{"id":638185,"date":"2026-03-06T17:59:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=638185"},"modified":"2026-03-07T06:32:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T13:32:58","slug":"passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler, Dies at 72"},"content":{"rendered":"

Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler, Dies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ray Benecki,<\/strong> who founded FISH Swim Club in Northern Virginia in the early 1990s, died on Tuesday. The club announced his passing in a statement, citing the cause as a battle with cancer.<\/p>\n

Benecki founded FISH in McLean, Virginia in 1991, the club growing from a summer league team known as the Franklin Glen Gators to more than 350 members. A member of Potomac Valley Swimming, FISH earned the USA Swimming Gold Medal Club Award in 2009 in addition to four Silver Medal Awards (most recently in 2021) and six bronze medals.<\/p>\n

Benecki coached until retiring in 2025, though he remained president of the team\u2019s board.<\/p>\n

The club\u2019s most illustrious alumna<\/a> is Kate Ziegler,<\/strong> accounting for much of the team\u2019s accolades of four world records, nine American marks, five World Champions and two Olympic appearances. Ziegler represented the U.S. at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, Benecki serving on the coaching staff in Beijing. She won four gold medals among six total at the World Championships in her career. Benecki was an assistant coach for the women\u2019s team at Worlds in 2007.<\/p>\n

Maddie Donohoe, JT Ewing, Emma Redman<\/strong> and Isabelle Rongione<\/strong> are among more recent graduates to go on to major college careers.<\/p>\n

From the letter written<\/a> by FISH CEO Monika Paris<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Ray retired from coaching in May of last year after decades of dedication to our team, but his influence on this community will remain. He built and shaped this program into something meaningful. Over the years, he coached swimmers at every level\u2014from young athletes at their first Mini Champs to those who competed on the Olympic stage.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ray\u2019s legacy was about more than achievements or accolades. He believed in hard work, discipline, loyalty, and integrity. He encouraged athletes to discover their potential\u2014not just in the water, but as teammates and as individuals. The culture he created continues to influence our community and the character of our swimmers.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Benecki was an ASCA Level V coach. He was an assistant coach on the open water team at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships and led the 2007 National Distance Camp. A Golden Goggles Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2007, he has presented seminars in distance swimming for both USA Swimming and ASCA conferences.<\/p>\n

Benecki swam collegiately at Cornell and the University of Delaware in the 1970s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler, Dies Ray Benecki, who founded FISH Swim Club in Northern Virginia in the early 1990s, died on Tuesday. The club<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8367,"featured_media":44865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62061,7],"tags":[39869,137505,63976,56893],"class_list":["post-638185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obituaries","category-usa","tag-fish","tag-katie-ziegler","tag-obituaries","tag-ray-benecki"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nPassages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ray Benecki, who founded FISH Swim Club in Northern Virginia in 1991, died on Tuesday. The club announced his passing in a statement\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler, Dies at 72\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ray Benecki, who founded FISH Swim Club in Northern Virginia in 1991, died on Tuesday. The club announced his passing in a statement\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-07T00:59:36+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-07T13:32:58+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BeneckiR.-08-8007.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2381\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"918\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew De George - Senior Writer\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sportsdoctormd\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matthew De George - Senior Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matthew De George - Senior Writer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/aff20a2913cc03a514d0343a4c8788f3\"},\"headline\":\"Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler, Dies at 72\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-07T00:59:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-07T13:32:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/\"},\"wordCount\":405,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BeneckiR.-08-8007.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Fish\",\"Katie Ziegler\",\"obituaries\",\"Ray Benecki\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Obituaries\",\"USA\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/\",\"name\":\"Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BeneckiR.-08-8007.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-07T00:59:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-07T13:32:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"Ray Benecki, who founded FISH Swim Club in Northern Virginia in 1991, died on Tuesday. The club announced his passing in a statement\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BeneckiR.-08-8007.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BeneckiR.-08-8007.jpg\",\"width\":2381,\"height\":918,\"caption\":\"Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler, Dies at 72\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"description\":\"The Global Leader in Aquatic News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"width\":1799,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Swimming World\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/aff20a2913cc03a514d0343a4c8788f3\",\"name\":\"Matthew De George - Senior Writer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cfca9cef277cfa1a9f4150330ba69a2?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cfca9cef277cfa1a9f4150330ba69a2?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Matthew De George - Senior Writer\"},\"description\":\"Matthew De George is the Americas Correspondent for Swimming World Magazine. He's the author of two books on swimming, Duels in the Pool and Pooling Talent. He's also the assistant sports editor for the Delaware County Daily Times in Pennsylvania, where he covers high school and college sports as well as the Philadelphia Union. His work has also appeared in The Guardian and The Athletic.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.swimmingworld.com\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/sportsdoctormd\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/mattdg\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler","description":"Ray Benecki, who founded FISH Swim Club in Northern Virginia in 1991, died on Tuesday. The club announced his passing in a statement","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler, Dies at 72","og_description":"Ray Benecki, who founded FISH Swim Club in Northern Virginia in 1991, died on Tuesday. The club announced his passing in a statement","og_url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/","og_site_name":"Swimming World","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","article_published_time":"2026-03-07T00:59:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-07T13:32:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2381,"height":918,"url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BeneckiR.-08-8007.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Matthew De George - Senior Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sportsdoctormd","twitter_site":"@swimmingworld","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matthew De George - Senior Writer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/"},"author":{"name":"Matthew De George - Senior Writer","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/aff20a2913cc03a514d0343a4c8788f3"},"headline":"Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler, Dies at 72","datePublished":"2026-03-07T00:59:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-07T13:32:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/"},"wordCount":405,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BeneckiR.-08-8007.jpg","keywords":["Fish","Katie Ziegler","obituaries","Ray Benecki"],"articleSection":["Obituaries","USA"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/","name":"Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BeneckiR.-08-8007.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-07T00:59:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-07T13:32:58+00:00","description":"Ray Benecki, who founded FISH Swim Club in Northern Virginia in 1991, died on Tuesday. The club announced his passing in a statement","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BeneckiR.-08-8007.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BeneckiR.-08-8007.jpg","width":2381,"height":918,"caption":"Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-ray-benecki-fish-founder-and-coach-of-kate-ziegler-dies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Passages: Ray Benecki, FISH Founder and Coach of Kate Ziegler, Dies at 72"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","name":"Swimming World","description":"The Global Leader in Aquatic News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Swimming World","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","width":1799,"height":900,"caption":"Swimming World"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld","https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/aff20a2913cc03a514d0343a4c8788f3","name":"Matthew De George - Senior Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cfca9cef277cfa1a9f4150330ba69a2?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cfca9cef277cfa1a9f4150330ba69a2?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","caption":"Matthew De George - Senior Writer"},"description":"Matthew De George is the Americas Correspondent for Swimming World Magazine. He's the author of two books on swimming, Duels in the Pool and Pooling Talent. He's also the assistant sports editor for the Delaware County Daily Times in Pennsylvania, where he covers high school and college sports as well as the Philadelphia Union. His work has also appeared in The Guardian and The Athletic.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.swimmingworld.com","https:\/\/x.com\/sportsdoctormd"],"url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/mattdg\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick","source_text":"","source_url":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BeneckiR.-08-8007.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p56Jja-2G1j","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638185"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":638199,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638185\/revisions\/638199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}