International Swimming Hall of Fame Honorees By Last Name (J)

To avoid attending Church of England religious education classes, which conflicted with her parents religious beliefs, this 11-year old Liverpudlian was assigned to swimming classes at the Garston Baths.

She was born in Ruda Slaska, Poland in December 1983 and began swimming at six-years-old because doctors thought it would help the slight curvature in her spine. She originally had no interest in the sport, but her father had the last word.

Called “Pusko,”Zdravko Jezic played on three Olympic teams for Yugoslavia and won silver medals in 1952 and 1956. He contributed to the development of the “dynamic game” after restriction of movement was discontinued in 1950, helping to develop the “Yugoslav school” of fast-style water polo.

Diving is a quiet, precise sport. The actual take-off jump happens within a split second and the meditative moment before the jump determines the dives success or failure.

She enjoyed a very normal childhood growing up in the city of Baoding in the province of Hebei, until 1988, when a diving scout visited her school. The scout asked the students if anyone wanted to learn how to dive and Guo Jingjing eagerly volunteered, believing she was signing up for swimming.

Dick’s journey to the Swimming Hall of Fame began when his mother insisted he learn to swim. His first swim teacher and coach was Laurabelle Bookstaver, of the Berkeley Women’s City Club. Under the tutelage of this tough talking woman, Dick fell in love with the sport. He earned a scholarship to the University of Washington where John Tallman turned him into an All-American sprinter and took him on as his assistant. Leaving Washington to continue his studies at Cal, he joined Pete Cutino’s staff as his assistant. Over the years he had studied the methods of George Haines, Sherm Chavoor, Peter Daland and Jim Counsilman and after receiving his Ph. D., accepted the coaching and teaching position at UC Hayward. It was at Hayward where Dr. Robert Morford led him to discover the ancient Greek concept of Agon and Areté - the struggle and the victory.

She first learned to swim in her backyard pool in Katherine, Northern Territories. As a ten-year old Brisbane school girl, she watched Samantha Riley win the bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Less than four years later, she ousted her idol from the Australian Team by winning the 100m breaststroke at the 2000 Australian Olympic trials at the age of 14. Shortly after her fifteenth birthday, she swam the race of her life to claim the silver medal in the 100m breaststroke and added another silver in the 4x100m medley relay at the Sydney Olympic Games.