The Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1970'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 choices for the Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1970's.

This selection of the Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1970'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 iss 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 1970'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 1970's

1. John Kinsella, USA
2. Veljko Rogošić, Yugoslavia
3. Penny Lee Dean, PhD, USA
4. Sandra Bucha, USA
5. Kevin Murphy, Great Britain
6. Cynthia Nicholas, CM, Canada
7. Johannes “Johan” Schans, Netherlands
8. Michael Read MBE, Great Britain
9. Des Renford MBE, Australia
10. Jon Erikson, USA

Others include Diana Nyad, USA, John York, USA, Bill Heiss, USA, and Dennis Matuch, USA

John Kinsella [shown above with Coach Don Watson] was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1978 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1986. He dominated the professional marathon swimming circuit in the 1970’s, winning the 32 km Traversée Internationale du lac St-Jean in Canada in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. He won every major professional marathon swimming race he entered, twice winning the 24 Heures La Tuque with Sandra Bucha in 1974 and 1975. He also won the 1978 Pepsi Challenge Marathon Swim in Lake Ontario and the 1978 57 km Maratón Acuática Internacional Santa Fe - Coronda in Argentina.

Veljko Rogošić was a 2-time Olympic pool swimmer for Yugoslavia and was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1998. He won the 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973 marathons in Italian Ricconeu. He won the world championships in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974 at the Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli in Italy. He was the first winner of the 1976 Faros Maratón. He finished second to John Kinsella in the 1974 Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean in Canada. In 1975, he was the first person to complete a 54 km crossing from the Adriatic island of Vis to Split, Croatia.

Penny Lee Dean PhD was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1980 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1996. She set the overall records across the English Channel in 7 hours 40 minutes in 1978, the still-unbroken crossing of the Catalina Channel in 7 hours 15 minutes in 1976, and the double crossing of the Catalina Channel in 20 hours 3 minutes in 1977.

Sandra Bucha was inducted by the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2014 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2013. She won the 24 Heures La Tuque in 1974 and was on the cover of Swimming World Magazine in 1969. Between 1973 and 1975, she was the female winner in the 9 professional marathon races she entered. Only three males finished ahead of her in her in nine marathon races with six 2nd overall finishes.

Kevin Murphy is a dual inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He has swum 34 English Channel crossings, the second most in history and the greatest for a male. He set the record for crossing the North Channel from Northern Ireland to Scotland.

Cynthia Nicholas, CM was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1978 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame. She became the fastest swimmer to cross Lake Ontario at the age of 16. She crossed the English Channel 19 times including five two-way crossings. She set a two-way record in 1982 and an England-France record of 8 hours 21 minutes on the first leg of her in 1981 two-way crossing. In 1976, she was named the world’s top woman marathon swimmer for a season that included two one-way crossings across the English Channel.

Johannes Schans was a 1968 Olympian who finished second in the 1969 Le Marathon du Saguenay, second in the 1969 24 Heures La Tuque, his second professional marathon swim, and second in the Traversée internationale du Lac St-Jean. He won the 1970 Hamilton Marathon Race in Canada and the 30 km Syria race. He was second in America's Marathon Swim in Rhode Island and was ranked first in the 1970 World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation circuit. He won the 1971, 1972, and 1973 24 Heures La Tuque, all with Horacio Iglesias.

Michael Read, MBE was inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2011 and International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1978. He crossed the English Channel 33 times between 1979 and 2005. He became the first person to complete a 3-way and 4-way swim of Windermere in 1972, the first person to swim Loch Tay in 1973, the first person to swim Loch Lomond twice, and completed the most English Channel crossings in one year by a man, 6 in 1979. He had the latest English Channel crossing in 1979.

Desmond Renford MBE was inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2016 and the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1978. He was the King of the Channel® between 1975 and 1979 and was the first person complete three English Channel crossings in a year. He swam across the English Channel 19 times in 19 one-way attempts. He swam 93 km in Australia in 1974 in 27 hours 29 minutes.

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.