Star-Studded Cast Of Inductees Set For Enshrinement Into International Swimming Hall of Fame
It is a special weekend for aquatic sports, as the International Swimming Hall of Fame celebrates its Class of 2022. The induction ceremony, emceed by the legendary Dara Torres, will be held on Saturday, October 15, with a star-studded group of athletes, coaches and contributors being honored for their excellence. Here is a look at the honorees, along with the honorees for the Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame.
2022 ISHOF Honorees:
Craig Beardsley (USA) Honor Swimmer: World record-holder in the 200-meter butterfly for three years in the early 1980s; gold medalist in his signature event, the 200-meter butterfly, at the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that was boycotted by the U.S. Olympic Committee; He set a world record of 1:58.21 in the 200-meter butterfly on July 30, 1980, just one week after the Olympic Games—a time that was over a second faster than Soviet swimmer Sergey Fesenko‘ who won the gold medal in Moscow at the 1980 Olympic finals.
Natalie Coughlin (USA) Honor Swimmer: Natalie Coughlin is a three-time Olympian and twelve-time Olympic medalist (3 Gold, 4 Silver, 5 Bronze). First woman to swim the 100-meter backstroke in under one minute in 2002. She achieved that milestone at the International Swimming Hall of Fame Aquatic Center during the U.S. Nationals in Fort Lauderdale. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Natalie became the first U.S. female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympiad and the first woman ever to win gold in the 100-meter backstroke in two consecutive Olympic games. She competed in her third and final Olympic Games in London in 2012, where she earned a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.
Michael Klim (AUS) Honor Swimmer: Klim has been called the best relay swimmer ever. He is a three-time Olympian, multi-time world champion and 21-time world record holder. He was a member of each of Australia’s three relay teams, winning gold in the 4×200m freestyle relay and the 4×100m medley relay, and a silver in the 4×100m freestyle relay. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, Klim set a world record (48.18) leading off the 4×100m freestyle relay, which paved the way for a world record (3:13.67), beating the Americans in this event for the first time in Olympic history. Three days later, he was part of the 4×200m freestyle relay, which set another world record (7:07.05), which left the opposition over 5 seconds in arrears on its way to victory.
Jon Sieben (AUS) Honor Swimmer: Set the world record (1:57.04) in the 200m butterfly in the major upset of the 1984 Olympic Games; he then swam through two more Olympic cycles, 1988, Seoul and 1992 Barcelona, making him the first Aussie to do so since Dawn Fraser had done it in 1956, 1960 and 1964; 16 Long Course National Championships and 11 Open National Championships; As an NCAA swimmer, he won silver in the 200m butterfly and bronze in the 100-meter butterfly; Not only was Sieben an Olympic caliber swimmer, but in 2005 and 2009, he competed for Australia in the Universiade Games in the sport of water polo and in 2009, the team took gold.
Daichi Suzuki (JPN) Honor Swimmer: Suzuki was the Olympic gold medalist at the 1988 Olympic Games in the 100m backstroke, as well as a Japanese National Champion in the 100m Backstroke; Upon retirement, Suzuki stayed involved in swimming, sitting on the board of Japan’s Anti-Doping Agency, as well as serving on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Athlete Committee; He was eventually selected as President of the Japan Swimming Federation, and more recently was named to head Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Marilyn Bell (CAN) Honor Open Water Swimmer: She swam across Lake Ontario when she learned Florence Chadwick was being offered a $10,000 purse to complete the swim – Bell wanted the honor to go to a Canadian swimmer. Three swimmers showed up, and Bell was the only one who finished the 20-hour, 59 minutes swim that had 5-foot waves and lamprey eels. As a result of the victory, the Canadian Press named her the Canadian Newsmaker of the Year in 1954; At the time, she was the youngest person to swim the English Channel and later she swam the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the Pacific coast – her woman’s speed record held for more than 60 years! Bell became a Canadian hero.
Matthew Mitcham (AUS): Honor Diver: Mitcham received the highest single-dive score recorded in Olympic history at the 2008 Games ~ Beijing (two-and-one-half somersault with two-and-one-half twists/pike position); Olympic gold medalist on the 10-meter platform in 2008; first Australian to win Olympic gold in diving since Dick Eve in 1924; 2009 World Championship bronze medalist, 1-meter; 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medalist, 1-meter, synchro 3-meter, 10 meter and synchro 10-meter; and at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, gold in the synchro 10-meter platform event and silver in the 1-meter and synchro 3-meter events.
Ursula Carlile (AUS) – Honor Coach: In the 1970’s, the husband-and-wife team of Ursula and Forbes Carlile made frequent periodic visits to the People’s Republic of China, working with China’s top coaches and national team. In 1972, Ursula became Australia’s first female Olympic swimming coach, when selected as assistant coach to Don Talbotfor the 1972 Munich Games; Served as assistant to Terry Gathercole at the 1973 World Championships in Cali, Colombia; and in 1974, Ursula was selected as Australia’s first female Head Coach for the Commonwealth Games, held in Christchurch, New Zealand. In yet another sterling accomplishment, during the 1970’s and 1980’s, she and Forbes coached five Olympians – all of them world record-holders: Karen Moras, Shane Gould, Jenny Turrall, Gail Nealand John Bennett.
Peter Hürzeler (SUI) – Honor Contributor; Peter Hürzeler is considered the Master of Swiss timekeeping technology: Swiss Timing; Since 1969, his organizational and creative skills have successfully delivered innovation, technology and timekeeping to the sport of swimming. Throughout the decades, he and his colleagues have invented and created many innovations in the aquatic disciplines, as well other sports. What he has done in sports and technology in swimming, no one else has ever achieved. Since 1970, Hürzeler has spent 3,708 days on the road, engaged in sports timekeeping, which includes 17 editions of the Olympic Games, 36 Continental Games, 19 World Championships, 23 European Championships and over 300 athletics meetings.
Carol Zaleski (USA) Honor Contributor: Zaleski has been in the center of quite a few firsts. She was the first female chairperson of the FINA Technical Swimming Committee and was the first female President of the United States Aquatic Sports. She served as President of USA Swimming for an unprecedented four terms, was the first female referee both at a FINA World Championships and an Olympic Games. And finally, she was the first female to be named deck referee at an Olympic Games in Beijing, 2008.
Mirko Vicevic (YUG/MON) Honor Water Polo Player: Vicevic has won gold at every major event on the water polo world stage; the Olympic Games, the World Championships and the FINA World Cup. His original club was Primorac of Kotor, Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia), where he played from 1982 to 1989. After that, he played for several teams, Jadran, in Split, Croatia, Savona (Italy) Barcelona (Spain) Brixia (Brescia, Italy) and Pro Recco (Italy). Vicevic won the LEN Trophy for the years 2002, 2003 and 2006 with his club Brixia, and was selected as Best Sportsman of the Municipality of Kotor in 1986, 1988 & 1989 and Best Sportsman in Montenegro in 1988.
The Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame (MISHOF) is a division of the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) with Inductions scheduled for Saturday, October 15, 2022
2022 MISHOF Honorees:
Doris Steadman* (USA) Honor Masters Swimmer: Doris Steadman didn’t begin swimming Masters until four decades after she swam in college at Temple University. But by the time she was done, she set a total of 33 Masters World Records, some stood for as long as 11 years before being broken. She was in the Top Ten 190 times and of and she had 23 All-American Titles. She only attended one FINA World Championship but won all gold medals in the events she entered.
Dr. Jane Katz (USA) Honor Masters Contributor: Dr. Jane Katz has served the world of swimming in so many capacities. In 2000, Katz was awarded the FINA Certificate of Merit to honor her “dedication and contributions to the development” of the sport of swimming. As a member of the U.S. synchronized swimming team that performed at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, Jane helped synchronized swimming become a sport at the Olympic level. She is an All-American and World Champion Masters Swimmer in competitive swimming, long distance swimming, and synchronized swimming. She has published numerous aquatic related books through the years, as well as DVDs, that range from water fitness to synchronized swimming.
Birte Hohlstein-Janssen (GER) Masters Artistic Swimming: Birte and her sister Silke, inducted in 2017, have been loyal Masters synchronized swimmers. Birte has attended 11 FINA Masters World Championships since 1994 and has won at least one gold or silver medal in 10 of the 11 meets. This success comes despite being hampered by the fact that there is no Masters team in her region. So, she and Silke have been limited to only doing solo and duet, except when they briefly joined a team based in Berlin. This brought them the gold medal in team, as well as duet, at the 1998 FINA Worlds in Casablanca, Morocco. Imagine if they had a team in their region?
Edith Bohm (GER) Honor Masters Swimmer: Since 1986, Edith Bohm has been in the Top Ten 22 times until 2008 when she competed in her last swim meet in Bavaria. She set 15 long course and 13 short course FINA Masters World Records in the breaststroke, one of them lasting seven years. Bohm has competed in seven FINA Masters World Championships between 1986 and 2004 winning a total of 29 medals, 18 of them gold. She is now 95 years old and lives in Munich where she still trains twice a week.
Olga Kokorina* (RUS) Honor Masters Swimmer: Russia’s Olga Kokorina, born November 1, 1923, was a swimmer her entire life but did not start swimming Masters until 1998, when she was already 75 years old. She broke world records in almost every competition she entered. She then decided to risk it all and flew to the USA using all her money to take part in the World Masters Games in Portland, Oregon where she won three gold medals and established a world record in the 100m breaststroke. The next year at the European Championship in Innsbruck she broke two world records and won two golds. Her last recorded races were in 2015 where she swam in the 90-94 age group at the Russian Masters cup. In her 17 years in Masters swimming she broke 34 world records and won more than 50 gold medals. Olga Kokorina passed away in January of this year at the age of 98.
Shigehisha Sekikawa (JPN) Honor Masters Swimmer: Since 1991, Shigehisa Sekikawa has been in the Top Ten world rankings 24 times. He has set 14 long course and 17 short course FINA backstroke Masters World Records. His 1998 200m backstroke short course world record in the 65 to 70 age group stood for 7 years. He has not competed in any FINA Masters World Championships he accumulated his points by swimming world records and world rankings. He last competed in 2015.
Guenther Wolf (GER) Honor Masters Water Polo Player Günter Wolf was a five-time German National Champion with a team called SV 05 Würzburg. Wolf played 131 matches for the German National Team between 1969 and 1976 and took part in the 1972 (4th) and 1976 (6th) Olympic Games. From 2000 until now he has been involved with Masters Water Polo. With his team SC Duesseldorf, he has participated in eight FINA Masters World Championships, winning five gold, two silver and one bronze. In the LEN European Championships his team won three gold and two silver and more than 30 German National Championships.
*deceased
You gotta be really Good for folk to Honor you, let alone remember you, from a 1954-56 achievements.
Marilyn Bell is an amazing athlete.
In the year 2000, Canadian Broadcast News announced Marilyn as (#9) one of the Top 10 Canadian athletes of the 20th century