The Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1950's

Who are among the best open water swimmers in history? Who are considered legends, icons, heroes, heroines, historic figures in the sport? Everyone has their favorite swimmers.

Any list of the Best Open Water Swimmers of the Decade is, by necessity, subjective. But it is certainly fun to discuss and debate among open water swimming historians and fans. Below are our choice sfor the Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1950's.

This selection of the Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1950's is based on four criteria with the following priority:

1. Champions - or swimmers who won major international races against the best swimmers of their era
2. Pioneers - or swimmers who completed unprecedented extreme swims of any distance in any location
3. Record Holders - or swimmers who set records across channels, lakes, seas, either in competition or on a solo swim
4. Endurers - or swimmers who swam for distance in any open body of water at various temperatures

That is, if a Champion is compared to a Pioneer, with all other things being equal, the Champion was given more weight in this subjective list. Similarly, if a Pioneer is compared to a Record Holder, with all other things being equal, the Pioneer is given placed higher in this subjective list. If a Record Holder is compared to an Endurer, with all things being equal, the Record Holder is considered slightly higher than the Endurer in this subjective list.

Of course, if this subjective criteria were ordered differently (e.g., if Record Holders or Endurers carried more weight than Champions or Pioneers), then the ordering would undoubtedly be different - and so would many of the listed swimmers. This is, some would rise in the list and others would fall or be replaced.

That being said, many swimmers on this list of the 1950's proved themselves over their careers as a Champion, a Pioneer, a Record Holder, and an Endurer. Additionally, many swimmers competed in more than one decade. Because there are so many worthy candidates, each swimmer was honored in only one decade, that decade of their prime performances.

This list only includes solo and competitive swimmers. It includes swimmers - of both genders and of any age - who specialize in channel swimming, marathon swimming, extreme swimming, stage swimming, high-altitude swimming, ice swimming, and winter swimming in lakes, bays, rivers, oceans, seas, reservoirs, lochs, fjords, canals, and carved-out pool in frozen bodies of water. This list does not include pilots, coaches, authors, race directors, documentary filmmakers, seconds, crew members, or administrators. These individuals will be included in a follow-up series, The Best Open Water Swimming Personalities of the Decade, that will be subsequently published.

Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1950's

1. Cliff Lumsdon, CM, Canada
2. Tom Park, Canada
3. Greta Andersen, USA
4. Alfredo Camarero, Argentina
5. Hassan Abdel Rehim, Egypt
6. Mareeh Hassan Hamad, Egypt
7. Brenda Fisher, BEM, Great Britain
8. Marilyn Bell, Canada
9. Brojen Das, Pakistan
10. Antonio Abertondo, Argentina

Others include Florence Chadwick, USA, Tom Blower, Great Britain, Willy van Rysel, Netherlands, and Helge Jensen, Denmark

Cliff Lumsdon [shown above] is a dual inductee: an International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honour Swimmer, inducted in 1969 and an International Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmer, inducted in 2014. He was a five-time world champion between 1949 and 1954 and was known for his ability to swim in cold water, once going 51.5 km in 18-plus hours in water temperatures ranging between 8.8° - 11.1°C (48°F - 52°F). He won $84,000 for his 1955 Canadian National Exhibition swim, winning it four times.

Tom Park qualified for the 1940 Olympics thatt were cancelled due to World War II. He was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1968 as an Honor Swimmer. He won the first 41.8 km Around-the-Island Marathon Swim around Atlantic City in 1954 in 9 hours 21 minutes and crossed the 32.3 km Catalina Channel in 1954 in 13 hours 25 minutes - setting a record. In 1955, he won the 37 km Atlantic City Around The Island Swim and finished 2nd in the 1955 Billy Butlin Cross Channel International Swim from France to England in 12 hours 2 minutes.

Greta Andersen is a dual inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Class of 1964) and the International Swimming Hall of Fame (Class of 1969) as an double Olympic medalist. She won 7 Atlantic City Around the Island Swims and crossed the English Channel five times, winning the Billy Butlin Cross Channel International Swims in 1957 and 1958 and winning the women’s event from 1957 to 1959. She completed a double-crossing of the English Channel and became the first person to complete a double crossing of the Catalina Channel in 1958 in 26 hours 53 minutes.

Alfredo Camarero was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1978. He twice swam the English Channel, winning the 1959 Billy Butlin Cross Channel International Swim from France to England in 11 hours 43 minutes. He won the 33 km 1955 and 1956 Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli, the 1957 Around The Island Swim in Atlantic City over Tom Park and Greta Andersen.

Hassan Abdel Rehim was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1966 and swam the English Channel four times. He won the 1950 Daily Mail Race across the English Channel at the age of 41, a father of six children. He finished 3rd in the 1951 Daily Mail Race.

Mareeh Hassan Hamad completed 3 crossings of the English Channel, winning the 1951 Daily Mail race in 12 hours 12 minutes, swimming without goggles, and the 1954 Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli in Italy.

Brenda Fisher, BEM won the 47 km 1956 River Nile Swim in Egypt, finished third in the 1956 51 km Lake Ontario crossing. She was the first female finisher at the 1951 Billy Butlin Cross Channel International Swim across the English Channel, placing fifth overall in 12 hours 42 minutes, breaking the previous women's record of Florence Chadwick in 1950. She finished third overall and was the first women in the 1954 Billy Butlin Cross Channel International Swim.

Marilyn Bell Di Lascio was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario in 1954, after becoming the 1st woman in the 1954 Atlantic City Centennial Swim, a 42 km inaugural race around Atlantic City. She was the first woman in the 1955 Atlantic City Around-the-Island Swim at the age of 16. She swam the English Channel at the age of 17 and swam the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1956 from Washington state to British Columbia. She is a dual inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Class of 1967) and International Swimming Hall of Fame (Class of 2020).

Brojen Das was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1965. He was the first Asian to swim the English Channel in 1958, crossing six times to become King of the Channel® from 1960 to 1974, setting four records in the process. He also held the record for the fastest crossing for three years and competed in the Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli.

Antonio Abertondo was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1964, crossing the English Channel five times.

Ned Denison, chairperson of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, cautioned, "Most of these swimmers are honorees of the IMSHOF. Once inducted, the IMSHOF does not further 'rank' its inductees."

By Steven Munatones.
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and Editor of the KAATSU Magazine. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), Dale Petranech Award for Services to the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (2022), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007 and 2010), and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984, awarded to the senior whose interests are not bounded by academic or institutional structures. A joyous, deeply-rooted affirmation of life, disdain for the purely conventional; a love of adventure, and desire to learn by experiencing; the ability to respond creatively to difficult situations). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee (until 2011) and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, a 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff including 4 FINA World Championships, and 2008 NBC Olympic 10K Marathon Swim commentator.