International Swimming Hall of Fame Announces 13-Member Class of 2020

The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) has announced 13 honorees as its Class of 2020. The athletes represent 7 countries and 4 aquatic disciplines, and includes 5 swimmers, 2 coaches, 1 diver, 1 water polo player, 1 synchronized swimmer, 1 open water swimmer, and 2 inducted in the “contributors” category.

• Brendan Hansen (USA), Honor Swimmer – Hansen won 6 Olympic medals from 2004-2012, including 3-straight 400 medley relay golds. He is also a 10-time World Champion (6 long course, 4 short course)
• Michael Klim (AUS), Honor Swimmer – Klim is a 6-time Olympic medalist, including 2 golds in the 400 free and 800 free relays in front of a home crowd in Sydney in 2000. He also won 2 silvers that year: individually in the 100 fly and another as part of Australia’s 400 medley relay. Born in Poland, he swam at 3 Olympic Games.
• Jon Sieben (AUS), Honor Swimmer – 2-time Olympic gold medalist, including the 200 fly in 1984 at the Eastern Bloc-boycotted Olympics in Los Angeles. He dropped 4 seconds in that race to win gold, break the World Record (by .01 seconds), and upset the previous World Record holder and Hall of Famer Michael Gross.
• Rebecca Soni (USA), Honor Swimmer – a 6-time Olympic medalist and 3-time Olympic gold medalist, including back-to-back wins in the 200 breaststroke in 2008 and 2012, and back-to-back silvers in the 100 breaststroke in the same years. Also a 7-time World Champion (4 long course, 3 short course) In her career, she had 8 World Record setting swims: 6 individually, and 2 as a member of medley relays.
• Daichi Suzuki (JPN), Honor Swimmer – The 1988 Olympic gold medalist in the 100 meter backstroke and later an administrator in Japan’s national sports agency. He was a pioneer of the underwater dolphin kick, believed to be the first man to swim 25 meters completely underwater at the 1984 Olympic Games when he was 17-years old. In a battle of the underwaters with another pioneer and Hall of Famer David Berkoff, Suzuki came out on top in the final and retired immediately after those Games.
• Matthew Mitcham (AUS), Honor Diver – In 1988, Mitcham became the first Australian male to win an Olympic gold medal in diving since 1924 when he won the 10 meter platform event. He also won 7 Commonwealth Games medals, including a 10-meter platform synchro gold in 2014. 
• Elvira Khasyanova (RUS), Honored Synchronized (Artistic) Swimmer – a legend among legends in the Russian synchro program, she spent 13 years on the Russian National Team from 1999 through 2012 and was part of 3-straight Olympic gold medals in the team competition. She is also a 9-time World Champion and 5-time European Champion.
• Mirko Vicevic (YUG), Honor Water Polo Player – won gold with the Yugoslvaia team at the 1988 Olympic Games. He is the 4th player from that team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, in addition to their coach Ratko Rudic, who was inducted in 2007. He was also on World Championship winning teams in 1986 and 1991, FINA World Cup winning teams in 1990 and 1991, and won the LEN Trophy in 2002, 2003, and 2006 as part of the club team Brixia. In 1988, he was named Montenegro’s Best Sportsman.
• Marilyn Bell (CAN), Honor Open Water Swimmer – First person to ever swim across Lake Ontario in 1954.
• David Marsh (USA), Honor Coach – Currently the coach of the Team Elite professional training group, Marsh is one of the most accomplished collegiate coaches ever. As the head coach at Auburn, he led the men’s team to 7 NCAA titles and the women’s team to 5 NCAA titles. As the CEO & Director of Coaching for SwimMAC Carolina, the club won 3 straight USA Swimming Club Excellence titles, and he was named the head women’s coach of the 2016 U.S. Olympic swimming team.
• Ursula Carlile (AUS), Honor Coach – Partnered with husband and Hall of Famer Forbes Carlile to produce notable Olympians like Shane Gould, Karen Moras, Gail Neall, John Davies, Terry Gathercole, John Ryan, and Ian O’Brien in the post-World War 2 Australia.
• Bob Duenkel (USA), Honor Contributor – the former Historian and employee of the International Swimming Hall of Fame who died earlier this year at 74-years old
• Peter Hurzeler (SUI), Honor Contributor – Hurzeler is the master timekeeper at Omega Timing, where he has worked 18 editions of the Olympic Games (summer and winter).

The date and location of the 2020 Hall of Fame induction ceremony have not yet been announced.