Craig Martin Wilson is an American former water polo player who was a member of the United States men's national water polo team and two-time Olympic silver medalist. He is considered the best goalkeeper in the sport's history.
Paolo Francesco Radmilovic was a Welsh water polo player and competitive swimmer. Radmilovic had Croatian and Irish origins. He represented Great Britain at four editions of Summer Olympics. He won four Olympic titles in a 22-year Olympic career. He won four gold medals across three successive Olympic Games, a record which stood for a Great Britain Olympic athlete until broken by Sir Steve Redgrave when he won his fifth gold medal at Sydney in 2000. In 1928, he became the first person to compete for Britain at five Olympic Games, a record that would remain until surpassed by fencer Bill Hoskyns in 1976.
Bruce MacFarlane Furniss is a former American amateur competition swimmer, Olympic double gold medalist, and ten-time world record-holder in four events. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, he won the Men's 200-meter Freestyle and was a member of the winning U.S. team in the Men's 4×200-meter Freestyle Relay, both in world record time. Furniss broke ten world and nineteen American records, and won eleven Amateur Athletic Union and six NCAA titles.
Joseph Aloysius Ruddy Sr. was an American competition swimmer and water polo player who represented the United States at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri. Ruddy won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the men's 4x50-yard freestyle relay. He won a second gold medal as a member of the first-place U.S. water polo team.
James Wallace O'Connor was an American competition swimmer and water polo player for Stanford University who played internationally for the United States at four Olympiads: at the 1924, 1928, 1932 and 1936. He won a gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics for swimming in the world record setting U.S. 4x200 freestyle relay, and took home a bronze medal for Water Polo in both the 1924 and 1932 Olympics. He is rated by many sports historians as the greatest American Water Polo player of all time.
Austin Rhone Clapp was an American competition swimmer and water polo player who represented the United States at the 1928 Summer Olympics and 1932 Summer Olympics.
Richard William Roth is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in two events.
Jeffrey James Float is a former American competitive swimmer, world record holder, world champion and Olympic gold medalist. He qualified for the 1980 USA Olympic Swimming Team in three individual events, but could not participate when the United States boycotted the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympic Games. Four years later, he competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. As the peer-elected team captain, Jeff earned a gold medal in the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay, and finished fourth in the individual 200-meter freestyle event. In 2016 this 4x200-meter freestyle relay was designated the third greatest of all time.
Timothy Andrew Shaw is an American former Olympic medal-winning swimmer and water polo player. He swam at the 1976 Summer Olympics and played on the American team at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He is one of a handful of athletes to win Olympic medals in two different sports. Between 1974 and 1984, Shaw won two Olympic silver medals; three world championships; seven U.S. Amateur Athletic Union national titles; and three U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association championships.
Wallace "Wally" Perry Wolf Jr. was an American attorney, bank director, competition swimmer, water polo player, and Olympic champion. He competed in the 1948, 1952, 1956, and 1960 Summer Olympics.
Jill Ann Sterkel is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, former world record-holder, and water polo player. Sterkel won four medals in three Olympic Games spanning twelve years from 1976 through 1988. She was the women's head coach of the Texas Longhorns swimming and diving team at the University of Texas at Austin from 1993 to 2006.
The First International Silent Games, or First International Games for the Deaf, now referred to retroactively as the 1924 Summer Deaflympics, were the inaugural edition of the Deaflympics. The Games were held in Paris, France, from 10 to 17 August 1924, as an equivalent to the Olympic Games for deaf athletes. They were organised on the initiative of deaf Frenchman Eugène Rubens-Alcais, who, just after the Games, co-founded the Comité International des Sports des Sourds with other "deaf sporting leaders". The 1924 Games were "the first games ever" for athletes with a disability, preceding the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games in 1948, which became the Paralympic Games in 1960 but which did not include events for deaf athletes.
Ruth Mae Taubert Seeger was an American athlete and coach. She was the first woman to be chosen for the United States track and field team for the 1957 World Games for the Deaf.
Rebecca Meyers is an American Paralympic swimmer. She won three gold and one silver medals in Rio 2016. She was also a member of the 2012 Paralympic Team, and won a silver and bronze in London. Rebecca Meyers has also competed at the 2009 Summer Deaflympics which was held in Taiwan, which is also her only appearance at the Deaflympics. She also clinched a bronze medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay event in the 2009 Summer Deaflympics.
The United States has been participating at the Deaflympics from 1935 and it is also currently placed first in the all time Deaflympics medal list. US has won more than 1000 medals, the only nation to do so in Deaflympics.
Cindy-Lu Bailey, also known as Cindy-Lu Fitzpatrick, is a former Australian deaf swimmer who has represented Australia in both Commonwealth Games and in Deaflympics. She is considered to be the most decorated woman in Deaflympics history with a record haul of 29 medals, which is the highest among women in Deaflympics. Bailey is also one of the greatest swimmers of Australia in history.
Water polo is a water sport which has been contested at the Summer Deaflympics on 11 occasions. Water polo was recognised as a sporting event at the Deaflympics for the first time in 1949 with only two nations competing in the event. Water polo was contested only for men in the Deaflympic history and raised question marks regarding the availability of the sport at the Deaflympics.
Alexandra Polivanchuk is a Swedish female deaf swimmer who is also the twin sister of Anna Polivanchuk. She has represented Sweden at the Deaflympics in 2005, 2009 and 2013. She currently holds the deaf world swimming records in 50m and 100m butterfly events. She graduated and has been training the sport of swimming at the Gallaudet University.
Anna Polivanchuk is a Swedish female deaf swimmer and also the twin sister of Alexandra Polivanchuk. She competed at the Deaflympics in 2005 and 2009. She currently holds the deaf world swimming record in the women's 400m freestyle event which was set by her in 2006. She also graduated and continued her swimming career with the Gallaudet University.
Matthew James Klotz is an American male deaf swimmer and reality television contestant. He has represented the United States at the Deaflympics and in other international events including the Deaf World Championships. He is a world record holder in swimming for deaf and is considered one of the finest deaf swimmers to represent USA after the retirements of Marcus Titus and Reed Gershwind. He made his Deaflympic debut at the 2013 Summer Deaflympics.
United States
