International Highlights: 26 FINA/World Aquatics WORLD RECORDS (15 Long Course, 11 Short Course); 102 WORLD TOP TEN Rankings in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place over 25 years in breaststroke, butterfly, & IM (Long Course: 24 #1, 18 #2, 8 #3 & Short Course: 24 #1, 16 #2, 12 #3); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (2002, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, & 2023, 18 gold, 12 silver, & 4 bronze); WORLD POINTS: 1011; Competed in six (6) AGE GROUPS (60-64 through 85-89). (Statistics as of December 31, 2023.)
Tony Goodwin has been a Masters competitor for over 30 years. He was a highly competitive swimmer in his youth with breaststroke as his specialty. When he turned 20, he left the sport and did not return to it until encouraged by a coach who recognized his potential. While he hadn’t swum competitively for 35 years, he had stayed in shape playing cricket. He quickly returned to competitive form, breaking FINA Masters world records. He has broken his own records in the three breaststroke distances multiple times, including eight times last year and 10 times in the previous year.
We have always known Masters Swimming is made up of a special group of people, but we feel Tony’s son, Mark, captured the heart of “Masters” perfectly in the article he wrote about his father last year. We could not have written it any better ourselves.
Story by Mark Goodwin:
Let me dive right into my story of resilience and the power of support that kept my father afloat when the waters got rough. Last year I saw firsthand the incredible power just “being there” can bring during tough times.
Holding over 20 world swimming records, my father has achieved an incredible amount of success in World Masters Swimming of which we, as a family, are constantly amazed and proud. Last year though, the “Michael Phelps of World Masters swimming” (as a television reporter once described him) very nearly hung up his goggles for good.
We joke a little in my family that the sporting genes were gradually diluted at each generation. I’ve always been keen on football and cricket, but my grandfather and father were at a level well above my talent grade. When Dad retired from competitive cricket, he turned to swimming, something he had done as a teenager, to keep fit. The boredom of swimming laps soon set in as he longed to rekindle his competitive streak. Enter Masters Swimming and a whole new chapter in his life.
Local swimming competitions soon became state carnivals which then led to World Games as the records began to tumble. Along the way, cheering loudly at every carnival, my mother was an endless source of support for him. Despite her “protests,” the reward for the support was immense pride and a holiday after each of the World Masters Championship meets in locations such as San Francisco, Montréal, Kazan, Budapest, and Gwangju, among others. With Mum’s passing last year after battling Classified as Internal Motor Neurone Disease with Dad as her support, he questioned whether it was worth continuing with swimming on his own.
Being a part of a community of people who care for you is a richly rewarding experience; one which requires constant empathy and reciprocity. The Masters community is one such community that, like many have found amongst our own Electrolux Group teams, is there to support when things aren’t going well. Constantly encouraged by his community to keep going and attend the forthcoming championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Dad just couldn’t see how he could compete and enjoy himself without his cheer squad.
Understanding the importance of remaining active and engaged, I suggested that perhaps my wife, my sister, and I could form a makeshift support network and travel with him to Japan to cheer him on. Boy, there was a lot to cheer as he smashed world records. Most importantly though was the level of camaraderie from not only Australian swimmers, but swimmers from around the world who supported him, even a local Japanese restaurant owner and swimmer who opened his restaurant especially for us for dinner. The loss was understandably still raw for him, but the shift in his motivation means this must be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Last week he was inducted into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame and is committed to breaking more records next year in Singapore and simply supporting his friends who now lean on him. In a year that brought us some incredibly challenging times, I couldn’t help but be moved by the power of small gestures and the value of community. You never know, sometimes the support you provide may spur someone you care about to do amazing things.
