Pieter Cornelis Martijn van den Hoogenband is a Dutch retired swimmer. He is a triple Olympic champion and former world record holder.
Ryk Neethling OIS is a South African businessman who rose to prominence as the three-times World Champion and four-times World Record Breaking Olympic swimming champion.
The 1988 Summer Olympics took place in Seoul, South Korea. The swimming competition, held from September 18 to September 25, was notable for the seven medals, including five golds, won by Matt Biondi, the six golds won by Kristin Otto, and the three individual golds won by Janet Evans. 633 participants from 77 countries were competing.
Grant George Hackett OAM is an Australian 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. He also collected a gold medal in Sydney for swimming in the heats of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. He was well regarded for his versatility, and has held the long course world records in the 200 m, 800 m, and 1500 m freestyle events. He dominated the 1500 m event for a decade, being undefeated in the event in finals from 1996 until the 2007 World Aquatics Championships. In total, he won 10 long-course world championship gold medals.
The Netherlands competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 119 competitors, 90 men and 29 women, took part in 72 events in 16 sports.
Daniel Steven Kowalski is an Australian former middle- and long-distance swimmer specialising in freestyle events. He competed in the Olympic Games in 200-, 400- and 1,500-metre individual freestyle events and in the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, he was the first man in 92 years to earn medals in all of the 200-, 400- and 1500-metre freestyle events. Kowalski, alongside Livinia Nixon, hosted the short-lived TV show Plucka's Place in 1997. Kowalski is perhaps best known for having been a perpetual runner-up to fellow Australians Kieren Perkins and Grant Hackett, who were, respectively, the world's best 1500-metre freestyle competitors during the earlier and later parts of Kowalski's career. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder. Daniel's coaches included Denis Cotterell and Bill Nelson.
Glen Clifford Housman is an Australian former distance freestyle swimmer of the 1980s and 1990s, who won the silver medal in the 1500-metre freestyle, swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics. His career was overshadowed by fellow Australian Kieren Perkins, and was also marred by illness.
Maxwell Raymond Metzker is a South African-born former long-distance freestyle swimmer who represented Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s, who won a bronze medal in the 1500 m freestyle at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. He was a co-flagbearer with Denise Boyd at the opening ceremony, when Australia marched under the Olympic flag to protest the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.
The 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Munich, West Germany. 29 events in swimming were contested. There were a total of 532 participants from 52 countries competing.
Oussama "Ous" Mellouli is a Tunisian swimmer who competes in the freestyle and medley events. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the USC Trojans team based at the University of Southern California, where he studied as a computer science undergraduate and swam collegiately.
Bradford Paul Cooper is an Australian former freestyle and backstroke swimmer of the 1970s, who won a gold medal in the 400 m freestyle at the 1972 Summer Olympics. In that race he originally finished second by the smallest margin ever to decide an Olympic swimming final, but was later awarded the gold medal after the victor, American Rick DeMont, an asthmatic, was disqualified after his post-race urinalysis tested positive for traces of the banned substance ephedrine contained in his prescription asthma medication, Marax.
Robert George Windle is an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1960s, who won four Olympic medals, including an individual gold medal. Windle won the 1500 m freestyle and took bronze in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and silver and bronze in the 4 × 200 m and 4 × 100 m freestyle relays respectively at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Known for his versatility, he is the only male swimmer to represent Australia at the Olympics in all freestyle distances from 100 m to 1500 m. During his career, Windle set six world records and won six Commonwealth Games gold medals. He won 19 Australian championships in all distances from 220 yd to 1650 yd.
Emiliano Brembilla is a freestyle swimmer from Italy who was five-time individual European Champion, four in 400 m freestyle and one in 1500 m freestyle (1997).
Frank Willem Drost is a former freestyle and butterfly swimmer from the Netherlands who competed at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics. His best individual Olympic result came in 1984, when he finished in sixth place (1:51.62) in the 200 m freestyle.
Hans Elzerman is an Olympic swimmer from the Netherlands, and as of early 2011 is a national swimming coach. His sister Josien and brother Henk are also Olympic swimmers.
Josina ("Josien") Alida Elzerman is a former freestyle and backstroke swimmer from the Netherlands, who competed for her native country at the 1972 Summer Olympics. There she was eliminated in the qualifying heats of the 200 m breaststroke, clocking 2:28.18, and finished in fifth place in the 4×100 m freestyle relay. Both her brothers Hans and Henk were Olympic swimmers.
Rainer Henkel is a retired freestyle swimmer from Germany, former World and European Champion in 1500 m freestyle. He also won the silver medal in the 4×200 m freestyle relay for West Germany at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the bronze medal in the 4×200 m freestyle relay for West Germany at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
Henry Taylor was an English competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in four Summer Olympics between 1906 and 1920. Taylor served in the Royal Navy during the First World War, and continued to swim competitively until 1926. His fortunes declined after he retired, and he died penniless. His record of three gold medals at one Olympic Games – the most by any Briton – stood for 100 years until it was equaled by cyclist Chris Hoy in 2008. Tying the medal count of American Mel Sheppard, he was the most successful athlete at the 1908 Olympics.
Johan Bontekoe was a Dutch freestyle swimmer who won a gold medal in the 400 meter event at the 1962 European Aquatics Championships. This was the second ever European gold medal for a Dutch male swimmer after 1938. He also competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics but failed to reach the finals. Meanwhile, he was the leading middle and long-distance freestyle swimmer in the Netherlands, winning almost all 200–1500 m events and setting 28 national records between 1960 and 1964. After retiring, he worked in a bank, but also remained associated with the Dutch swimming federation. He suffered from ill health in his last years, and died of pneumonia at the age 62.
Stephen Milne is a Scottish swimmer who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
