Highlighted by names such as World Record holders Adam Peaty and Cate Campbell, a new professional swimming organization is being formed called the Global Association of Professional Swimmers (GAPS). Another Professional Swimming Association (PSA) is also in its infancy. After FINA announced changes to the annual World Cup circuit, many swimmers took to social media to express their concerns with the direction the sport of swimming is headed.
As a result, GAPS created a website. According to the group’s website, they believe that the athletes are what drives a sport to success, and that their voices should be heard. Through the unity of athletes across the world with this same motive, they believe that the sport and its participants will be better off.
But these are not the first group of athletes that have seen the benefits of professional swimming. In the 1990s, Tom Jager and Gary Hall Jr. had similar thoughts. Swimming World is going back into the archives to provide one of swimming’s original insights into the sport as a profession. You can also read the original story written by Phil Whitten and first published in March of 1997.
“Why Not us?”
Matt Biondi Photo By Peter Bick
In the early 1990s, many swimmers found themselves questioning why athletes in other sports could play well into their thirties, promote their sport and continue to get paid for it. They thought, if runners, cyclists, skaters, triathletes, basketball players and other athletes can continue at the top of their game into their thirties and earn a good living doing so, why not swimmers?
Tom Jager, five-time Olympic gold medalist between 1984 and 1992, played a key role in getting people talking. His prominence allowed him to pave the way for the growth of professional swimming in the United States.
In 1990, Jager and Matt Biondi organized a “sprint shootout” in Nashville which featured a series of 50-meter freestyle battles offering $10,000 for the winner, $5,000 for the runner up and $1,000 for the third-place finishers. Not only did the event produce a Jager World Record of 21.81, but also great media attention worldwide.
This led to the creation of more meets geared toward professionals including the Clairol Option Swim Challenge at Mission Viejo created my Mark Spitz and the Kerr-McGee swim meet in Oklahoma City.
“This is a great way to get top athletes to a meet in Oklahoma City and give the local kids a chance to mingle with the stars,” Meet Director Jim Sullins said in 1997 after the meet’s fifth-year. “It’s a way to put some money in the pockets of the pro athletes, and it’s a tremendous opportunity for the kids to talk to a Josh Davis or Summer Sanders. It’s something they’d never have a chance to do otherwise, and it’s inspirational.”
The meets were fan-favorites and offered individual swimmers up to $20,000. The Clarion Option Swim Challenge, specifically, awarded $600 for for first, $300 for second and $100 for third.
Gary Hall Jr.’s Comprehensive Plan to Promote Pro Swimming
Amy Van Dyken Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
After the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, a handful of swimmers noticed the buzz about their sport. Swimming was thriving, and the time to make a movement for professional swimming was present. One of these athletes was Hall Jr., who earned four medals in Atlanta, two gold and two silver.
He noticed that events such as the Olympic Games and the United States Swimming Grand Prix meets encouraged great fan participation and engagement. In the Phoenix Grand Prix stop in May 1996, Amy Van Dyken won a Nissan Pathfinder for her victory in the 50 butterfly, and the natatorium found the entire crowd on its feet as the upcoming U.S. Women’s Olympic sprint team battled a men’s 40+ Masters team coached by Doc Counsilman.
The American women ended up taking the win by roughly two-tenths of a second, but Hall Jr. saw even more victory in this moment. With help from Jack Gilardi, vice president of ICM agency and Jerry Florence, Nissan Marketing Executive at the time, he devised a three-step plan. The proposal included the following stages:
- Nissan will sponsor a group of eight to ten athletes plus a top coach under the umbrella of Team Nissan. “It’s the same kind of approach that has been used successfully in bicycling,” Hall said. The then 22-year-old sprinter said the team would be like the National Resident Team, “Except that all the participants would be treated as pros.” Hall expected that other major corporations would sponsor teams if Team Nissan proved successful.
- A meet series will be created in which Team Nissan will compete against other top pro swimmers from around the world. The meet will be promoted professionally and will be televised. Discussions are already underway with the major television networks. “The first year we’ll start off small. Probably just a three-meet circuit – perhaps L.A., the San Francisco Bay Area and Phoenix. Then we hope to expand, adding cities like Oklahoma City. Basically, it will be like a World Cup.”
- A major televised summer meet will be held to which the top four countries plus two additional countries from the previous Olympics or World Championships will be invited. “It will vary each year, depending on which countries are swimming well. A rotating trophy will be awarded to the winning team each year, sort of like a Davis Cup. I want to recreate the excitement of the Olympic Games.
Hall Jr.’s goals at the time seem in line with those presented this summer by professional swimmers. Mark Henderson, a 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist said, “This is the way to bring thousands of kids into the sport – by showing them it has a financial future. Gary is leading the way to a bright future for swimming.”
While his vision has come to life in many ways throughout the years, these up-and-coming organizations believe that there is still room to grow.
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The first shoot out was at the University of New Mexico when I was the head coach. Tom was training with us and he and I organized a shootout after Tom talked Matt out of retirement and be a part of the shoot out. Between
Matt, Tom, and fourteen men from the UNM team we sold out our natatorium and also with a generous donation from a close friend of mine
we had 10,000.00 prize for top two swimmers. We had a lot of fun with this, Matt came out of retirement to go to swim in Barcelona, and that shoot out
Was the first of three held that year.