The Best Open Water Swimmers from 1950 to 2020

Who are among the best open water swimmers in history? Who are considered legends, icons, heroes, heroines, and historic figures in the sport? Every fan 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 between the 1950's and 2010's.

This selection of the Best Open Water Swimmers of the Decade 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 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 [shown above]
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.

For more detailed information on each swimmer, visit The Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1950's.

 

Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1960's

1. Abdellatief Abou Heif, Egypt [video shown above]
2. Herman Willemse, Netherlands
3. Judith de Nijs, Netherlands
4. Horacio Iglesias, Argentina
5. Captain Nabil Elshazly, Egypt
6. Giulio Travaglio, Italy
7. Linda McGill MBE, Australia
8. Marty Sinn, USA
9. Commander Gerald Forsberg, OBE, Great Britain
10. Carlos Larriera, Argentina

Ted Erikson, USA, Barrie Devenport, New Zealand, Brenda Sherratt, Great Britain, Imre Szénási, Hungary, Regent LaCoursiere, Canada, and Barry Watson, Great Britain.

For more detailed information on each swimmer, visit The Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1960's.

Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1970's

1. John Kinsella, USA [shown above with Coach Don Watson]
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

Others include Diana Nyad, USA, John York, USA, and Dennis Matuch, USA.

For more detailed information on each swimmer, visit The Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1970's.

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. Jon Erikson, USA
9. Alison Streeter MBE, Great Britain
10. Taranath Narayan Shenoy, India

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

For more detailed information on each swimmer, visit The Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1980's.

Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1990's

1. Shelley Taylor-Smith, Australia [shown above]
2. Aleksey Akatyev, Russia
3. Chad Hundeby, USA
4. Greg Streppel, Canada
5. Peggy Büchse, Germany
6. Susie Maroney, OAM, Australia
7. Diego Degano, Argentina
8. David Alleva, PhD, USA
9. Karen Burton, USA
10. Gustavo Oriozabala, Argentina

Others include Igor de Souza, Brazil, David O'Brien, OAM, Australia, Tammy van Wisse, Australia, and Tamara Bruce, Australia.

For more detailed information on each swimmer, visit The Best Open Water Swimmers of the 1990's.

Best Open Water Swimmers of the 2000's

1. Thomas Lurz, Germany [shown above]
2. Larisa Ilchenko, Russia
3. Maarten van der Weijden, Netherlands
4. Yuri Kudinov, Russia
5. Edith van Dijk, PhD, Netherlands
6. Lewis Pugh, OIG, South Africa
7. Angela Maurer, OIG, MBE, South Africa
8. Britta Kamrau, Germany
9. Martin Strel, Slovenia
10. Yvetta Hlaváčová, Czech Republic

Others include Natalie du Toit, OIG, MBE, South Africa, Viola Valli, Italy, Christof Wandratsch, Germany, Stéphane Lecat, France, Marcy MacDonald, USA.

For more detailed information on each swimmer, visit The Best Open Water Swimmers of the 2000's.

Best Open Water Swimmers of the 2010's

1. Petar Stoychev, Bulgaria [shown above]
2. Ana Marcela Cunha
3. Sarah Thomas, Brazil
4. Jaimie Monahan, USA
5. Sharon van Rouwendaal, Netherlands [shown above with Ferry Weertman]
6. Ferry Weertman, Netherlands [shown above with Sharon van Rouwendaal]
7. Éva Risztov, Hungary
8. Ram Barkai, South Africa
9. Henri Kaarma, Estonia
10. Chloë McCardel, Australia

Others include Ous Mellouli, Tunisia, Trent Grimsey, Australia, Spiros Gianniotis, Greece, Martina Grimaldi, Italy, Pilar Geijo, Argentina, Poliana Okimoto, Brazil, Aleksandr Brylin, Russia, Andrey Sychev, Russia, Elizabeth Fry, USA, Stephen Redmond, Ireland, Jacques Tuset, France.

For more detailed information on each swimmer, visit The Best Open Water Swimmers of the 2010's.

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 comentator.