the final period; and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games defeating a strong, surprise team from the USA.
This marks the first time a country has won three successive Olympic Games since Great Britain in 1908, 1912 and 1920. Kemenycoached teams have won gold medals at World Championships, World League, World Cups, European Championships and the European League. Kemeny has the ability to take young players and turn them into great players.
Happy Birthday to our 2023 Honor Water Polo Player Heather Petri !!!
Heather Petri (USA) 2023 Honor Water Polo Player
Heather Petri is a four-time Olympian, winning one gold (2012), two silver (2000, 2008) and a bronze medal (2004) as part of the USA Women’s National Water Polo Team. She is only one of four women to be a four-time Olympian and one of two, who has won four Olympic medals. Heather is only the sixth woman ever to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in the sport of water polo, behind teammates Brenda Villa and Maureen O’Toole, Australians Debbie Watson and Bridgette Gusterson, and Karin Kuipers of the Netherlands.
As an Olympian, she helped Team USA win the gold medal in the 2012 London Games, the silver medal in 2000- the first-year women were allowed to compete in water polo in the Olympic Games, then in 2008, Beijing; and finally, the bronze in 2004, in the Athens Games.
Petri was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 2018, and prior to that, into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013, the same year she had her cap retired by the Cal women’s water polo program, where she played collegiate water polo from 1997–2001. Petri also was named to the Pac-12 All-Century Team in 2016.
Petri represented the USA at the other events as well, winning three World Championships in 2003, 2005 and 2009, three gold in the FINA Women’s Water Polo World League Super Finals in 2009, 2011 and 2013 and two Pan American gold medals in 2007 and 2011.
Heather also played professional water in Europe for several seasons and she is currently the Women’s water polo coach at her alma mater, Cal.
Come join Heather and this year’s spectacular class of 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale. If you cannot join us, consider making a donation.
To make a donation, click here: https://ishof.org/donate/
THE OLDEST OLYMPIANS (two are DIVERS!!!)
JUNE 13, 2023 PAUL TCHIR LEAVE A COMMENT
Shared from our good friend Peter Heatley and OlympicStats
Yesterday on Oldest Olympians, we announced the death of Edna Child, born October 16, 1922, who died in May. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living British Olympian, as well as the oldest living Olympic diver. As we have done in the past, therefore, we wanted to provide an update on who now holds those titles.
The oldest British Olympian is now Jack Whitford, born January 3, 1924, who recently turned 99. Whitford represented Great Britain in the tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Games, where he was 21st with the national team and had a best individual finish of joint-69th in the pommelled horse. He was also chosen to take part in the 1948 London Olympics, but broke his arm prior to the competition and did not take part. His brother, Arthur, was a 10-time national champion, while Jack won three titles. His wife, Pat Evans, was also an Olympic gymnast and lived to be 93.
The oldest living Olympic diver is now Birte Christoffersen-Hanson, born March 28, 1924, who was already the oldest living Olympic medalist in diving, as well as the oldest living Olympian to have won a medal for Denmark. Christoffersen-Hanson represented Denmark as Brite Christoffersen until 1953, including at the 1948 London Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in the platform event. She also took two bronze medals at the 1950 European Championships. From 1954 until her retirement in the 1960s, she represented Sweden as Birte Hanson, appearing twice more at the Olympics (1956 and 1960) and capturing one bronze (1958) and two silver medals (1954) at the European Championships. By career, she worked as a physical education instructor and now resides in Limhamn, Malmö.