ISHOF Announces Class of 2026 Led by Nathan Adrian, Laszlo Cseh, Ranomi Kromowidjojo
ISHOF is thrilled to announce that it will be hosting its 61st Annual Honoree Induction Ceremony back in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Saturday, May 16, 2026. The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) is proud to announce its truly international Class of 2026, which will induct 11 Honorees from seven countries.
This year’s ISHOF Honorees include: three HONOR SWIMMERS: Nathan Adrian (USA), László Cseh (HUN), and Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED); OPEN WATER SWIMMER: Ferry Weertman (NED); DIVER: Tania Cagnotto (ITA); WATER POLO PLAYER: Simone Fountain (AUS); ARTISTIC SWIMMER: Heather Simmons-Carrasco (USA);MASTERS SWIMMER:Richard Burns (USA); COACH: Jane Figueiredo (ZIM); CONTRIBUTOR: Stephen A. “Sid” Cassidy (USA); and PARALYMPIAN: Beatrice Hess (FRA).
HONOR SWIMMERS:
Nathan Adrian (USA) is a three-time Olympian, and five-time Olympic gold medalist who specialized in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events. He has won thirty-two medals in major international competitions, twenty gold, seven silver, and five bronze in such competitions as the Olympic Games, the FINA World Championships, and the Pan Pacific Championships. A graduate of Cal Berkeley, Adrian is an 11-time individual NCAA Champion, competing for the Bears and was part of the 2010 men’s team championship.
László Cseh (HUN) is a five-time Olympian and six-time Olympic medalist who is so talented, he competed in every stroke and nearly every event in World Aquatics competition. He has won 74 medals in international competition, 38 gold, 19 silver and 17 bronze, representing Olympic Games, World and European Championships and one edition of the World Universiade Games. In addition to being a 33-time European Champion, he has set five world records, in the IM, his signature event.
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED) is a triple Olympic champion, winning the gold medal in the 4 x 100-freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympic Games, and then in London, in 2012, she took gold in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle, as well as a silver in the 400 free relay event. She set most of her world records primarily in the short course (SCM) 50m freestyle and on various Dutch relays. She has won an astounding 178 FINA/World Aquatics medals in international/World Cup competition during her career, 70 gold, 62 silver and 46 bronze.
HONOR OPEN WATER SWIMMER:
Ferry Weertman (NED) is a two-time Olympian, winning the gold medal in the 10km open water swimming event at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. He claimed his world title in the 10k FINA World Championships in Budapest (Lake Balaton), Hungary in 2017, after taking silver in 2015 in Kazan. Weertman became the first man to win both Olympic and world titles in Open Water Swimming. He is a two-time FINA Open Water Swimmer of the Year (2016 & 2018).
HONOR DIVER:
Tania Cagnotto (ITA) competed in five Olympic Games, eight World Championships, eight World Cups, 31 World Series and 54 FINA Diving Grand Prix’s. Her performance was progressive, getting better each year beginning in 1999, gaining results in the European Junior Championships, and reaching the top in 2016 at the Rio Olympic Games with a silver and a bronze medal in the springboard events. Her 3-meter synchronized team was the best in Europe with eight synchro 3-meter gold medals together with teammate Francesca Dallapè and second in the world only to the Chinese teams.
HONOR WATER POLO PLAYER:
Simone Fountain (AUS) was lucky to prolong her career long enough to participate in the inaugural women’s Olympic Games for water polo in Sydney, winning gold at a time when she was regarded as one of the pre-eminent center forwards of her era. Her assist to Yvette Higgins in Sydney 2000 to score the winning goal 1.3 seconds from time against the United States of America (4-3) is legendary in Australian sport. It was the women’s first Olympic tournament.
HONOR ARTISTIC SWIMMER:
Heather Simmons-Carrasco (USA) was a vital member of the first Olympic gold medal awarded for the team event in synchronized swimming. Follow those Atlanta Games, a majority of the USA team stayed together and were undefeated in international team competition. Prior to 1996, Heather and team USA won a total of seven gold medals in major international competitions, including the Olympics, FINA World Championships and FINA World Cups. Heather began and ended her 18-year artistic swimming career under the auspices of Chris Carver and the Santa Clara Aquamaids. Her USA team golds also included the Pan American Games, French Open, Swiss Open and the Pan Pacs. With the Aquamaids, Heather also won four USA National Team championships as well as the team event at the French and Mallorca Opens.
HONOR MASTERS SWIMMER:
Richard Burns (USA) will be the first Masters Swimmer to be inducted into ISHOF in ten years. He has competed in 11 age groups, 30-34 through 80-84, which he is currently competing in. He has broken an amazing 97 world records as of December 2024, and those are only his individual WR. Rich has competed in six different FINA/World Aquatics Masters World Championships, winning 13 gold, eight silver and two bronze medals, again all individual events. There’s more to add when we start considering his relays. As of December 2023, Burns had added a mind boggling 3,215 FINA Masters World points. Rich was inducted into the Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2010. At the time he had amassed 37 FINA World Records. Since then, he has added 60 additional World Records to his count.
HONOR COACH:
Jane Figueiredo (ZIM/RUS/GBR) was most recently awarded the 2024 IOC Coaches Lifetime Achievement Award, “awarded to a coach who has gone above and beyond in assisting their athletes both on the sporting and the personal side, supporting them through their Olympic journeys”. She was chosen from more than 110 candidatures, nominated by Olympians, International Federations, National Olympic Committees (NOCs), members of the IOC Athletes’ and IOC Athletes’ Entourage commissions, and IOC Members. Jane has coached 13 Olympic medalists, and in World Championship competition, her divers have come away with over 15 medals. She has been named World Aquatics Diving Coach of the Year, and she is a five-time NCAA Women’s Coach of the Year.
HONOR CONTRIBUTOR:
Stephen A. “Sid” Cassidy (USA) has probably done more for the sport of open water swimming than anyone else. He has served in all aspects of the sport: as an athlete, coach, and race director, but Sid’s greatest influence in the sport has been achieved as the result of his work as chairman of the FINA/WA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee, where he had oversight of the FINA 10 km Marathon Swimming World Cup circuit, the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix series and the FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships. Under his leadership, marathon swimming was added to the Olympic program at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics. He was the official starter of the first Olympic 10 km Marathon Swim at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has helped standardize and professionalize the judging and staging of marathon swims around the world.
HONOR PARALYMPIAN:
BEATRICE HESS (FRA) is a five-time Paralympian, winning a total of 25 medals, 20 of them gold. She has cerebral palsy and competed in the S5 disability classification. In addition, she he seven (7) World titles and 18 European titles and is the most decorated French Paralympic swimmer. Hess shot to stardom on her Paralympic debut at the New York 1984 Paralympic Games, earning four gold medals in as many events. From there, she was unstoppable, topping the podium 16 more times before closing the curtain on her career after Athens 2004. Hess was the flagbearer at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
In addition, ISHOF will be officially inducting two Honorees from last year’s class of 2025 that were not able to be with us in Singapore: Coach Gregg Troy (USA) and swimmer Ryan Lochte (USA)
Ryan Lochte (USA) is a 12-time Olympic medalist, making him the third-most decorated swimmer in Olympic history, measured by total number of medals, behind only Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky. Lochte’s seven individual Olympic medals rank second in history in men’s swimming, tied for second among all Olympic swimmers.
Gregg Troy (USA) is a three-time Olympic Coach for the USA, 1996, 2008 and 2012. He has coached many Olympians and Olympic gold medalists including Ryan Lochte, Caleb Dressel and Elizabeth Beisel to name a just few. He was the Head Coach of the Bolles School, 1977-1997, and the University of Florida Gators from 1998-2018, winning the Women’s NCAA’s in 2010.
Ticket and Hotel information will be forthcoming; We hope to have it by the beginning of February. Keep checking on ISHOF.org and or any of our social media platforms.
