LAUSANNE, Switzerland, January 4. ONE month after being named World Swimmers of the Year by Swimming World Magazine, Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps were given the same honor by FINA in its list of top aquatic athletes released today.
Franklin and Phelps both led all athletes in the pool in the London Olympics in their respective genders in terms of medals won. Franklin took home five medals (four gold, one bronze) while Phelps nabbed six medals (four gold, two silver).
FINA's picks for top athletes in open water, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo nearly mirrored Swimming World's picks, which were detailed in the December 2012 issue.
FINA's open water swimmers of the year: Ous Mellouli (Tunisia) and Eva Risztov (Hungary), both Olympic champions in the 10K swim in London
FINA's divers of the year: Ilya Zakharov (Russia), Olympic individual 3-meter champion; Wu Minxia (China), double Olympic champion in individual and synchro 3-meter
FINA's synchronized swimmer of the year: Natalia Ishchenko (Russia), double gold medalist in duet and team competitions
FINA's water polo players of the year: Josip Pavic (Croatia) and Maggie Steffens (USA), both part of gold medal-winning teams
Swimming World made a couple of different choices from FINA's list, giving the female diver of the year honor to China's Chen Ruolin, the Olympic champion in the individual and synchro platform events. Croatia's Maro Jokovic was awarded the male water polo player of the year by Swimming World.