Happy Birthday Johnny Weissmuller!!!
JOHNNY WEISSMULLER (USA) 1965 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1924 gold (100m, 400m freestyle; 4x200m freestyle relay), bronze (water polo); 1928 gold (100m freestyle; 4x200m freestyle relay); WORLD RECORDS: 51; U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 52; Played Tarzan in 16 movies.
Johnny Weissmuller holds no current world swimming records and by today’s Olympic standards, you might say he never swam very fast, but you can’t get anyone who ever saw him swim say that there ever was a greater swimmer. This was the verdict of 250 sportswriters at A.P.’s mid-century poll and it is still the verdict 15 years later.
He was the swim great of the 1920’s Golden Age of Sports, yet because of the movies and TV, he is as much a part of the scene in the 1960s as he was in the 1920s when his name was coupled with sports immortals such as Babe Ruth, Bill Tilden, Bobby Jones, Jack Dempsey and Red Grange. He is the only one of this group more famous today than in the “Golden Age.”
Weissmuller set many world records and won 5 gold medals in two Olympics (1924 and 1928). He never lost a race in 10 years of amateur swimming in distances from 50 yards to 1/2 mile. Johnny’s 51 seconds 100 yard freestyle record set June 5, 1927, in the University of Michigan Union Pool stood for 17 years until it was broken by Alan Ford at Yale in 1944. The 100 yd. distance is swum more often than any other, yet in 17 years, only one man ever swam it faster. That man was Johnny Weissmuller, who later, as a professional in the Billy Rose World’s Fair Aquacade swam 48.5 at the New York Athletic Club while training Walter Spence to win the nationals. For those who think swimmers must be teenage bobby-soxers, it might be of interest to note that Spence was 35 at the time and Weissmuller was 36.
His record of 52 national championship gold medals should stand forever. He is famous for his chest high crawl stroke seen by millions in Olympic swim stadiums, on movie screens and on TV, but he also held world records in the backstroke and never lost a race in that stroke. “I got bored,” says Johnny, “so I swam on my back where I could spend more time looking around.” Weissmuller set 51 world records in his ten years as an amateur but many more times he broke world records and never turned in the record applications. Every time he swam, the crowd expected a new record, so Johnny learned pace. He learned how to shave his records a tenth of a second at a time. If he missed, his 350 lb. coach Bill Bachrach would say “rest a few minutes, Johnny, and we’ll swim again.” Bachrach would promise his protégé a dinner if he broke the record and Johnny always seemed to be hungry. Many a world mark was set with only a couple of visiting coaches or a few guests of the Illinois Athletic Club to watch.
Every old-timer in swimming has a favorite Johnny Weissmuller story. To them all, he was the world’s greatest swimmer, yet ironically the producer who signed him to play Tarzan didn’t know Johnny could swim. “Many think I turned pro to go into the movies,” Johnny says, “but this is not true. I was working for a bathing suit company for $500 a week for five years, which was not bad money then (or now). I was in Los Angeles and they asked me if I would like to screen test for Tarzan. I told them ‘no thanks’ but they said I could go to the MGM lot and meet Greta Garbo and have lunch with Clark Gable. Any kid would want to do that so I said ‘okay’. I had to climb a tree and then run past the camera carrying a girl. There were 150 actors trying for the part, so after lunch, I took off for Oregon on my next stop for the swim suit outfit. Somebody called me on the phone and said ‘Johnny, you got it.’ ‘Got what?’ ‘You’re Tarzan.’ ‘What happened to those other 150 guys?’ ‘They picked you.’”
“So the producer asked me my name and he said it would never go. ‘We’ll have to shorten it,’ he said. ‘Weissmuller is to long. It will never go on a marquee.’ The director butted in. ‘Don’t you ever read the papers?’ he asked the producer. ‘This guy is the world’s greatest swimmer.’ The producer said he only read the trade papers, but okay, I could keep my name and he told the writers, ‘put a lot of swimming in the movie, because this guy can swim.’”
“So you see why I owe everything to swimming,” Weissmuller says. “It not only made my name, it saved my name. Without swimming, I’d be a nobody. Who ever heard of Jon Weis, marquee or no marquee.”
Besides swimming, Johnny Weissmuller played on two U.S. Olympic water polo teams. “Water polo’s a rough game,” Johnny says. “We never could beat those Yugoslavians. They never blow a whistle over there. Anyhow, that’s where I learned to duck. It came in handy when Cheetah started throwing coconuts.”
Happy Birthday Giorgio Cagnotto !!!
GIORGIO CAGNOTTO 1992 Honor Diver
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1964, 1968 Olympic team member; 1972 silver (3m springboard), bronze (10m platform); 1976 silver (3m springboard); 1980 bronze (3m springboard); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1978 bronze (3m springboard); FINA CUP: 1979 (3m springboard); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1966 bronze (3m springboard); 1970 gold (3m springboard), bronze (10m platform); 1974 silver (3m springboard); 1977 silver (3m springboard); EUROPEAN DIVING CUPS: 1967 gold (3m springboard); 1969 gold (10m platform); 1975 gold (3m springboard); 1976 gold (3m springboard). on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. He is the producer of the prize-winning documentary, “Hobie’s Heroes”. Hobie’s greatest pride is in the fact that there are more diving coaches in the high school and college ranks in the U.S. that have graduated from Indiana University under his tutelage than from any other university.
Italy’s Giorgio Cagnotto was one of the world’s most prolific divers during the 1960s and 1970s. At the age of eight, he began to train with this uncle, professional diver Lino Quattrrini. Just eight years later he found himself competing in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, kicking off an Olympic career of epic proportion.
Cagnotto’s Olympic appearances spanned three decades, competing in five consecutive Olympic Games. He was best off the springboard, but medaled in the platform as well. After Tokyo, he competed in Mexico City in 1968, but it was during his third Olympic effort in the ’72 Munich Games that he earned a silver medal for his performance on the springboard and a bronze in the platform competition. At the 1976 Montreal Games, he won his third Olympic medal– a silver in the springboard competition. He retired at the age of thirty-two after earning his fourth Olympic medal at the 1980 Moscow Games where Cagnotto again medaled in the springboard competition, taking the bronze.
Giorgio was competing at a time when diving competition was dominated by fellow countryman Klaus Dibiasi, the only diver to win gold medals in three consecutive Olympic Games. Giorgio was as far in advance of the rest of the sport as Klaus was of him. Between them, the red, white, and green Italian flag was raised many times in international competition. Holder of two gold, two silver, and two bronze European Cup Championships and a medal winner in every European championship from 1966 through 1977, Cagnotto won eight outdoor and twelve indoor Italian National Championships.
Both Cagnotto and Dibiasi were coached by Papa Dibiasi, a former Italian National Champion with a long career in the sport. Papa retired just in time so as not to be competing against his son and Cagnotto. The only medal winner to dive in five consecutive Olympic Games, Giorgio Cagnotto is presently the Italian National Team Coach and the Federal Technical Director of Diving, living in Bolzano, Italy, with his wife. Giorgio Cagnotto is a true legend representing excellence and longevity in a sport demanding commitment, style and grace.
Happy 94th Birthday plus 4 days to Dawn Bean!!!!!
DAWN PAWSON BEAN (USA) 1996 Honor Synchronized Swimming Contributor
FOR THE RECORD: Synchronized swimming editor, publisher, administrator, judge, coach/teacher, official, athlete for over 50 years; Publisher of “Synchro Info”; FINA “A” Official; 1955 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (team).
You can synchronize your watches and you can synchronize your plans, but you can’t find anyone who can synchronize swimming better than Dawn Pawson Bean has synchronized swimming.
She began her career in 1941 as a water ballet swimmer on San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel Team. Then, for the next eight years, she competed in speed swimming before devoting herself exclusively to synchronized swimming. From 1947 to 1955 she was both swimmer and coach along with her husband Ross who coached the girls to their first U.S. National Team Championship in 1952 while at the Athens Athletic Club of Oakland, California. They went on to win four more national championships.
In 1955, her team won the gold medal at the Pan American Games, the first international competition in Synchronized Swimming. Dawn’s two sisters, Joan and Lynn, were a part of the team, making it a real family affair. Between 1958 and 1983, she established and coached the Riverside Aquettes and Tustin/Irvine Meraquas where her swimmers were national Team finalists for 22 consecutive years producing five National Team members.
But her involvement went far beyond coaching. In 1963, to promote communication in the sport, she began publishing “Synchro-Info” which, by 1992 had grown to become a 68 page publication with international distribution in over 50 countries. It is considered to be the single largest contribution which helped lead the development of Synchronized Swimming as a world-wide sport.
Beginning in 1959, Dawn chaired many U.S. Synchronized Swimming committees including Olympic International, which established the U.S. National Team concept in 1979. She served eight years on the U.S. Olympic Committees Executive Board. She was the editor of the official rule books, directories, scoring and training manuals. She is author of the “Athletes Handbook,” “Coaching Synchronized Swimming Effectively” and three other United States Synchronized Swimming publications which became models of expertise.
As an official, she has been an international judge since 1971 at three FINA World Cups, four Pan American Games, five Pan Pacific Championships and eighteen other international competitions in over eight countries. She has been a judge at the World Championships in 1978, 1982, 1986 and 1992 and at the 1988 Olympic Games. At the 1984 Olympic Games, she was the Competition Director, as she has been for eight other international competitions. She has instructed international coaching and judging seminars in over eight countries and lectured in many more, including all continents of the world. She was one of FINA’s first three “A” rated judges.
With her husband and three daughters supporting her, Dawn Bean has been involved and served the sport of synchronized swimming for more than 50 years as an athlete, coach, teacher, administrator, official judge, publisher and editor.
Happy Birthday Domenico Fioravanti !!!
Domenico Fioravanti (ITA) 2012 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (100m, 200m breaststroke); 2001 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (100m breaststroke), bronze (50m breaststroke); 1999 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (25m): silver (100m breaststroke); 1997 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 5th (100m breaststroke); 1999 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m breaststroke); 2000 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m breaststroke), silver (200m breaststroke).
Domenico Fioravanti was born in Novara, Italy on the 31st of May, 1977. He started to swim competitively at the age of nine. One year later, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Massimiliano, he began training daily.
Although a breaststroke specialist, Domenico won his first international medal in 1996 at the European Short Course Championships in Rostock as a member of Italy’s silver medal 4×50 meter freestyle team. In 1997, he obtained his first career international gold medal, winning the 100 meter breaststroke at the Mediterranean Games in Bari, Italy.
1998 was another year of growth, with Fioravanti winning nine Italian national titles in individual and relay races, and finishing fifth in the 100 meter breaststroke at the FINA World Championships in Perth, Australia. In 1999, his steady rise in world rankings continued with a silver medal in the 100 meter breaststroke at the World Short Course Championships in Hong Kong, and a gold at the European Long Course Championships in Istanbul. A year later in Sydney, Domenico got the biggest wins of his career, winning gold medals in both the 100 meter and 200 meter breaststroke events at the 2000 Olympic Games.
Fioravanti remained among the world’s elite breaststrokers after Sydney, but in preparing for Athens in 2004, he was diagnosed with cardiac hypertrophy. So, as a precaution, he retired from swimming. In 2008, he received the Olympic Legends Fair Play Award and he is currently an ambassador for the Italian Swimming Federation and television commentator for RAI.
During his racing career, Fioravanti won 46 Italian national titles, including relays. At the Sydney Olympic Games, he made history by becoming the first Italian swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal.
Happy Birthday Steve Holland !!!
STEVE HOLLAND (AUS) 1989 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1976 bronze (1500m freestyle); WORLD RECORDS: 11 (800m, 1500m freestyle); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1973 gold (1500m freestyle); Australian records: 5 (400m, 1500m freestyle); COMMONWEALTH GAMES: 1974 gold (1500m freestyle).
Most of the World had to wait until the first World Championships at Belgrade, Yugoslavia in September 1973 to see if the Australian wonder boy was for real. At age 15, Steve “Toothpick” Holland looked much younger, particularly when lined up beside Olympic medal winners Big John Kinsella, USA, Rick DeMont, USA, and his countryman Brad Cooper. Less than a year before, all these bigger men had won gold medals at the 1973 Munich Olympics. Holland, Five feet tall and weighing 9 stones 6 pounds had broken Mike Burton’s World and Olympic record by 15 seconds in the Australian Championships the month before but this was his first international competition.
The world waited to see if this wonder kid could do it against the best. He did, breaking his own world record by six more seconds. On the way to this amazing swim, Holland also broke the world record for 800 meters and kept swimming after the end to break the mile record. He had also broken the half mile as well as the 1000 meters. While the last three distances are not FINA-recognized world records, he nevertheless swam the world’s fastest times in five distances. His reason for swimming more than the 1500 meters was not intentional. FINA had installed a horn instead of the gun and Holland did not hear the “gun lap” signal. He swam more than 100 yards too far and seemed like he could go forever. “Swimming World” called it the most supreme exhibition of a “will-to-win” ever seen in swimming.
Steve Holland again broke the world 1500 meter record in Christchurch, New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games with the Queen watching. Holland’s greatest triumph came when he went on to own the 800 meters (half mile) breaking his own record six more times. He held a total of 11 FINA world records with his high turn over, two beat kick. His age, his size, his style and his fast rise to prominence made Steve Holland the most exciting swimmer of his brief era.
Happy Birthday Jill Sterkel !!!
JILL STERKEL (USA) Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 1976 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4x100m freestyle relay); 1980 OLYMPIC GAMES: (boycotted); 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4x100m freestyle relay – preliminary heat); 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (50m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay – preliminary heat); THREE WORLD RECORDS: 2 (4x100m freestyle relay), 1 (4x200m freestyle relay); 1978 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (4x100m freestyle relay); 1982 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (4x100m freestyle relay), 4x100m medley relay), bronze (100m freestyle); 1986 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze (water polo); 1983 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (4x100m freestyle relay); 1975 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (4x100m freestyle relay), silver (100m freestyle); 1979 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (4x100m freestyle relay, 4x100m medley relay, 100m butterfly), silver (100m freestyle); 1983 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (4x100m freestyle relay); 20 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 13 individual, 7 relays; 21 NCAA/AIAW NATIONAL: 16 individual, 5 relays.
In 1971, Jill Sterkel appeared in her first US National Championship meet at the age of ten. At age 14, she qualified for the Pan American Games, the same year she made her first appearance in the world rankings, with a 12th in the 100m freestyle. Sterkel strongly kept the momentum going, becoming a member of four U.S. Olympic Teams (1976, 1980, 1984, 1988), the most for any American swimmer in the first 92 years of the modern Olympiad. She won medals at each Olympics in which she competed.
Her first Olympic medal came in 1976 at Montreal when her 4x100m freestyle relay defeated the favored East German team and won the gold medal in the world record time of 3:44.82, with teammates Kim Peyton, Wendy Boglioli and Shirley Babashoff. Little did the athletes know at the time, but the competitors from East Germany had been under a planned drug doping program for six years. Their female swimmers won every event except two. When the East German drug scandal was exposed 17 years later, it proved their swimmers performances to be unfair, unbalanced and completely against the rules. They had won 11 of 13 gold medals and many silver and bronze medals.
At the 1980 Moscow Games, Jill’s Olympic aspirations were again dampened by another incident out of her control – U.S. President Carter’s boycott of the U.S. Olympic Team from competing in Moscow. Jill was picked to win three gold medals and to be team captain.
But, she could not compete.
Jill’s second gold medal came as a member of the 1984 Olympic 4x100m freestyle relay team (preliminary heat). When the 50m freestyle became an Olympic event in 1988, she tied with Katrin Merssner (GDR) for the bronze medal with a career best time of 25.71 behind Kristen Otto (GDR) and Yang Wenyi (CHN). This was Jill’s fourth Olympic quadrennial. She also received a second bronze medal for swimming the 4x100m freestyle relay – preliminary heat. Sterkel was elected captain of the U.S. Team for three Olympic Games – 1980, 1984, 1988.
Jill started her swimming career as an age group swimmer with coach Don Garmon (1966-1971). She then moved to El Monte Aquatics Team (1971-1979) in her home state of California where she trained under Don LaMont, competing in her first U.S. Nationals at age 12. By 14, she was competing at the 1975 Pan American Games where she won gold as a member of the 4x100m freestyle relay and took home a silver medal in the 100m freestyle. Sterkel was then coached by Hall of Fame coaches Paul Bergen (1979-1983), Richard Quick (1983-1988) and Mark Schubert (1988-1991) while at the University of Texas, Austin.
Jill won gold medals at the 1978 World Championships (4x100m freestyle relay) and the 1979 Pan American Games (14x100m freestyle and medley relays) where she also won a silver in the 100m freestyle.
Sterkel competed at the 1982 World Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador, winning silver medals in both relays and a bronze in the 100m freestyle. At the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Jill won the gold on the freestyle relay. All totaled, Jill won 20 U.S. National Championships and 21 NCAA/AIAW National Championships while swimming for the University of Texas Longhorns.
Not only was Jill a great swimmer, she was also a member of the 1986 U.S. National Water Polo Team that won a bronze medal at the Madrid World Championships. From 1986 to 1991, Jill was assistant women’s swim coach at the University of Texas, and head coach from 1992 to present. “I am glad and proud to be able to give girls growing up in the sport some sort of example to follow…,” Jill Sterkel said in a 2001 USA Today interview. One of the first females to break into the USA Swimming coaching hierarchy to coach at the World Championship level, Sterkel is “an American swimming legend,” said Dale Neuburger, USA Swimming President, “and she’s already distinguished herself as one of our country’s foremost coaches.”
Jill Sterkel’s accolades continue to flow. She won nearly every award available in swimming, from Olympic gold to the Broderick Cup U.S. National Female Athlete of the Year and a Texas-record 28 All-America honors. She was named assistant women’s swimming coach for the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg and the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka.
Sterkel has had a profound impact on the Texas women’s swimming program. She placed two swimmers on Olympic teams: Whitney Hedgepath (1996) winning silver medals in the 100m and 200m backstrokes and gold on the 4x100m medley relay – preliminary heat and Erin Phenix (2000) winning gold on the 4x100m freestyle relay – preliminary heat. Sterkel was inducted into the Texas Women’s Athletics Hall of Honor and was the 2000 Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year.
Happy Birthday Cathy Carr !!!
CATHY CARR (USA) 1988 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1972 gold (100m breaststroke; relay); WORLD RECORDS: 2 (100m breaststroke; relay); AAU NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2 (100m breaststroke); AMERICAN RECORDS: 4 (100m, 100yd breaststroke; 2 relays); 1974 Hall of Fame Outstanding College Athletes of America.
Cathy Carr is the first Olympic gold medal swimmer from New Mexico. Her Olympic victories at the 1972 Munich Games were a surprise to everyone except perhaps for Cathy herself. Just one year after placing fourth (100 & 200 breast) in the U.S. Outdoor Nationals, Carr won the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100 meter breaststroke but was not taken seriously by the U.S. coaches as a threat to medal against the 60 competitors from 22 countries around the world.
The Europeans were always favored, especially Swimming Hall of Famer Galina Prozumenshikova, the first Russian to win an Olympic swimming gold in Tokyo and a bronze and silver winner in Mexico. But in the 1972 Olympics, even though Prozumenshikova was definitely favored, Cathy Carr beat her and set a new Olympic record to boot with a time of 1:15 in the prelims. In the finals two days later, Cathy took off in the center (lane 4) and led all the way, beating Prozumenshikova by two body lengths. It was as decisive as it was surprising. She won in world record time 1:13.58 beating her own Olympic record by more than a second and the world record of Hall of Famer Catie Ball by half a second. As the fastest American, this also qualified Cathy for the medley relay in which she won another gold in world and Olympic record time.
In addition to the two gold medals and the unofficial title of the USA’s most pleasant surprise winner, Cathy Carr showed that previous press clippings don’t win the Olympics. Cathy proved in the year after the Olympics that her surprise showing at Munich was no fluke. She retired to become a wife, mother and elementary school teacher. Coaching credits for swimmer Cathy Carr are owed to: Jimmy Stevens, Marc Lautman, John Mechem, coach-to-be Rick Klatt and Mike Troy.
On this day in 1910, Italian Water Polo hero, Mario Majoni was born……
MARIO MAJONI (ITA) 1972 Honor Water Polo Player
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1948 gold; EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1947 gold; 118 international water polo games for Italy; Captained Italian national team for 10 years; Member of FINA Technical Water Polo Committee: 1949; Italian National Water Polo Coach: beginning 1950.
Mario Majoni is the first Italian inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. His long career began in 1924 as his country’s youngest “A” water polo player, age fourteen. That same year he was a 200 meter freestyle swimming finalist in the “Coppa Scarioni” on Lake Como. Ten years later he made the National team, and for 15 years (1934 through 1948) Majoni played international water polo 118 times, in action with the Italian team. He captained the national team for 10 years, winning the European Championship in 1947 and the Olympic Championship in 1948 in London.
Majoni is rated on a world class par with Hungarians Nemeth, Halossy, Homonnay, Garmity, the Englishmen Radmilovic and Wilkenson, the Frenchman Padou, the German Rademacher and Americans O’Connor and Hebner as the all-time immortals of water polo. As with Earl Clark and Erich Rademacher among 1972 International Swimming Hall of Fame honorees, Mario Majoni would have won still more national, world and Olympic honors had not war intervened.
Majoni retired as a player at 38 after his Olympic gold medal to become a member of FINA Technical Committee in 1949. He soon was appointed the Italian National Water Polo coach (1950), a job he has held through 6 Olympic Games.
His Olympic water polo teams are always in the top 5 in the world and his books and films on the basic principles, the techniques, the rules and the tactics of winning water polo are studied throughout the world. Mario Majoni has been involved in water polo for more than 50 years.
Happy Birthday Judy McGowan !!!
Judy McGowan (USA) 2009 Honor Contributor/Synchronized Swimming
FOR THE RECORD: 55 YEARS A COMPETITOR, COACH ,JUDGE, ADMINISTRATOR IN SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING; MEMBER FINA TECHNICAL SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING COMMITTEE: 1984 1996 (Chairman 1984 1992); MEMBER ASUA TECHNICAL SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING COMMITTEE: 1979 – 1984; EDITOR AND PRIMARY AUTHOR OF FIRST INTERNATIONAL TRAINING MANUEL FOR SYNCHRO JUDGES: 1979; EDITED FIRST FINA JUDGING MANUEL (1988); CHAIRED FINA – TSSC AD HOC COMMITTEE ON DEGREES OF DIFFICULTY; DEVELOPED FIRST VIDEO TAPE SERIES FOR TRAINING INTERNATIONAL ROUTINE JUDGES; DRAFTED FIRST RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR TECHNICAL ROUTINES; INTERNATIONAL CLINICIAN CONDUCTING 37 INTERNATIONAL CLINICS; SYNCHRO COMPETITION MANAGER FOR 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES; U.S. CHEF DEMISSION FOR 1982 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP; SYNCHRO JUDGE/OFFICIAL AT FIVE OLYMPIC GAMES, FIVE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, FIVE PAN AMERICAN GAMES AND SEVEN WORLD CUPS.
Since 1953, Judy has been active as a synchronized swimming competitor, coach, judge and most importantly, administrator nationally and internationally.
In her younger days of competition in the City of Baltimore she was coached by 1912 British Olympic gold medalist and Hall of Famer Belle Moore Cameron and then Dot Muhly. It all helped to prepare her for the many years of commitment and service she gave to the sport. I
n 1974, she was the U.S. delegate to the First International Conference on Synchronized Swimming in Ottawa and then elected to chair the International Judges Study Group from 1974 to 1984. In 1979, she was editor and primary author of the First International Training Manual for Synchronized Swimming Judges. She organized the Second International Conference on Synchronized Swimming in 1979 in Washington, DC. Six years later in 1984, she became the first woman ever appointed to chair a FINA committee, the Technical Synchronized Swimming Committee (TSSC) on which she served for twelve years, eight as chairman. During her tenure, she innovated and improved judging and scoring procedures, initiated development clinics around the world and developed training materials. In 1988, she edited the first FINA Judging Manual, revising it in 1992. She chaired the FINA – TSSC Ad Hoc Committee on Degrees of Difficulty and authored its report, which established asystematic approach to assigning degrees of difficulty to FINA figures.
She developed the first video tape series for training international routine judges by writing the script, selecting video clips, designing the format, and doing the video voiceover. She also wrote a teaching manual to accompany the tapes. She drafted the first rules and guidelines for technical routines and organized the first FINA Coaching Symposium for elite synchro coaches in 1992 at Olympia, Greece.
As an international clinician, she conducted or served 37 international clinics around the world including Argentina, Australia (3), Brazil, Canada (2), China, Columbia (3), Cuba, Dominican Republic (2), Finland, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, Korea (2) Mexico (2), Puerto Rico (2), Russia, Soviet Union, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, USA (7), and Venezuela.
On the home front, she was the Founding President of U.S. Synchronized Swimming where she incorporated the organization, hired the first executive director and established the national office (1977 – 1984). During this time the USSS National Team Program, National Age Group Championships and Masters programs began; and the concept for the first USSS Coaches Certification Program was developed.
She became the chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee Task Force to investigate the status of Coaches Education in the United States for Pan American and Olympic Sports. All recommendations were subsequently adopted including the establishment of a USOC Coaching Education Program. From 1984 to 1988, she chaired the Coaches Education Committee, organizing the first coaching education seminars for the USOC. She became a member of the USOC Executive Board from 1980 1984 and was appointed by USOC president Bill Simon, as the liaison for the Athletes Advisory Council.
McGowan served as an international judge at the 1984 and 2000 Olympic Games, serving as Chief Olympic Referee in 1988, 1992 and Competition Manager in 1996. She was a judge at the 1978, 1998, 2005 World Championships; 1979, 1997, 1999 World Cups; 1993, 1997, 2002, 2004 Jr. World Championships and 1979, 1983, 1987, 1999, 2003 Pan American Games. She served as Chief Referee at the 1986 and 1991 World Championships; 1985, 1987, 1989,1991 World Cups and 1989, 1991 Jr. Worlds. She was the competition manager at the 1995 World Cup. She was the U.S. Chef de Mission at the 1982 World Championships.
Australian Butterflier, Jon Sieben to be Inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as Part of Class of 2021
26 May 2021
Aussie Jon Sieben set the world record with a blistering 1:57.04 in the 200m butterfly, winning the event in Los Angeles, in the major upset of the 1984 Olympic Games. He surprised everyone and beat Michael Gross of Germany. The record stood for 11 months until Gross regained it in 1985. Sieben continued swimming through two more Olympic cycles, 1988, Seoul and 1992 Barcelona.
Jon Sieben on the podium during the 1984 Olympics Photo Courtesy: Jon Sieben
When his career ended, he walked away with 16 Long Course National Championships, 11 Open National Championships and numerous other championship medals.
Swimming as an NCAA swimmer, he competed for the University of Alabama under ISHOF Honor Coach, Don Gambril, who took him to the NCAA National Championships. There, he won silver in the 200m butterfly and bronze in the 100-meter butterfly.
Jon Sieben after winning gold in the 200-meter butterfly Photo Courtesy: Jon Sieben
Although swimming competitively for Gambril, Laurie Lawrence was always Sieben’s coach while competing at the Olympic Games, under the Australian flag.
Come and meet Sieben in person and hear his incredible life story at the ISHOF Induction dinner on Saturday, October 9, 2021. Become an ISHOF Legacy Member and attend the ISHOF Induction Dinner for FREE. Can’t attend the event? Please consider donating to ISHOF, support Sieben and our other inspirational Honorees.
More about Jon Sieben:
With Sieben competing in three Olympic Games, it was the first time an Aussie swimmer had done so since Dawn Fraser had participated in three Olympic Games in 1956, 1960 and 1964.
Not only was Sieben an Olympic caliber swimmer, but in 2005 and 2009, he competed for Australia in the Universiade Games in the sport of water polo and in 2009, the team took home gold.
About the International Swimming Hall of Fame Induction Weekend:
The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) Induction Ceremony is shaping up to be a star-studded weekend with ISHOF Honoree and Sullivan Award Winner, Debbie Meyer, and double Olympic gold-medalist and everyone’s favorite Olympic swimming broadcaster, Rowdy Gaines acting as co-emcees and hosts of the induction with multiple events spread out over two days in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Make your plans now to attend the weekend of October 8-9, 2021! ISHOF Members can purchase the Complete Weekend Package (see below) and save! (Get info on membership here.) Can’t attend the event? Donate to ISHOF to support our honorees.
This year’s International Swimming Hall of Fame Honorees include:
HONOR SWIMMERS: Brendan Hansen (USA), Michael Klim (AUS), Jon Sieben (AUS), Rebecca Soni (USA), and Daichi Suzuki (JPN)
HONOR DIVER: Matthew Mitcham (AUS)
HONOR SYNCHRONIZED (ARTISTIC) SWIMMER: Elvira Khasyanova (RUS)
HONOR WATER POLO: Mirko Vičević (YUG/MON)
HONOR OPEN WATER SWIMMER: Marilyn Bell (CAN)
HONOR COACH: Ursula Carlile (AUS) and David Marsh (USA)
HONOR CONTRIBUTOR: Bob Duenkel*(USA) and Peter Hürzeler (SUI)
In addition to the Class of 2020, two Honorees from the Class of 2019, who were unable to attend last year, will be present to be inducted. Honor Swimmer: Otylia Jedrzejczak (POL) and Honor Diver: Li Ting (CHN).
Get more information about this year’s induction class here and more information about Otylia Jedrzejczak and Li Ting.
*deceased
The Induction Weekend Schedule
Friday, October 8, 2021
Paragon & ISHOF Awards Night
5:30 pm Cocktails
6:30 pm ISHOF and Paragon Awards
Saturday, October 9, 2021
Honoree Induction Day Luncheon – Meet Rowdy Gaines and go on a behind the scenes tour of the Aquatic Complex construction
12-1:30 pm Luncheon
Official 56th Annual International Swimming Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner
5:30 pm VIP Reception
6:30 –10:00 pm Induction Ceremony & Dinner
Ticket Information
October 8-9th Complete Weekend Package (Includes Paragon/ISHOF Awards Night, Saturday Luncheon, and Induction Ceremony)
ISHOF Members $350
ISHOF Non-Members $425 BEST PRICE!!
October 8th Paragon Awards and ISHOF Awards Night (Hors D’oeuvres and Open Bar) 5:30 pm
ISHOF Members $75
ISHOF Non-Members $100
October 9th Saturday Luncheon 12:00-1:30 pm
ISHOF Members $35
ISHOF Non-Members $50
October 9th Induction Ceremony and Dinner5:30 pm
ISHOF Members $275
ISHOF Non-Members $300
10 Person Table $3,500 and $5,000 (Prime location) options
*See all ticket options here.
HOTEL INFORMATION
Host Hotel: Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa
Upscale retreat with private beach access, two pools, four restaurants, full service spa and oceanside bar. Location of the Saturday evening induction ceremony. ¼ mile south of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
3030 Holiday Drive, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 (954) 525-4000
Special ISHOF Guest Rate of $259 per night
Book your group rate for International Swimming Hall of Fame
NOTE: RESORT FEE IS INCLUDED in the $259 rate
Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale Beach
440 Seabreeze Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 (954) 524-8733
Special ISHOF Guest Rate of $169 per night
Honoree Ceremony October 9, 2021Start Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2021End Date: Tuesday, October 12, 2021Last Day to Book: Friday, September 15, 2021
Book your group rate for Honoree Ceremony October 2021
Questions: contact Meg Keller-Marvin at meg@ishof.org or 570-594-4367