photo courtesy: World Aquatics
After graduating as the fastest high school swimmer in the nation, Anthony Ervin continued his rise to stardom upon entering the University of California-Berkeley. Under the guidance of coaches Nort Thornton and Mike Bottom, he capped his freshman years by winning individual NCAA titles in the 50 and 100 freestyle in SCM, breaking the world record in the 50. He went on to qualify for 2000 Olympic Games in two events.
In Sydney, the 19-year-old helped the United States to a silver medal in the 400-freestyle relay and then shared the Olympic gold with training partner Gary Hall Jr., in the 50 free. He furthered his international status the next year by winning both the 50 and 100-meter freestyle at the 2001 World Championships.
But shortly after the 2003 World Championships, Ervin walked away from school and the pool, to begin an intellectual and spiritual journey of self-discovery. A seven-year odyssey he vividly describes in his critically acclaimed autobiography, Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian.
In 2011, Cal’s women’s coach, Teri McKeever began nurturing him back into the water, initially for emotional and physical rehab. The training organically led to him joining coach Dave Durden’s training group at Cal and qualifying him in the 50 free for his second Olympic Games. Although he got off to a bad start and finished fifth, his return was both inspiring and motivational.
After disappointing swims in the 2013 and 2015 World’s, Ervin relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, to train with David Marsh in March of 2016, to fix his troublesome start and prepare for the 2016 Olympics.
After comfortably moving through the rounds of the 50 freestyle, Ervin put together his finest performance in the final, where he edged defending gold medalist Florent Manaudou of France by .01 and, at 35 years old, becoming the oldest male Olympic swimming champion in history. More, his 16 years between Olympic crowns was nothing short of phenomenal, a testament to his belief, hard work, talent and passion for swimming.
Join Anthony Ervin and the other 11 outstanding Honorees who will be inducted this year at ISHOF’s Diamond Anniversary in Singapore! Buy your tickets NOW for ISHOF’s 60th Anniversary of the Honoree Induction Ceremony in Singapore in conjunction with the World Aquatics World Championships
WHEN: Monday, July 28, 2025, 1:00 PM
WHERE: Park Royal Collection, Marina Bay, Singapore
Tickets are NOW ON SALE ~ purchase them HERE!
Buy your tickets NOW for ISHOF’s 60th Anniversary of the Honoree Induction Ceremony
ISHOF Class of 2025
Anthony Ervin (USA) Honor Swimmer
Ryan Lochte (USA) Honor Swimmer
Federica Pellegrini (ITA) Honor Swimmer
Joseph Schooling (SIN) Honor Swimmer
Ous Mellouli (TUN) Honor Open Water Swimmer
Chen Ruolin (CHN) Honor Diver
Endre “Bandi” Molnar (HUN) Honor Water Polo Player
Andrea Fuentes (ESP) Honor Artistic Swimmer
Gregg Troy (USA) Honor Coach
Captain Husain Al Musallam (KUW) Honor Contributor
Sachin Nag* (IND) Honor Pioneer Swimmer
Guo Jingjing (CHN) Honor Diver (Class of 2016)
*deceased
The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) is proud to announce this truly international Class of 2025. This year, ISHOF will induct 12 honorees from nine countries. In addition, ISHOF will be inducting Honorees from four new countries that we have never had Honorees inducted from before, Kuwait, India, Tunisia, and Singapore.