Alban Minville (FRA)

Honor Coach (1980)

FOR THE RECORD:  OLYMPIC GAMES: French Olympic Coach (1948, 1952, 1956); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: Coach, French National Team (1946, 1950, 1954); Coach of Dauphins of Toulouse Olympic Employee Club; the club broke World Record twice in 300m medley relay (1946) and twice broke the European Record for 800m Freestyle relay (1946, 1947); His swimmers won 56 individual and 17 relays in the French National Championships (1936-1954) and broke 22 French relay records and 44 individual French records.

Between 1936 and 1956 there were a great many French swimmers in the world record book.  Most of them were from the same swim club (T.O.E.C. Dauphins) coached by Alban Minville.  The greatest of these were five-time world record holder Alex Jany and Olympic champion Jean Boiteux.  His swimmers won 73 French Championships and broke 66 national records.  Born in 1898 at Gimont in the South of France, Minville was a sailor during W.W.I and in 1920 toured the word with the French Navy with long layovers in the South Pacific, Australia, and in California studying the best swimming techniques which he first tried on himself as a regional swim and water polo champion and after 1930 as trainer coach of the famed Toulouse Olympique Employee Club.  He published his well-known swimming book in 1948.  A three-time French Olympic Coach Minville retired in 1960 after 40 years with the T.O.E.C. Dolphins as swimmer and coach.  He died in 1970.