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] the Gilman School, Coppermine's Bel Air location, and Loyola University Maryland in the North Baltimore neighborhood of Homeland. It no longer is affiliated with the Meadowbrook Pool.
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.
Ian Lowell Crocker is an American former competition swimmer, five-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. During his career, he set world records in the 50- and 100-meter butterfly and the 100-meter freestyle. He has won a total of twenty-one medals in major international competition, spanning the Olympics, the FINA World Aquatics Championships, and the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. He coached for many years at the Western Hills Athletic Club and has helped coach the Longhorns swim camp in 2019 as well as other years. Since Spring of 2022 when the new facility opened, Crocker coaches at the Western Aquatics and Social Club at the Eanes Independent School District Aquatics center.
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.
Benjamin James Austin, OAM is an Australian Elite Athlete with a Disability (EAD) swimmer. His classification is S8.
Marianne Louise Limpert is a Canadian former freestyle and medley swimmer who competed in the Summer Olympics for Canada in 1992, 1996 and 2000, and won the silver medal in the 200-metre individual medley in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia. She was also Canada's flagbearer at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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.
Yang Yu is an Olympic medal-winning swimmer from the People's Republic of China. She became part of the Chinese national swimming team in 1999, and competed for Team China at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Jessica Tatiana Long is a Russian-born American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at six Paralympic Games, winning 30 medals. She has won over 50 world championship medals.
Erica Rachelle Morningstar is a Canadian swimmer who has competed in international events including the 2008 Summer Olympics, and 2012 Summer Olympics.
Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian is an American competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist who formerly held the American record in the long course 50-meter freestyle event.
Mary Elizabeth Mohler is an American former competition swimmer and former world record-holder in the Women's 200-meter butterfly.
Allison Rodgers Schmitt is an American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle events. She is a four-time Olympian and a ten-time Olympic medalist.
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.
Australia competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Games in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012. The London Games were the biggest Games with 164 nations participating, 19 more than in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic. Australia has participated at every Summer Paralympic Games and hosted the 2000 Sydney Games. As such, the 2000 Sydney Games, regarded as one of the more successful Games, became a point-of-reference and an inspiration in the development of the 2012 London Games.
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.
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.
Gerardo Rosario is a Filipino former swimmer who has competed in the Summer Olympic Games.
Shannon Vreeland is an American former competition swimmer specializing in freestyle and Olympic gold medallist. She was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic team, and won a gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Vreeland had won a total of nineteen medals in major international competitions, including thirteen gold medals, three silver, and three bronze, spanning the Olympics, World Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, and Summer Universiade. Vreeland retired after the 2016 Olympic Trials and began attending law school at Vanderbilt University in the fall of 2016.
Artem Yuryevich Lobuzov is a Russian swimmer who competes in freestyle events. He represented the Russian Federation at the Olympic Games. Lobuzov's lifetime best in the 200 m freestyle is 1.46:96 in long course, and 1:42.44 in short course.
Kayla Noelle Sanchez is a Filipino-Canadian swimmer who represents the Philippines internationally since 2023. She has represented Canada through 2022, at the Olympic and World championship level, and is a two-time Olympic medalist.