By Nadine Day and Julia Galan
Nadine Day
Former U.S. Masters Swimming president Nadine Day had the opportunity to travel to Kazan, Russia this summer, where she participated in the 16th FINA Masters World Championships from August 8-16. The Indy Aquatic Masters swimmer, who was recently awarded the USMS Staff Appreciation Award when her term as president ended in early October, has been part of the sport since she was 8 years old. As a competitive swimmer growing up in Hawaii, Nadine became proficient in both pool-based and open water events. Some of her proudest accomplishments include winning Junior Nationals in three events as an age grouper, participating in Olympic Trials in 1988 and winning the overall female category in the Waikiki Roughwater Swim four years in a row from 1985-1988.
Nadine first became involved with U.S. Masters Swimming in 2001 and was elected president in 2011. Her two terms in this position have taken her on many swimming-related adventures, with Kazan 2015 being one of the highlights. Below is Nadine’s recap of the Masters World Championships. – JG
NADINE DAY – An American Perspective on 16th FINA World Masters Championships
I had the pleasure of attending the 16th FINA World Masters Championships from August 5-16, 2015. This year’s championships represented the first time in history that the Masters competitions were held concurrently with the Elite competitions. What a thrill it was to be able to participate in my own swimming events and also get the opportunity to watch the elite athletes in action!
With a total of 2,639 athletes from 71 countries participating in the Masters Championships, the competition was slightly smaller than in the two previous events, but the Kazan 2015 organizing committee made up for that smaller size by putting on a friendly, highly organized event that became the experience of a lifetime. This was also the first championships that hosted formal awards ceremonies to recognize the top three finishers in every event and every age group, which was one of the highlights of the event. A total of 31 world records and 75 championship records were broken during the swimming portion of the competition, making it a very fast meet.
Steve Mullins
My favorite part of the entire experience was making new friends from around the world and seeing friends from previous World Championships. Some swimmers have made the Worlds a tradition. For example, 83-year-old Illinois Masters swimmer Steve Mullins has attended every FINA Masters World Championships since Tokyo in 1986. He is the only USA athlete to attend all of the World Championship events and the only athlete to medal in every single one. Steve has been swimming Masters since 1980 after taking 24 years off from the sport and hasn’t looked back since.
In total, Team USA took home 19 gold medals, 19 silver medals and 13 bronze medals. I was thrilled to medal in 4 events for the 45-49 age group, including the 200 and 400 IM, 200 free, and 100 fly. Nashville Masters and Auburn alum Jeff Ockerman placed in the 60-64 age group for the 100 and 200 backstroke. Fellow Auburn alum and Atlanta-based swimmer John Fields medaled for the 55-59 age group in the 100 free and 50 fly. University of San Francisco alum Jack Fleming achieved a heavy medal count for the 80-84 age group in the 50, 100 and 200 breast and 100 fly. Crimson Tide Masters Ed Reed, Jr placed in the 70-74 age group for the 200 and 400 IM, the 200 breast, and the 400 free. Puget Sound Masters swimmer Dan Phillips medaled in the 50-54 age group for the 400 IM, while Great Bay Masters athlete Atie Caron medaled in the same event for the 70-74 age group. Virginia Masters swimmer Susan Skiff, who is actually living and teaching in Qatar but still swimming and representing her team, medaled in the 100 fly for the 60-64 age group.
Our Team USA contingent also included a variety of swimmers from across the country, such Steve Mullins (Evanston Masters), Nathan Stooke and Kirsty Stooke (St Louis Masters), Cathy Neville (San Diego Masters), Sara Holman, Mary Holman and Tullio Ferri via Italy (Colorado Masters), Frank Warner, Sarah Welch and Walt Reed(Puget Sound Masters), Kelly Karren (Conejo Valley Multisport Masters), Aung Sann Oo, Marc Valle, Dan Vargus, and Seth Grady (Arizona Masters), Matt Mitchell (Wyoming Masters), Mick Barry (Iowa Masters), Adrian Stroie (Conneticut Masters), Adam Barley (Rice Masters), Konstantin Petrov (Match Point NYC Masters), Ira Rimerman (Excel Masters), Gary Ryan (Hawaii Masters), and Indy Aquatics Masters Mel Goldstein.
But the Kazan World Championships weren’t only about swimming. Synchronized swimming, open water swimming, diving and water polo all formed part of the repertoire at this incredible event. Synchronized swimming, which kicked off the championships, had two American athletes represented. Nancy Weiman of Washington, D.C. won two gold medals in the 60-64 age group for the solo tech and solo free events, and added to her 24-medal strong collection over nine world championships. Lori Beth Crawford of the Unsynchables placed fourth in the 30-39 age group for the solo tech and solo free events.
Mary and Sara Holman
The 3K open water event took place in the Kazan River, and was held in the same venue as the elite competition. I was thrilled to be able to participate in this fun event as well, placing 6th in the 45-49 age group. We had a total of 8 USA swimmers competing, taking home a gold, silver and bronze. Susan Skiff won the gold in the 60-64 age group by a total of 15 seconds. The silver and bronze came from the Colorado Masters’ Holman sisters, with Sara placing second and Mary third in the 25-29 age group. St Louis Masters’ Nathan Stooke took 6th place in the 35-39 age group, Niagara District Masters’ Carla Suero placed 11th in the 45-49 division, Puget Sound Masters Dan Phillips placed 4th in the 50-54 age group and San Diego Swim Masters’ Cathy Neville placed 7th in the 55-59 age group.
Over by the diving platforms, six divers from the United States traveled to Kazan. Jeff Stabile of Hawaii, took gold in the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform in the men’s 45-49 category diving events. He attributed his world titles to the difficulty of his dives. In the 85-89 year age group, 85-year-young Ibo De Belausteguigoitia took home the gold in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard, as well as platform. Ibo has been a diver for over 75 years and in 1948 became one of the first six women from Mexico to compete in the Olympic Games.
Luis Bahamon
71-year-old Jim Everroad from Indiana captured the silver medals on the 1-meter and platform events in the men’s 70-74 age group. This 2011 inductee to the National Fitness Hall of Fame is also a fitness enthusiast and bestselling author.William Blevins from New Jersey finished second on both the men’s 1-meter and 3-meter springboard in the 30-34 age group. William dove for Grinnell College from 2000-2004, and became the first diver to win eight Midwest Conference championships. He was inducted to the Grinnell Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014 and currently coaches at Rider University.
Maressa Voss of California, who trains with Stanford Diving, finished fourth on 1-meter and 3-meter springboard in the 25-29 age group. And finally, Luis Bahamon of California finished 3rd in the platform and fourth on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard in the men’s 50-54 age group.
While the USA had no water polo teams playing in the Masters World Championships, we did have Iowa’s Mick Barry playing for Slovakia! In fact, Mick was awarded most valuable player by the Slovakian team. There was excitement in the pool on the 15th of August when Mick was scheduled to swim the 200 fly. He was considered a medal contender, but the timeline was running an hour behind schedule and Mick had to be at the Olymp Swimming Pool by 1:30 pm for the GOLD medal water polo match. Mick was on the blocks for the 200 fly at 1:18 pm, won the SILVER medal and promptly ran out of the pool to the water polo venue for a 3:00 pm match. The Slovakian team went on to win the GOLD medal in the 65+ Age group.
While medals and performances are a wonderful part of any competition, it is having the experience of a lifetime that has the greatest impact on all of the athletes. For me, the best part of the entire event was meeting swimmers from all over the world that have the same passion for swimming as I do. Our USMS mission is to promote health, wellness, fitness and competition for adults through swimming, and the World Championships play a very important role in fulfilling this ambition.
USMS is the leader in Masters Swimming and it is time for us to step up and assist other Federations to encourage more adults to swim. Let’s start planning for Budapest in July 2017 where, again, the FINA World Championships will have both the Elite and Masters competitions.
Go USA!
ABOUT JULIA GALAN
Julia Galan headshot, PhotoJulia Galan is a lifelong competitive swimmer and a USA Swimming and U.S. Masters Swimming coach. Julia’s passion for the sport, for coaching and for writing led to the creation of Swimspire, a coaching and swimming inspiration source geared towards athletes of all levels and goals.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us! Going to miss you as USMS President, but see you on the pool deck! – Retta