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The Global Open Water Swimming Conference is a conference on the sport of open water swimming, marathon swimming and swimming during triathlons and multi-sport endurance events. The conference is devoted to providing information about the latest trends, race tactics, training techniques, equipment, psychological preparation, race organization and safety practices used in the sports of open water swimming, marathon swimming and triathlons.
Speakers at the conference include English Channel world record holders, renowned coaches, world open water swimming champions, professional marathon swimmers, renowned coaches, race directors, officials and administrators from the Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
Those who give presentations include Greta Andersen, Shelley Taylor-Smith, Dan Empfield, Sid Cassidy and Ram Barkai. Race directors from the Great Swim in Great Britain, Cadiz Freedom Swim in South Africa, Flowers Sea Swim in the Cayman Islands, Waikiki Roughwater Swim in Hawaii, Clean Half Extreme Swim in Hong Kong and Catalina Channel Swimming Federation and swimmers who have successfully swum the English Channel, Catalina Channel, Cook Strait, Tsugaru Strait, Strait of Gibraltar, Molokai Channel and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim provide unique perspectives on their chosen sport.
The conference's mission statement is to provide opportunities to listen and meet many of the world's most foremost experts in open water swimming. Dozens of presentations cover every aspect of the vast and growing world of open water swimming where attendees can learn the latest trends, race tactics, training techniques, equipment, race organization and safety practices for open water swimming as a solo swimmer, competitive athlete, masters swimmer, triathlete, multi-sport athlete, administrator, race promoter or referee.
The conference was first held in Long Beach, California and will be held in New York City and London over the next two years.[ when? ] The Global Open Water Swimming Conference was started due to the desire and need for athletes, coaches, referees, administrators, promoters and sponsors from around the world to share, collect and learn information about the growing sports of open water swimming, marathon swimming and triathlons. The conference offers four central themes: Training, Business, Racing and Lifestyle with each presentation geared towards providing different perspectives on these themes.
After the inclusion of marathon swimming in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and its announced return at the 2012 London Olympics in Hyde Park and at the 2016 Rio Olympics at Copacabana Beach, there was a growing need for sharing information between race directors, athletes, coaches, administrators and referees.
At the Global Open Water Swimming Conference, awards are presented to the World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year, the World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year, the World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year. Special Lifetime Achievement Awards are also presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to the sport over their lifetime.
A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the disciplines included. The word is of Greek origin, from τρεῖς, 'three', and ἆθλος, 'competition'.
The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the study of the history of swimming in the United States and around the world. Exhibits include ancient art and both reproductions and original art depicting famous moments in swimming history, swimwear, and civil rights, as well as memorabilia and artifacts belonging to persons who have promoted or excelled in aquatics. It is recognized by FINA as the official hall for the aquatics sports.
Long-distance swimming is distinguished from ordinary swimming in that the distances involved are longer than are typically swum in pool competitions. When a given swim calls more on endurance than on outright speed, it is the more likely to be considered a long-distance swim. Long-distance swims, however, may take place in pools, such as the 1st official 24 hours World Championship in 1976 won by Peppo Biscarini with a record of 83.7 km or the current 25 meter pool world record of 2008 Olympic gold medalist Maarten van der Weijden. Some of the better-known long-distance swims are crossings of the English Channel, Catalina Channel, Fehmarn Belt and Cook Strait.
An aquathlon is a multisport race consisting of continuous run and swim elements. Competitors complete a swim immediately followed by a run over various distances. Athletes compete for fastest overall course completion, including the time transitioning between the disciplines.
Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers. Competitive open water swimming is governed by the International Swimming Federation, World Aquatics, except when it is part of multi-sport events, which are governed by the World Triathlon.
Francis Crippen was an American long-distance swimmer. After being a pool swimmer for most of his career, Crippen made the transition to open water swimming in 2006. In international competitions, Crippen won seven medals, five of which were in the open water and two in the pool. Crippen died during an open water swimming race in the United Arab Emirates in 2010 at the age of 26.
Edith van Dijk is a Dutch swimmer and 6-fold world champion. She is Holland's most successful open water swimmer and long distance swimmer, whose career started in 1990 taking part in the Dutch IJsselmeermarathon.
Marathon swimming is a class of open water swimming defined by long distances, at least 10 kilometers (6.21 mi). Unlike marathon foot-races which have a specifically defined distance, marathon swims vary in distance. However, one commonly used minimum definition is 10 kilometers, the distance of the marathon swimming event at the Olympic Games.
The Oceans Seven is a marathon swimming challenge consisting of seven open water channel swims. It was devised in 2008 as the swimming equivalent of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge. It comprises the North Channel, the Cook Strait, the Molokaʻi Channel, the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the Tsugaru Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar.
The men's marathon 10 kilometre event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 21 August at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in Beijing, China.
The women's marathon 10 kilometre event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 20 August at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in Beijing, China.
Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water. Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with varied distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
The World Triathlon Championship Series is World Triathlon's annual series of triathlon events used to crown an annual world champion since 2008. There are multiple rounds of competitions culminating in a Grand Final race. Athletes compete head-to-head for points in these races that will determine the overall World Triathlon champion. The elite championship races are held, with one exception, over two distances, the standard or 'Olympic' distance and the sprint distance. The ITU world champion between 1989 and 2008 had been decided in a single annual championship race.
Taranath Narayan Shenoy, is a deaf and visually impaired Indian swimmer and an honoree of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. He is a winner of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, having successfully completed the English Channel, Catalina Channel and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 1990.
Ingemar Macarine is a Filipino long-distance swimmer, marathoner and environmental lawyer, currently serving as election officer of Tubigon town in Bohol, a province of the Philippines. Macarine pioneered the open water marathon swimming in the Philippines by crossing several channels in the country.
Lucy Charles-Barclay is an English professional triathlete specialising in the Ironman and 70.3 ("half-Ironman") distances. She is the 2023 World Ironman champion and the 2021 World Champion in the 70.3 discipline, both under the authority of the World Triathlon Corporation. In between, she won the World Triathlon Long Distance Championships in 2022. In 2023, she broke the course record for the iconic Kona Ironman course.
Roberto Garcia Lachner is a former USMS Marathon Distance Open Water National Champion and winner of his age-group division at the 5 km open water swimming race at the 2018 Pan American Masters Championships in Daytona Beach, Florida. As a youth swimmer, Garcia trained under the guidance of six-time Olympic coach Michael Lohberg at the Coral Springs Aquatic & Sports Complex in Coral Springs, Florida. He was named twice by the Florida Gold Coast Swimming Organization a Top 10 Age Group Swimmer in 1988 and 1989 and has competed in numerous amateur road races, marathons and long-distance triathlons across the globe.
Ross Edgley is a British athlete, ultra-marathon sea swimmer and author. He holds multiple world records and is known for undertaking athletic adventures around the globe in hostile conditions. He is perhaps most recognised for completing the World's Longest Staged Sea Swim in 2018, when he became the first person in history to swim 1,780 miles (2,860 km) around Great Britain, in 157 days.
Nathalie Pohl is a German open water swimmer and extreme swimmer. She is also a two-time world record holder and holder of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming. Pohl completed six of the seven Oceans Seven swims.
Andrew Donaldson is a Scottish-Australian marathon swimmer. Donaldson is a three-time world record holder with records including the fastest time to complete the Oceans Seven marathon swim challenge, and the fastest swim across the Cook Strait - the waters between New Zealand's North and South Islands.