Swimming World Swimmers of the Year
Encyclopedia
Swimming World magazine
Swimming World Magazine is an American-based monthly swimming magazine, that was first published in a magazine format as Junior Swimmer in January of 1960...
, are a set of awards which are often regarded as being the most prestigious in the sport of swimming. There are seven categories: World Swimmer, American Swimmer, European Swimmer, Pacific Rim Swimmer, World Disabled Swimmer, African Swimmer, and Open Water Swimmer of year. An award for male and female is made for each category.
The award was inaugurated in 1964, when Swimming World named Don Schollander
Don Schollander
Donald Arthur Schollander is a former Olympic swimmer for the United States. He won total of five gold medals and one silver medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics...
as its World Swimmer of the Year. Two years later, a female category was added, and the awards continued in this format until 1980. The winners were mostly American until the rise of East Germany's women in the 1970s, and 1980 saw the creation of subcategories for American and European swimmers. Following the end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, Germany declined following the end of the East's systematic state-sponsored doping program, while Australia's swimming team enjoyed a revival. In 1994, Australian swimmers won both awards for World Swimmer of the Year for the first time, and in 1995, a subcategory was inaugurated for Pacific Rim swimmers. A subcategory for disabled swimmers was introduced in 2003, and in the following year, an African award was launched after South Africa became the first country from the continent to win an Olympic relay. In 2005, open water swimming was added to the Olympic program and another category was duly added.
American swimmers have been the most successful in winning awards, with 43 titles, more than three times that of Australia (13). Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...
of the United States has won the global award six times, followed by Ian Thorpe
Ian Thorpe
Ian James Thorpe OAM , nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most...
of Australia with four. Regionally, German, Hungarian and Dutch swimmers have had the most success in Europe, while Australians have won more than three quarters of the Pacific awards.
World Swimmers of the Year
Don Schollander
Donald Arthur Schollander is a former Olympic swimmer for the United States. He won total of five gold medals and one silver medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics...
as its World Swimmer of the Year. Two years later, a female category was added. The winners were always American until 1970, and the it was not until 1979 that a non-American male won the award. However, from 1973 until 1989, the rise of East Germany's women saw them win a majority of the awards. Following the end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, Germany declined following the end of the East's systematic state-sponsored doping program, while Australia's swimming team enjoyed a revival in the late 1990s, winning nine awards since 1997, the most by any country in that period.
United States swimmers have won the title 43 times, followed by Australia (13 times) and East Germany (11 times). This ratio is approximately proportional to the amount of gold medals won by the respective nations at the Olympics. East Germany was particularly successful in the 1970s and 1980s, when they dominated the women's events, aided by systematic state-sponsored doping.
With his win in 2009, Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...
(USA) now holds the overall record with six titles. He won in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. He is also only person to win the award four straight times. Debbie Meyer
Debbie Meyer
Deborah Elizabeth Meyer is a former American swimmer who won the 200, 400, and 800 m swimming events at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City...
s of the US, won from 1967–69. Ian Thorpe
Ian Thorpe
Ian James Thorpe OAM , nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most...
(AUS) is the second most prolific winner in the category as he was honored four times, in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002.
Four female swimmers have won three awards: Debbie Meyer
Debbie Meyer
Deborah Elizabeth Meyer is a former American swimmer who won the 200, 400, and 800 m swimming events at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City...
(USA) in 1967, 1968 and 1969, Krisztina Egerszegi
Krisztina Egerszegi
Krisztina Egerszegi is a Hungarian former world record holding swimmer and one of the greatest Hungarian Olympic champions of the modern era...
(HUN) in 1991, 1992 and 1995, Janet Evans
Janet Evans
Janet Beth Evans is a American competitive swimmer who specializes in distance freestyle. She recently announced her comeback to the sport with intentions to swim in the 2012 Olympic Trials.-Biography:...
(USA) in 1987, 1989 and 1990, and Kristin Otto
Kristin Otto
Kristin Otto is a German Olympic swimming champion. She is most famous for being the first woman to win six gold medals, doing so at the 1988 Seoul Olympic games...
(GDR) in 1984, 1986 and 1988. Franziska van Almsick
Franziska van Almsick
Franziska van Almsick is a German swimmer. She won her first Olympic medals in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic Games aged fourteen....
is the youngest female to have won the award, having turned 15 on April 5 in the year of her first award. Thorpe is the youngest male recipient, having turned 16 on October 13 in the year of his first award.
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American Swimmers of the Year
- See also: Golden Goggle AwardsGolden Goggle AwardsThe Golden Goggle Awards, presented by the USA Swimming Foundation, is an awards ceremony which honours swimmers' achievements over the last year...
(U.S.)
Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...
has been named American Swimmer of the Year on eight occasions; his streak of 2001 to 2008 was interrupted only by Aaron Peirsol
Aaron Peirsol
Aaron Wells Peirsol is a former American swimmer who specialized in the backstroke. He is a three-time Olympian and seven-time Olympic medalist . As part of the American team, he holds the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay...
in 2005. Janet Evans
Janet Evans
Janet Beth Evans is a American competitive swimmer who specializes in distance freestyle. She recently announced her comeback to the sport with intentions to swim in the 2012 Olympic Trials.-Biography:...
is the most decorated female swimmer, with five awards, all of them consecutively, from 1987 to 1991. Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Anne Caulkins Stockwell, OAM, is a former American college and international swimmer, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and a former world record-holder....
won four times in the early-1980s, while Natalie Coughlin
Natalie Coughlin
Natalie Anne Coughlin is an American swimmer and eleven-time Olympic medallist.At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Coughlin became the first American female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympics and the first woman ever to win a 100 m backstroke gold in two consecutive...
, Katie Hoff
Katie Hoff
Kathryn "Katie" Elise Hoff is an American swimmer. Hoff is strongest in the 200 and 400 meter individual medley, though she is a very capable swimmer in many events, ranging from the four 200 meter events to the 800 meter freestyle...
and Jenny Thompson
Jenny Thompson
Jennifer Beth Thompson is an American former competitive swimmer, and one of the most decorated Olympians in history, winning twelve medals, including eight gold medals , in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics.Thompson, a Massachusetts native who calls Dover, New Hampshire her...
all won thrice. On the men’s side, Mike Barrowman
Mike Barrowman
Michael Ray Barrowman is an American former swimmer, one of the pioneers of the "Wave-Style" Breaststroke technique. Prior to attending University of Michigan, he trained with Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club and Curl-Burke Swim Club in Maryland.He placed 4th in the 1988 Summer Olympics in the...
and Lenny Krayzelburg
Lenny Krayzelburg
Lenny Krayzelburg is an American backstroke swimmer, and Olympic gold medalist and former world record holder. He swam in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. He won a total of 4 Olympic gold medals....
won the award four consecutive times, while Matt Biondi
Matt Biondi
Matthew Nicholas Biondi is a three-time U.S. Olympic swimmer in the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Summer Olympics, winning a total of 11 medals...
captured three awards.
European Swimmers of the Year
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Kristin Otto
Kristin Otto is a German Olympic swimming champion. She is most famous for being the first woman to win six gold medals, doing so at the 1988 Seoul Olympic games...
winning three times, before the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
and communism fell. With the end of the state-sponsored doping program, the (East) German stranglehold on women's swimming was broken. In the two decades since reunification, the female award was won by Germans four times, three by Franziska van Almsick
Franziska van Almsick
Franziska van Almsick is a German swimmer. She won her first Olympic medals in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic Games aged fourteen....
. During the 1980s, Michael Groß of West Germany, nicknamed The Albatross in reference to his vast wingspan, dominated European swimming, winning five consecutive awards from 1982 to 1986.
Hungary has won the award 13 times, mainly on the back of its strength in medley swimming
Medley swimming
Medley is a combination of four different swimming styles into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley or by four swimmers as a medley relay...
. Breaststrokers Ágnes Kovács
Ágnes Kovács
Ágnes Kovács is a former Hungarian swimmer. She won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney in 200 m breaststroke....
and Károly Güttler
Károly Güttler
Károly Güttler is a former breaststroker from Hungary, who represented his native country at four consecutive Olympics, beginning with the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and ending with the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia...
, and backstroker Sándor Wladár
Sándor Wladár
Sándor Wladár is a Hungarian retired male swimmer. He won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow in 200 m backstroke.Wladár was a swimmer of Központi Sportiskola , Újpesti Dózsa...
were the only Hungarian winners who were not champion medley swimmers. Krisztina Egerszegi
Krisztina Egerszegi
Krisztina Egerszegi is a Hungarian former world record holding swimmer and one of the greatest Hungarian Olympic champions of the modern era...
won four awards, the most by a female swimmer, while Tamás Darnyi
Tamás Darnyi
Tamás Darnyi is a Hungarian retired male swimmer. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest medley swimmers in history. He won four gold medals at two Olympic Games and was unbeaten in the individual medley events from 1985 until his retirement in 1993...
claimed three.
The Netherlands have won seven awards, through the efforts of Inge de Bruijn
Inge de Bruijn
Inge de Bruijn is a Dutch former swimmer. She was a four-time Olympic champion and a former world record holder.-Biography:De Bruijn was born in Barendrecht, South Holland, and tried several sports before settling with swimming....
(3) and Pieter van den Hoogenband
Pieter van den Hoogenband
Pieter Cornelis Ruud Martijn van den Hoogenband is a Dutch former swimmer and a triple Olympic champion.-Personal life:...
(4), who led the sprinting world for women and men at the turn of the century. Russian or Soviet swimmers have won seven awards, all of them male.
| Year | Female Winner | Nationality | Male Winner | Nationality |
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| 1980 | ||||
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Pacific Rim Swimmers of the Year
Kieren Perkins
Kieren John Perkins OAM , is a former Australian professional swimmer. One of the world's best-ever long-distance swimmers, he won two Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996 in the 1500-metre freestyle, and a silver medal in 2000....
and Samantha Riley
Samantha Riley
Samantha Linette Riley is an Australian breaststroke swimmer of Aboriginal descent of the 1990s who competed for Australia in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, winning three medals...
—became the first two Pacific Rim swimmers to be named as World Swimmer of the Year. It has subsequently been dominated by Australian swimmers, who have won 24 of the 32 awards given. Ian Thorpe
Ian Thorpe
Ian James Thorpe OAM , nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most...
won six awards (five consecutively) and Susie O'Neill has won four (three consecutively). Australia’s success has been built on female butterfliers (O’Neill and Petria Thomas
Petria Thomas
Petria Ann Thomas OAM is an Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medallist and a winner of 15 national titles. She was born in Lismore, New South Wales and grew up in the nearby town of Mullumbimby....
), female breaststrokers (Riley and Leisel Jones
Leisel Jones
Leisel Marie Jones OAM is an Australian Olympic gold medalist swimmer. A participant in the 2000 Summer Olympics – at just 15 years old – and 2004 Summer Olympics, she was part of gold medal winning Australian team in the women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay at the Athens Games in 2004 and a gold...
), and male freestylers (Thorpe, Grant Hackett
Grant Hackett
Grant Hackett OAM is an Australian former swimmer most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him to be regarded as one of the greatest distance swimmers in history...
and Michael Klim
Michael Klim
Michael Klim OAM is a Polish-born Australian swimmer. He was born in Gdynia. He was educated at the University High School, Melbourne and Wesley College, Melbourne where he is currently employed as the College's elite Head Coach of swimming...
). Kosuke Kitajima
Kosuke Kitajima
is a Japanese multiple Olympic gold medalist breaststroke swimmer. He won gold medals for the men's 100 m and 200 m breaststroke at both the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympics.-Major achievements:...
(Japan) is the only non-Australian swimmer to have won the award more than once (in 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2010).
| Year | Female Winner | Nationality | Male Winner | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | ||||
| 1996 | ||||
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African Swimmers of the Year
South Africa at the 2004 Summer Olympics
South Africa competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. South Africa athletes are represented by the National Olympic Committee of South Africa ....
won the men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the Olympics
Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place in the Olympic Aquatic Centre with the athletes competing in 32 events. There was a total of 937 participants from 152 countries competing.-Medal table:-Men's events:...
. Although Joan Harrison
Joan Harrison (swimmer)
Joan Harrison is a South African swimmer and Olympic champion. She competed at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, where she won the gold medal in the women's 100 m backstroke event.-Awards:...
(1952
Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics
At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, a total number of eleven swimming events were contested, six for men and five for women. The events were held at the Swimming Stadium. There was a total of 319 participants from 48 countries competing.-Medal table:...
) and Penny Heyns (1996
Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics
The swimming competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics was held at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States, which was built for the Games...
) had won individual gold medals for South Africa, the 2004 victory was the first time that an African relay team won a medal, indicating their increasing depth. In the same Olympics, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Zimbabwe competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Swimmer Kirsty Coventry won three medals. Zimbabwe had only ever won one Olympic medal before .-Gold:...
's Kirsty Coventry
Kirsty Coventry
Kirsty Leigh Coventry is a Zimbabwean swimmer and world record holder. She attended and swam competitively for Auburn University in Alabama, in the United States...
's won three medals, including one gold, making her the first African swimmer outside of South Africa to stand on the podium.Results classification: "By individual" → Competition gender: Select all → Medal: Select all → Continents and nations: "Africa" → Sports and events: "Swimming" → Search ↵ Coventry has won the female award five times. South African sprinter Roland Schoeman won four consecutive male awards from 2004 to 2007, and in total South African swimmers have claimed eight awards. In 2008, Ous Mellouli of Tunisia broke the South African and Zimbabwean duopoly after becoming the first African male to win an individual Olympic gold medal.
| Year | Female Winner | Nationality | Male Winner | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | ||||
| 2005 | ||||
| 2006 | ||||
| 2007 | ||||
| 2008 | ||||
| 2009 | |
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| 2010 | ||||
| 2011 |
Open Water Swimmers of the Year
.jpg)
The Open Water award was introduced in 2005, when it was announced that an open water swimming
Open water swimming
Open water swimming takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, bays, lakes, rivers, canals, and reservoirs.The beginning of the modern age of open water swimming is sometimes taken to be May 3, 1810, when Lord Byron swam several miles to cross the Hellespont from Europe to Asia.In...
event would be included in the Olympics for the first time: the 10 km events at the 2008 Olympics
Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held over a thirteen day period from August 9 to August 21, with the conventional events ending on August 17 and the new marathon 10 km events being held on August 20 and 21...
. The award has been won by a Russian swimmer four times, while German and Dutch swimmers have won three times. Russia’s Larisa Ilchenko
Larisa Ilchenko
Larisa Dmitriyevna Ilchenko is a Russian long distance swimmer. She had won eight World Championships and the 2008 Olympics at age 19....
won the award for three years in a row (2006–2008); Thomas Lurz
Thomas Lurz
Thomas Lurz is a German swimmer who specializes is long-distance freestyle swimming, especially open water swimming...
of Germany is the only other multiple winner, triumphing in 2005, 2006, and 2009.
| Year | Female Winner | Nationality | Male Winner | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | |
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| 2006 | ||||
| 2007 | ||||
| 2008 | ||||
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| 2010 |
World Disabled Swimmers of the Year
This award was created in 2003, and then was not awarded in 2004. American swimmers have won the award four times. Canadian, Brazilian, and Australian swimmers have won the award twice.| Year | Female Winner | Nationality | Male Winner | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | ||||
| 2004 | ||||
| 2005 | ||||
| 2006 | ||||
| 2007 | ||||
| 2008 | ||||
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| 2010 |