INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES THE CLASS OF 2015
FORT LAUDERDALE – The International
Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) today announced finalized results of the
International Selection Committee’s recommendations as approved by the Board of
Directors for the Class of 2015. The 51st
Annual Hall of Fame Enshrinement ceremonies will be held in Santa Clara,
California, on Saturday evening, June 20, 2015.
For more information about the event and to purchase tickets, visit www.ishof.org, or call 954-462-6536.
“I am very
pleased to announce the results of this year’s voting,” said Camillo Cametti,
of Verona, Italy, Chairman of ISHOF’s International Selection Committee. “This year’s class of 12
athletes, coaches and contributors represents four aquatic disciplines
(swimming, diving, swimming and water polo) from nine different nations. It is a very
distinguished group of individuals who well represent FINA and the world of the
Olympic aquatic sports.”
The Class of 2015 includes swimmers Enith Brigitha (NED), Jodie Henry (AUS) and Diana Macanu (ROM); Diver
Lao Lishi (CHN); Synchronized Swimmer Anastaysia Ermakova (RUS); Water Polo
Player/Coach Ivo Trumbic
(CRO/YUG/NED); Coaches James
Gaughran (USA), Don Watson (USA)
and Masako Kaneko (JPN); Contributor
Bartolo Consolo (ITA); Pioneer Liang Boxi (CHN), and Masters Swimmer Karlyn Pipes (USA).
Swimmers:
Enith Brigitha (NED)
Born on the island of Curacao, in the
Caribbean, Enith Brigitha enjoyed nearly a full decade in swimming as a bona
fide star. During her heyday, she set 97 Dutch National
Records and won 11 individual medals in the Olympics, World and European
Championships, in an era mostly dominated by swimmers from the German
Democratic Republic. She was twice named Dutch Sportswoman of the year and has
the distinction of being the first person of African descent to win Olympic swimming
medals.
JoDie Henry (AUS)
At the
2004 Olympics, Henry anchored the Australian women s 4x100m freestyle relay
team that won the gold in world record time. She then broke the 100m individual
freestyle world record time in the semifinals and went on to win the gold medal
for the event, the first Australian to do so since Dawn Fraser 40 years
earlier.
Diana Mocanu (ROM)
Training
six hours a day in Romania, Diana Mocanu progressed from European Junior
Championt to double Olympic gold medalist in the 100m and 200m backstroke at
the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She also won the 200m backstroke and took second to rising
star Natalie Coughlin in the 100m at the 2001 FINA World Aquatics
Championships.
Diver
Lao Lishi (CHN)
Lao Lishi, born December 12,1987 in Zhanjiang, Guangdong is a
female diver from the People s Republic of China. Lao represented China at the
2004 Summer Olympics, earning a silver medal in the 10 meter women s platform
and a gold medal in women s 10 meter synchronized platform along with Li Ting. An entrepreneur today, she recently rang the
bell at the NY Stock Exchange when the firm Alibaba went public.
Synchronized
Swimmer:
ANASTASYIA
ERMAKOVA (RUS)
Anastasyia Ermakova is a four-time Olympic champion, winning four
gold medals in duet and team events at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. She is one of the most decorated synchronized
swimmers in history with a combined twelve gold and two silver medals in major
international competition from 2003 to 2010.
Water Polo
IVO
TRUMBIC (YUG, CRO)
One of the legendary names in the sport of Water Polo, Ivo Trumbic
was Born in Split, Croatia. He played water polo for the Yugoslavian National
Team winning the silver medal at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo and improving
to the gold medal at 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. Eight years later he
coached the team from Holland to a bronze medal.
Coaches:
JAMES
JIM GAUGHRAN (USA)
As the head swimming coach at Stanford University, from 1960 to
1980, Jim Gaughran trained 26 Olympic swimmers who won eight gold, two silver
and five bronze medals. This number
might have been much higher but for the American boycott of the 1980 Moscow
Olympic Games. Perhaps of greater historical
significance was his role as head of the delegation for the first American team
to visit China in 1973 – which helped pave the way for normalization of
relations between the two nations and the re-entry of China into FINA family
and the Olympic movement.
DONALD WATSON (USA)
An
assistant coach to the legendary Doc Cousilman, Don Watson became one of the
most successful high-school swimming coaches in history, producing swimmers who
earned 167 High school All-America, 4
Olympic medals and multiple world professional marathon swimming titles. Watson
was voted Coach of the Year by the American Swimming Coaches Association in
1970 and served as USA Team coach or manager at six major international
competitions. For 24 years, Don was the
Director of the University of Texas Swimming Stadium and the Longhorn Aquatic
Swim Club, where he collaborated with Hall of Fame coaches Eddie Reese, Paul
Bergen, Richard Quick and Mark Schubert.
He joins three of his swimmers, John Kinsella, Sandra Bucha and Gold
Medallion recipient Bob Dudley in the Hall of Fame.
MASAKO KANEKA (JPN)
Masako Kaneka has been
the driving force in developing and maintaining Japan’s synchronized swimming
prominence in the world. From 1982, when she was the National Team Coach and
Director for Japan. to the present, she has coached or been team leader of
almost every competition in which Japan has competed. She coached swimmers to
medals in every Olympic Games from 1984 (synchro’s first Olympics) to 2004 and
had medal winners in every World Championships from 1978 to 2007. Her 40 years
coaching in Japan have earned her many awards including the Women’s Sports
Order from the International Olympic Committee.
Contributor:
BARTOLO CONSOLO (ITA)
Bartolo Consolo s career in swimming and water polo has been
outstanding beginning as a young swimmer and water polo player, advancing to
the leader of his hometown clubs Rani Nantes Perugia and Club AS Roma and to a
leader of International significance. In 1990, he was elected President of LEN
and two years later Vice President of FINA. He was elected to four terms as LEN
President and is now LEN Honorary President for Life. He served two terms as
FINA Honorary Secretary from 2000 to 2009 and continues today as immediate past
Honorary Secretary of FINA. Among his awards include Golden Stars for Sport,
Italian Republic Official Knights, Knight of Malta and Knight of Mauritian
Order.
Pioneer:
LIANG
BOXI (CHN)
Liang Boxi is considered the Father of Diving in China. Born in Guangdong
in 1938, he practiced gymnastics, track, swimming and diving as a youngster and
won the first National Diving championships (1955) in the 3m springboard
followed in 1957 by the 10m platform and 3m springboard event. At the 1963
Indonesia Games, Boxi won from a total of 15 other nations. However, in 1966,
the Chinese government put a halt to all competitive sports. In 1972, Boxi led
a revival of the diving program that has developed into the top diving nation
in the world today.
Masters:
KARLYN
PIPES (USA)
At age of 32, Karlyn began setting FINA Masters World Records on a
steady basis and now, in the 50-54 age group, she has set 203 of them in the
backstroke, freestyle, butterfly and Individual Medley. She has established
number one rankings than any other Masters swimmer, male or female. She
competed at the 1994, 2006, 2008 and 2012 FINA Masters World Championships
winning all fifteen events she entered. Aside from competing, she is most proud
of using her Red Cross Lifeguard/CPR instructor training to
earn the ARC’s medal and Certificate of Merit for saving the life of a drowning
person.
About the ISHOF
The International
Swimming Hall of Fame & Museum was established in 1965 as a not-for-profit
educational organization in the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and was
recognized by FINA, the international governing body for the Olympic aquatic
sports, in 1968. The Mission
of ISHOF is to PRESERVE and CELEBRATE aquatic history, to EDUCATE the general public about the
importance of swimming as the key to water safety, drowning prevention, better
health and a better quality of life, and to INSPIRE everyone to swim. ISHOF’s collection of swimming memorabilia,
art, photos and films, along with archival documents and rare books in the
Henning Library, make ISHOF the premier repository and academic research
resource for swimming and aquatic history in the world.
For more information contact Bruce Wigo at 954-462-6536
ext. 201, or email bwigo@ishof.org