The North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC) is a swim club based in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1968, [1] it continues to offer training for young swimmers. It is best known for developing a dozen Olympic swimmers, six of whom earned gold medals.
The club started training in the Loyola High School pool, [2] but as it has grown, its location has changed. It currently operates out of three locations: Goucher College in Towson, [3] Meadowbrook Aquatic Center in the Northwest Baltimore neighborhood of Mount Washington, and Loyola University Maryland in the North Baltimore neighborhood of Homeland.
NBAC has produced eight Olympic swimmers overall.
The organization's best known swimmer is Michael Phelps, who initially competed in the 2000 Sydney Games, then won six gold and two bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Games. In the 2008 Beijing Games Phelps broke seven world records and won the gold medal in all eight events that he competed in. At the 2012 London Games, he earned four gold and two silver medals. Phelps holds the records for most career Olympic gold medals in any sport and the most gold medals in a single Olympic Games, and the record for most Olympic medals overall. At the 2016 Rio Games, Phelps' fifth, he won his 21st Olympic gold medal in the Men's 4x200 freestyle relay.
Olympic swimmers who have trained at NBAC include:
Along with NBAC's Olympic swimmers, NBAC sent their first Paralympian, 17-year-old Ian Silverman, to the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
NBAC Paralympians
Kathryn Elise Hoff is a former American competitive swimmer, she is an Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. Hoff was known for her success in the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley. She represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics, in which she was awarded a silver medal and two bronze medals.
Jason Edward Lezak is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spanning four Olympic games and eight Olympic medals.
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Scott Daniel Goldblatt is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist who specialized in freestyle events. While swimming primarily in the lead position of the 4 x 200 freestyle relay, Goldblatt took a gold and silver in the 2000, and 2004 Olympics and a silver and bronze medal in the 2001 and 2003 World Aquatics Championships. He also performed well in the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Israel, winning several medals.
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Michael Fred Phelps II is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games, held by gymnast Alexander Dityatin, by winning six gold and two bronze medals. Four years later, when he won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, he broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.
Ellie Victoria Cole, is an Australian retired Paralympic swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. After having her leg amputated due to cancer, she trained in swimming as part of her rehabilitation program and progressed more rapidly than instructors had predicted. She began competitive swimming in 2003 and first competed internationally at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, where she won a silver medal. Since then, she has won medals in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Paralympic Games, the IPC Swimming World Championships, and various national championships. Following the 2012 London Paralympics, where she won four gold and two bronze medals, Cole underwent two shoulder reconstructions and made a successful return to swimming at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, winning five medals, including three golds. She subsequently represented Australia at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. In claiming her seventeenth Paralympic medal in Tokyo, Cole became Australia's most decorated female Paralympian with six gold, five silver and six bronze medals from four Paralympic Games.
Daniel Lawrence Madwed is an American swimmer.
Brian Brinkley is an English former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympic Games, FINA world championships and European championships, and England in the Commonwealth Games, during the 1970s. During his elite swimming career, he won thirteen medals in major international swimming championships.
Brian Phillips is a Canadian former competitive swimmer who won four medals in major international championship events during the early 1970s. Phillips won a total of six medals in major international championships, including the FINA World Championships, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games.
Felicia Lee is an American competition swimmer. She is currently on the U.S. National Team, and was a member of the American silver medal team in the 4x50-meter medley relay at the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships. She previously competed for Stanford University as a collegiate swimmer, and was recognized as the top college female swimmer in the United States in 2014.
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Brittany MacLean is a Canadian retired competitive swimmer who has represented her country in the Summer Olympics and other international championships. She won a bronze medal in the women's 4 x 200 m freestyle relay at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Kayla Noelle Sanchez is a Filipina-Canadian swimmer. A member of the Canadian national team until 2022, she has represented Canada at the Olympic and World championship level, and is a two-time Olympic medalist. She is one of Canada's most prominent Filipina Canadian athletes.
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