International Swimming Hall of Fame Honorees By Year (2010)

Move over Abou Heif, Herman Williamsee and John Kinsella, the greatest marathon swimming racers the world had seen. That’s until Paul Asmuth ascended on the world scene in the 1980’s becoming the most dominant racer on the professional circuit and one of the world’s greatest professional marathon swimmers.

Growing up in Plant City, Florida on a farm surrounded by a menagerie of animals, Brooke loved the water and swam a length of the family pool at the age of two. By age six she was a local swim club champ.

For the first time in history, the International Swimming Hall of Fame is recognizing a father and son as one, jointly in the same year. This honor goes to three-time Olympic water polo playersGiuseppe and Marco D’Altruiof Italy.

For the first time in history, the International Swimming Hall of Fame is recognizing a father and son as one, jointly in the same year. This honor goes to three-time Olympic water polo players Giuseppe and Marco D’Altrui of Italy.

Known as “Ivanych” to his teammates and “Killer” to his esteemed opponents, Alexander Dolgushin was one of the most feared defensive players during the 1960s and 1970s. Coaches praised his ability to oppose the most powerful opponents leading to his crowd-attention rivalry with Hungary’s giant scorer,Istvan Szivos, Jr., at the 1972 Olympic Games, resulting in the gold medal for his team.

The land-locked state of Iowa had a knack for producing aquatic competitors in the first half of the 20th century. Famous for its swimmers, Olympic champion Wally Ris and coach Dave Armbruster, divers Lyle Draves and Kent Ferguson and synchronized swimmer Beulah Gundling, non the least was Larry Griswold, a 1932 graduate of the University of Iowa and a four-time varsity letterman in diving, wrestling, track and field, and gymnastics.

Called “Pusko,”Zdravko Jezic played on three Olympic teams for Yugoslavia and won silver medals in 1952 and 1956. He contributed to the development of the “dynamic game” after restriction of movement was discontinued in 1950, helping to develop the “Yugoslav school” of fast-style water polo.

In 1986, FINA President Bob Helmick handpickedCornelio Miguel Marculescu Bulfon to take the helm of a permanent FINA Office in Lausanne. The workload had grown to a point where a professional office staff was needed and Cornel had the capacity to do the work of ten people.

Maureen O'Toole is a six-time World Water Polo Female Athlete of the Year and played on the Women’s U.S. National Team for over 21 years. Between 1978 and 2000, she competed in six World Championships and seven FINA World Cups.

In 1968, Murray Stephens co-founded the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, which, in the eyes of Olympic Coach Mark Schubert, became “the best swimming club program in America” rivaling clubs in the sunbelts of California and Florida. He trained local swimmers and attracted other swimmers to relocate to his facility where he would turn them from good swimmers into great swimmers.

In his native Hungary, he was known as “The Swimming Pope.” He was one of the most productive coaches of his generation, developing Olympic medalists at the Central Sports Club of Budapest for a 25-year period beginning in 1972 with Andras Hargatay winning the bronze medal in the 400 m IM at the Munich Olympic Games.

Growing up in Berlin, Germany in the former GDR, "Franzi" loved swimming, joined a team and by the time the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, she was ready to burst onto the international swimming scene. At age 14, at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelo­na, she was the youngest participant of the re-united German team, and sensationally won the 200m and 100 m freestyle silver and bronze medals, as well as silver and bronze medals on Germany's medley and freestyle relays. She set the 200m freestyle World Record at the 1994 World Cham­pionships in Rome, breaking an eight-year record held by Heike Friedrich, the last of the GDR swimmers. She broke her own record in 2002 in Berlin. Overall, her 200m freestyle World Record stood for 13 years until broken by Federica Pellegrini of Italy in 2007. Franziska held the record longer than any other female in that event except for Hall of Fame swimmer Ragenhild Hveger of Denmark from 1938 to 1956.

Born 1903 in Piddig, Philippines, Teófilo Yldefonso learned to swim by teaching himself in the knee-deep Guisit River near his home. Orphaned at an early age, he and his brothers practically raised themselves. He swam every day in the river and would help the women cross and carry the clothes to wash.