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

Miya Tachibana grew up in Otsu, Shiga, Japan loving the water so much that by the fourth grade, she was competing in synchronized swimming. By high school, she was winning the Junior World Cham­pionships.

Miho Takeda was born and raised in the Kyoto Prefecture on Honshu, Japan’s largest and most populous island. She began swimming at the age of five and turned to synchronized swimming two years later. She changed clubs at the age of thirteen to train under Masayo Imura, the national team coach and “Mother of Japanese Synchro.”

Born in Perth, Australia, in 1961, Shelley Taylor-Smith was so passionate about swimming that she would sneak off to bed each night in her bathers. Not overly talented and diagnosed with crippling scoliosis, her determination overruled what her doctors predicted and her swimming took off to heights which no one but herself anticipated.

When Jenny Thompson finished her swimming career following the 2004 Olympic Games, she was the most decorated U.S. Olympian. She had earned a total of 12 medals, eight of them gold. From 1992-2004, she competed on four Olympic teams. She also set 15 world records, most of which were in individual events.

Li Ting was born April 1, 1987 in the Lingui District in China. She and her twin sister were the youngest of three daughters.

Dara Grace Torres grew up in Beverly Hills, California, where she learned to swim in her family’s backyard pool. At the age of seven, she followed her brothers to swim practice at the local YMCA. During her junior year of high school, Torres moved to Mission Viejo, CA, to train with Hall of Fame Coach Mark Schubert, and in 1983 she broke the world record in the 50-meter freestyle. The next year, while not yet a senior in high school, she won her first Olympic gold medal as a member of the USA’s 4x100 freestyle relay team.

Libby Lenton, joined her first swim team at age four. By age ten, she was one of Queensland’s top age groupers. In 1995, the family moved to Brisbane, where Libby started training under coach John Carew, mentor of Hall of Famer, Kieren Perkins. But in early 2002, Libby began training under coach Stephan Widmar.