For the second year in a row, the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s Honoree Induction Ceremony has been produced by Peter Lasser, and aired LIVE on ESPN+ After the live performance, the show is available for 30 days ON DEMAND, on both, ESPN+ AND HULU.
So, if you were not able to be in Fort Lauderdale this past weekend for this fabulous ISHOF event, now, you can see what you missed! Just log into your HULU or ESPN+ account and type in INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME HONOREE CEREMONY and this is the logo that you should look for:
Once you see it, Click on it, sit back and watch two hours of the best aquatic Honorees, including Honor Swimmers: Dana Vollmer (USA), Lars Frölander (SWE), Daniel Gyurta (HUN), and for the very first time ever, ISHOF inducted a Relay Team: The Women’s 1976 USA Gold Medal 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay, made up of Shirley Babashoff, Wendy Boglioli, Jill Sterkel and Kim Peyton*; Honor Divers: Alexandre Despatie (CAN), Wu Minxia (CHN), and Yulia Pakhalina (RUS); Synchronized/Artistic Swimmer, Virginie Dedieu (FRA), Water Polo Players, Carmela “Lilli” Allucci (ITA), and Vladimir Akimov* (URS); Honor Coach, Dennis Pursley (USA) and Honor Contributor, Dale Neuburger (USA). The 2024 Gold Medallion Award, ISHOF’s Highest Honor was present to Mr. Alex Blavatnik (URS/USA).
Saturday evening’s crowd was just over 300 people, from approximately 25 different countries, including dignitaries from World Aquatics, including CEO, Mr. Brent Nowicki, and Mr. Mike Unger, Senior Advisior. USA Swimming Acting CEO, Ms. Shana Ferguson was in attendance, accompanied by USA Swimming Foundation Executive Director, Ms. Elaine Calip.
ISHOF had so many returning Honorees from years past, it was absolutely heartwarming! Donna deVarona and John Naber came to Fort Lauderdale to relive their personal experiences for us from 1976 at the Montreal Olympics, where John had just won four gold medals and Donna was covering the Games for ABC to show their support for the Women’s 1976 Relay Team of Wendy Boglioli, Shirley Babahoff, Jill Sterkel and Kim Peyton, who was represented by her 92 year old Mother, Barb Peyton, and teammate, Maryanne Graham Keever. Honoree and 1976 Olympian Jim Montgomery also came to show his support for his teammates! Honor Coach Jozsef Nagy, who coached 2024 Honor Swimmer, Daniel Gyurta, flew in from Budapest, Boxi Liang, another Honor Coach, this time from the sport of Diving, came to ISHOF from Vancouver, BC to see fellow countryman, Wu Minxia, inducted, as she is considered to be the greatest diver to come out of China. The list of ISHOF Honorees continues with greats like Lenny Krayzelburg, Mary T. Meagher, Cynthia Potter, Tom Gompf, Carol Zaleski, Becky Dyroen-Lancer, Jesse Vassallo, Mark Schubert, Eddie Reese, and Tiffany Cohen.
We had several of the World Aquatics individuals that chair the different technical committees. From the Technical Swimming Committee, Craig Hunter, from Great Britain, and longtime friend and supporter of ISHOF, Chairman of the Technical Open Water Swimming Committee, Stephen A. “Sid” Cassidy. Also from World Aquatics Committees, we were happy to welcome Melanie Beck (GBR), Bureau Member, Maureen Croes, Jay Thomas and of course Dale Neuburger, who was being inducted as the Honor Contributor for 2024. We cannot name them all but we thank all that attended from around the globe!
Please be sure to watch the show and let us know your thoughts! You’ll recognize a lot of other famous faces in aquatics, mostly Olympians, but more importantly, you’ll enjoy yourself! We promise!
The show is available on ESPN+ and also on Hulu ~ Click the link below!
https://www.hulu.com/watch/71121175-804f-47e9-823e-93e7f9d5c953