PHOENIX, Arizona, January 2. TODAY is our final look back to the news-making year that was 2009. Swimming World Magazine<\/i>, in its 50th year of publication as a standard monthly magazine, added 12 more covers to the prestigious group of people that have made the cover in our first 50 years.<\/p>\n
To the right, we have created a slideshow for each cover of 2009, as credited below:<\/p>\n
JANUARY<\/B>
\nBehind all masterpieces, there is an element of genius. It's not difficult to pinpoint the masterpiece of the Beijing Olympics\u2014clearly, it was Michael Phelps with his record eight gold medals. Yet, for all of Phelps' unmatched attributes, North Baltimore Aquatic Club's Bob Bowman is the one who had the vision and molding skills to guide Phelps to never-before-seen heights.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO BY COLBY WARE<\/p>\n
FEBRUARY<\/b>
\nBrenda Villa, who is from the City of Commerce, a suburb of Los Angeles, has played for the U.S. women's Olympic water polo team at Sydney, Athens and Beijing. Team USA won the silver medal in China, marking the third straight time it had medaled\u2014a feat unequaled by any other women's water polo team.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO BY TONY DUFFY<\/p>\n
MARCH<\/b>
\nOlympian Dave Walters will help lead the way for Texas as the Longhorns try to win their 10th men's NCAA national swimming championship later this month at Texas A&M University. Walters is the defending NCAA champion in the 200 yard freestyle and earlier this year established an American record in the event, going 1:31.83.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS<\/p>\n
APRIL<\/b>
\nJapan's Keijiro Nakamura led all of the male candidates for Swimming World Magazine's 2008 World Masters Swimmers of the Year award. At 85, Nakamura trains an average of 1,000 meters a day, five times a week. Last year, he set 10 Masters world records in the men's 85-89 division as well as Japanese Masters marks in all 21 of his races.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO PROVIDED BY SWIMMING MAGAZINE TOKYO<\/p>\n
MAY<\/b>
\nAlthough the University of Arizona was heavily favored heading into this year's women's NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships, it was another Pacific 10 Conference school that finished first: the University of California at Berkeley-coached by Teri McKeever-which won its first-ever team title.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO BY KELLEY COX, GOLDENBEARSPHOTO.COM<\/p>\n
JUNE<\/b>
\nThere's always a tendency in sports to look ahead, to search for that next generation of standouts who will carry the torch forward and keep it burning brightly. Caitlin Leverenz, the 2007 Pan Am Games gold medalist in the 200 breast and one of the premier medley swimmers in the U.S., could very well be one of America's future stars.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO BY PETER H. BICK<\/p>\n
JULY<\/b>
\nOne of a number of rising stars on the American sprint scene, Cal's Nathan Adrian appears ready to take the next step in his career that could catapult him among the world's best sprinters. He won an Olympic gold medal at Beijing last summer (400 free relay prelims) and set American records in the 50 and 100 yard free at NCAAs.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO BY KELLEY COX, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY<\/p>\n
AUGUST<\/b>
\nMinot High School's Dagny Knutson was named Swimming World Magazine's female High School Swimmer of the Year. At the North Dakota High School Championships last season, Knutson set national public school records in the 100, 200 and 500 yard freestyles. Her 100 and 200 times were also the fastest ever by a female high school swimmer.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO BY PETER H. BICK<\/p>\n
SEPTEMBER<\/b>
\nWith world records in the 200 and 400 meter free at the World Championships in Rome, Germany's Paul Biedermann erased the names of two swimming greats from the record books\u2014Michael Phelps in the 200 (from 1:42.96 to 1:42.00) and Ian Thorpe in the 400 (from 3:40.08 to 3:40.07). Biedermann actually beat Phelps head-to-head, winning by 1.22 seconds.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO BY WOLFGANG RATTAY, REUTERS<\/p>\n
OCTOBER<\/b>
\nFourteen-year-old Missy Franklin of the Colorado Stars could very well be one of the leaders of the next generation of elite swimmers for the United States. At the Speedo Junior National Championships, Aug. 10-14, in Federal Way, Wash., Franklin set five individual meet records (50-100-200 meter free, 200 back and 200 IM) and finished with six gold medals.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO BY PETER H. BICK<\/p>\n
NOVEMBER<\/b>
\nKane Radford was the first to the finish line of the 10th Annual RCP Tiburon Mile, Sept. 13. The New Zealander, who won a cash prize of $10,000, finished the 1.2-mile swim across San Francisco Bay in a time of 22 minutes, 13.2 seconds\u2014a comfortable five seconds ahead of last year's top finisher, Trent Grimsey.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO BY ELLIOT KARLAN<\/p>\n
DECEMBER<\/b>
\nItaly's Federica Pellegrini, Swimming World's Female World Swimmer of the Year, dazzled her home nation at the World Champs in Rome. Not only did she become the first woman in history to crack the four-minute barrier in the 400 meter free (3:59.15), but she also clocked an almost unfathomable WR time of 1:52.98 in the 200.<\/p>\n
COVER PHOTO BY LASZLO BALOGH, REUTERS<\/p>\n