Chris Guesdon Named Poseidon Award Winner by International Swimming Hall of Fame

By Dan D’Addona.

Chris Guesdon has been selected as the Poseidon Award recipient, given by the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

The award recognizes high level achievement from personal effort or initiative in a field of endeavor that contributes to the performance of marathon swimmers or to the development and status of Marathon Swimming to the world.

“The Poseidon award is a global award. It is true to my heart. It reaches and extends beyond regional or local by endorsing the change we can make across the wide-world,” Guesdon said. “My thank-you goes to the International Swimming Hall of Fame for the Poseidon award. I am deeply honored. I also thank the selection panel and my nominators.I wish to make the announcement that my Patrons, Swimming Australia are supporting me personally. I thank them sincerely for their belief in me and for endorsing the sport.”

The award was presented to Guesdon for his dedication over 56 years to the sport from marathon swimmer to multi-dimensional roles. “His passion is for the further development and recognition of marathon swimming on a global scale,” ISHOF wrote in a statement. “The role which he undertook worldwide. Chris masterminded the design for the Olympic 10k marathon swim. Fellow Olympic model strategists, Sid Cassidy and Dennis Miller concurred that Chris’s blueprint of a competition distance was vital to fit the Olympic schedule with the model able to use the Olympic rowing course or similar body of water in landlocked countries. Their strategy succeeded after a 104- year absence when marathon swimming re-joined the Olympic Games in 2008.”

“I do not consider myself primarily as a swimmer. I prefer to think of myself as an administrator who could swim a bit,” Guesdon said. “I was a footballer, swimmer and water polo player. I loved the life of surf and sun. So, I became a surf-lifesaver. It filled my life. With my peers, the skill of catching the best wave to win a race, saving a life and identifying a rip, the ocean, was our life. This led me into marathons. These stretched the earth from near the Arctic Circle to the Great Southern Ocean and tropics between.”

Guesdon led national teams and Australian marathon swimmers since 1970 in dozens of renowned swims from 24 Heures La Tuque to the Derwent River Tasmania especially in boats and hands-on. He guided Australia to world dominance from 1988 to 1998 as the Australian Open Water Swimming Teams’ Strategist/Manager and as National Open Water Swimming Committee Secretary.

He founded the Australian Long-Distance Swimming Federation in 1973, was a Member of the World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation, Bureau Member International Long-Distance Swimming Federation 1975-77 and Committee Member FINA’s Open Water Swimming Technical Committee 1996 -2000 He was honored by the International Swimming Hall of Fame with the Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award in 2010 and as an Honor Contributor in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2009 where he also chaired the Executive Committee providing the vision and strategy after a significant organizational change.

“This award is for all those unsung heroes in pockets around the globe,” he said. “The hidden world where unheralded marathons may be taking place. Where, as volunteers we can offer comprehensive sport development clinics for their benefit. This is the world of marathon swimming we must continue to find, embrace and develop.”

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Sid Cassidy

6 years ago

GOOD ON YA GUESDON!
Thanks for the decades of devotion!