As we near the end of the countdown, I am experiencing deja vous. Take today’s ‘first’ for example. Today’s first is the first black swimmer to make the US Swim Team. Can anybody answer?

I’ll give you a hint. I’ve featured him a couple times already. I’ve tried to unravel the mystery that is this swimmer. Another hint: he tied for gold? In 2000? And later sold his medal on ebay for tsunami relief?

That’s right. It’s Anthony Ervin. To recap his Olympic glory, he tied for gold in the 50 M free with Gary Hall Jr. He also got a silver in the 400 free relay at those 2000 games in Sydney.

Since then, he has quit swimming, taken up music, returned to swimming, and auctioned off his gold medal to help others.

What I can surmise from some of these crash and burn stories is that becoming an elite swimmer is grueling work; sometimes you don’t walk away from that training without repercussions. Why do you think some of these athletes have emotional meltdowns and others retire with grace?

I’m sensing a theme here. I keep running into swimmers I’ve featured before. Today we run into Alison Terry again.

She was the first Black Swimmer to make a US National team. That was 1999, for the Pan American Games. Unfortunately, she fell just short of making the US Olympic team the following year.

Alison struggled with many things in her young life, but she was able to overcome them to have success in the sport. I am glad that her place is secure in the top 20 Black History Swimming Firsts.

Tonight we feature a very decorated swim hero.

Sabir Muhammad was the first black swimmer to set an American record. He did this in 1997, swimming the short course 100 M fly.

Muhammad was a very decorated swimmer with several other ‘firsts’ under his belt: 1. In 1994, he became first Black swimmer to compete on the Varsity men’s swim team at Stanford University
2. In 1995, he was the first black swimmer to qualify for the Pan-Pacific Games.
3. While on the resident swim team at the Olympic training center, he was the first recipient of the William E. Simon Olympic Endowment award, and voted US Olympic Center’s Athlete of the Month.
4. In 1999, he competed in the Pan-Pacific Games, becoming the first Black co-captain of a US International Swim Team.
5. In 2000, he competed in the World Short Course Championships where he became the first black swimmer to win a medal at a major International swimming competition.

The 6 foot 7 inch swimmer was something of a media darling, featured in a 1999 episode of Baywatch, the 2001 Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Edition, as well as various magazines and television news programs.

Muhammad takes swim literacy so seriously that he started ‘Swim for Life!’ to teach Atlanta youths to swim.

Also known as the continuation of #11. Anthony Nesty was the first black man to win an NCAA Div 1 championship. He won it for 100 fly three times, from 1990-92, and for the 200 fly once, in 1992. I knew the brother was excellent. I’m finding out just how excellent.

It’s like deja vous all over again. I found Anthony Nesty, the first swimmer of African descent to win an Olympic gold medal back when I started this blog. I got his last name wrong at the time, but I had the right swimmer. Originally from Suriname, Nesty trained in the US, at the University of Florida. There must be something about those Dutch South American nations! First Enith Brigitha, and now Anthony Nesty. He won gold in the 1988 Seoul Olympics in the 100 fly. Nesty was also the first black swimmer to win an individual world championship.

He actually competed in three Olympic games: 1984, where he placed 21st in the 100 fly, 1988, where he won gold, and in 1992, where he won a bronze medal in the 100 fly. Nesty’s World Championship gold medal was in 1991, along with a gold from the Goodwill games. Nesty coaches at University of Florida.

We’re halfway there! Tonight I present Sybil Smith, the first black female swimmer to score in an NCAA final.

Sybil Smith swam for Boston University in 1988 when she placed 6th in backstroke in the NCAA finals. From the Boston University hall of fame:

‘She placed sixth in the 100-yard backstroke with a school-record time of 56:02. By finishing among the top eight in the event, Stephens (Smith’s married name) was recognized as a First Team Division I All-American. She was the first black woman in the nation to accomplish that feat, and she remains Boston University’s only All-American in women’s swimming.’

Sybil is recognized as the finest swimmer in Boston University history. She was the first Junior recipient of the University’s Mildred Barnes award, for being an outstanding female athlete. She won it again during her senior year, the first person to win the award twice.

Smith qualified for the Olympic trials in 3 events, later becoming assistant swim coach at Harvard. She is married to John Stephens, of the NFL Green Bay Packers.

I am surprised this is the first I’ve written about this great swimmer. I have seen that picture before, and I’ve googled her name before. Now we know some of her story. May many more follow.