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

When she was just 12-years-old, she knew open water swimming was her passion, and she told her younger sister that she would swim the English Channel one day.

Dr. Julio Maglione was born in 1935, in Montevideo, Uruguay. After learning to swim, he soon became Uruguay’s National Champion and record holder in the 100 and 200 meter butterfly and 100 and 200 meter breaststroke from 1949 to 1954.

He was introduced early to the water and started swimming competitively at the age of seven to help combat his chronic asthma. A naturally tall and lean kid, Tom Malchow played a little basketball and baseball in grade school, but it was swimming that he showed the most promise. Swimming for coach Paul Lundsten, state, zone and sectional times came easily to him. At St. Thomas Military Academy he held the pool record, in every event except for diving, and was recruited by some of the nations top collegiate programs. He chose Michigan because he liked the coachJon Urbanchek, and the overall program.

Laure Manaudou was born on October 9, 1986 in Villeurbanne, France. She swam for the club of Ambérieu-en-Bugey, in Ain, from the age of 6 to 14 years old. In 2000, coach Philippe Lucas spotted her and convinced her parents that he would make her a champion. She then left the family nest to join her new coach in Melun, and a year later she won two silver medals at the European Junior Championships in Malta. Everyone started talking about her enormous potential.

In 1986, FINA President Bob Helmick handpickedCornelio Miguel Marculescu Bulfon to take the helm of a permanent FINA Office in Lausanne. The workload had grown to a point where a professional office staff was needed and Cornel had the capacity to do the work of ten people.

No other swimming coach has single-handedly developed, trained and organized a national team to Olympic and international prominence more so than Japan's Ikkaku Matsuzawa.

Since 1953, Judy McGowan has been active as a synchronized swimming competitor, coach, judge and most importantly, as an administrator both nationally and internationally.

Following in the wake of Russia’s Simeon Boychenko was Leonid Meshkov. Born in Volgograd in 1916, he showed promise as a swimmer. In 1936 his family moved to Leningrad so he could train at the “Dolphin Sports Club.” In 1940, Meshkov, like Boychenko, broke the recognized world record in the 100-meter butterfly-breaststroke, and European records in the 200 and 400-meter freestyle. Also like Boychenko, his times were not recognized.

Olympic gold medals are cherished in any country, but in 2000, Romania was especially desperate to be seen as something other than a poor unstable Balkan nation. That is when an unknown 16 year old girl emerged, who would become known as “Golden Diana”.

Hungary is a land of thermal springs and although landlocked, swimming and water sports are ingrained in their culture. This love of water led to an early domination of international swimming and diving competitions in the late 19th and early 20th century. In the 1920s, it was water polo that came to symbolize Hungary’s unique strengths and individuality. From 1928 to 1980, the Hungarian National Water Polo Team dominated the sport like no other nation, reaching the podium at twelve consecutive Olympic Games. During this streak the Hungarians won six gold medals, three silver medals, three bronze medals, and back to back titles twice: 1932 and 1936 and, 1952 and 1956. It came to be that anything less than the gold medal was considered a failure.

Peter Montgomery was raised on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, where he played water polo and swam competitively in addition to being a surf lifesaver and junior rugby league player.

Camille Muffat began swimming competitively at Club Olympic Nice Natation, at the age of nine. Training under coach Fabrice Pellerin, Camille first came to prominence in 2005, when she upset 2004 Olympic Champion Laure Manaudou in the 200-meter individual medley at the French Nationals. She was just 15 years old. A few months later, she won the same event at the European Junior Championships in Budapest, along with a silver medal in the 100-meter freestyle.

For a 12-year period from 1978 to 1991, most all of Canada's international synchronized swimming medalists came from Coach Debbie Muir's hometown team, the Calgary Aquabelles. She began her coaching career in 1973 as an assistant with the Aquabelles and became the head coach within two years.

On an August day in 1968, wearing his cap and goggles, Kevin Murphy stood on the stony Folkstone’s Shakespeare beach ready for his first crossing as a swimmer of the English Channel. During the next 41 years, he successfully completed the Channel a total of 34 times, making him The King of the English Channel with the most crossings by a male. Murphy became one of the greatest solo swimmers of all time.