The Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1980'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 1980's.

This selection of the Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1980'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 1980'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 1980's

1. Paul Asmuth, USA [his book cover shown above]
2. Claudio Plit, Argentina
3. Lynne Cox, USA
4. Philip Rush, New Zealand
5. Dr. Vicki Keith CM, Canada
6. Monique Wildschut, Netherlands
7. Irene van der Laan, Netherlands
8. Alison Streeter MBE, Great Britain
9. Taranath Narayan Shenoy, India
10. Christine Cossette, Canada

Others include Marc Newman, Great Britain, and Dr. Julie Bradshaw MBE, Great Britain

Paul Asmuth was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1982 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2010. He won seven World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation titles between 1980 and 1985 and in 1988. He finished 59 professional marathon swims including winning the 24 Heures La Tuque with James Kegley, six Traversée Internationale du lac Memphrémagog in Canada, 1988 Waikiki Roughwater Swim in Hawaii, pioneered the course from Nantucket to Cape Cod in Massachusetts in 1986.

Claudio Plit was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1981 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2014. He won every major professional marathon swim around the world. He finished first or second nine times and finished in the top 4 in 45 professional marathon swims throughout North and South America, Europe and Africa. He completed in more than 250 marathon swims over 8 hours including winning the Traversée internationale du lac Memphremagog, the Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli in Italy 4 times, and in the Nile River and in the Suez Canal, and four two-way 64 km Traversée international du lac St-Jean races.

Lynne Cox was inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. She pioneered a 11.7 km swim across Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia in 1988. In 1985, she completed 12 swim in ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ project including the Five Lakes of Mount Fuji in Japan, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Strait of Messina. In 1987, she swam across the Bering Strait from Alaska to the Soviet Union.

Philip Rush was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1985. In 1985, he set a two-way English Channel crossing record and completed the second three-way crossing of the English Channel in 1987. Along the way, he set the two-way crossing record in 16 hours 10 minutes. He completed ten English Channel crossings and 8 Cook Strait crossings and 4 two-way crossings of the Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean.

Dr. Vicki Keith C.M., O. Ont., LLD, ChPC was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2004. In 1985, she completed a 100-hour swim in a pool and swam 19 km butterfly in Lake Ontario. In 1986, she completed a 129-hour swim in a pool, swam 45.6 km across Lake Ontario, swam the first 95 km two-way crossing of Lake Ontario in 56 hours 10 minutes, swam across all 5 Great Lakes in 1988: Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and Lake Ontario including 45.4 km of butterfly across Lake Ontario in 24 hours 44 minutes. In 1989, she crossed the 33.5 km English Channel swimming butterfly in 24 hours 44 minutes and across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Lake Winnipeg, and Catalina Channel, all butterfly.

Monique Blok-Wildschut was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1994 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2016. She dominated the women’s marathon swimming professional circuit when she was the six-time World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation champion from 1984-1988. She finished 2nd overall in the 1989 64 km Traversée Internationale du lac St-Jean. She won the 1984 Around the Island Atlantic City Marathon Swim.

Irene van der Laan was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1985 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2015. She was the first person to win the Rolex watch two times for the fastest crossings in the English Channel of the Year in 1982 and 1984. She completed a two-way English Channel crossing in 1984, setting a new record. She competed in the 64 km (40-mile) Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean in 1986, 1987, and 1988.

Jon Erikson was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1981 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2014. He completed 11 English Channel crossings including the first three-way crossing in 1981 in 38 hours 27 minutes. He race in three 24 Heures La Tuque two English-to-France crossings in 1980.

Alison Streeter MBE was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1985 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame. She crossed the English Channel 43 times. She swam the English Channel seven times in one year and is the fastest woman from France to England. She was the first woman to swim across the North Channel.

Taranath Narayan Shenoy was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1986. He completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming by completing the English Channel, Catalina Channel and Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. In 1981, he was the first deaf person to cross the Palk Strait, the first deaf person to cross the Suez Canal, the Nile River, complete the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, complete a Catalina Channel crossing, complete a Strait of Gibraltar crossing, the Strait of Dardanelles crossing, and the Cook Strait crossing.

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.