The well of black swimmers seems to be endless. I found this swimmer, Enith Brigitha with just a little googling. Born in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, Brigitha swam for Holland in the 70s. She first became a force to be reckoned with in 1970, swimming the 100m free at 1:05.0, while still in Curocao. She moved to Holland in 1971 and made their national team, swimming the 100 at 1:00.5, the 10th best female time that year.

She went to the Olympics in 1972 and won a medal for relay, and had shaved another 20+ seconds off her time in the 100m free. (she also swam the 200m and 400 m freestyle) During that year, Brigitha tried the backstroke for the whimsy of it, and was competitive in that stroke as well.

In 1973, Enith Brigitha won bronze in the first World Championships. By 1974, her time in the 100m free was 57:68. She also had competitive times in backstroke that year, as well as in my favorite event, the individual medley, of IM. The IM is where a swimmer swims one (or more) lengths of four strokes: butterfly, back, breast and freestyle.

In the 1976 Olympics, Brigitha swam: 50, 100, 200, 400 free, 100 IM, and 100 back! That sounds like somebody who loves swimming and is really good at it! She swam the 100 free in 56.61 seconds, winning a bronze medal. She also won bronze in the 200 m freestyle that year.

I’d look like that after swimming that much!

She continued swimming, slowing down just slightly in 1977 to 56.7 in the 100, and adding a couple seconds to her 200 time.

Just another swimmer putting an ax to root of the tree that says black folks can’t swim.

I just found out about this swimmer from Suriname, Anthony Nester. He’s a coach at the University of Florida now, but he won the gold medal for 100m fly in the 1988 Olympics. I also found out about a woman from Dutch Antilles that swam for Holland in the 50s. More on her next time. It’s fascinating to find these Black Olympians of the swim world with a little googling.

Here are the Olympic swim trial dates that I copied from their website.   Let’s watch and count all the black specks!

port                                                              Airdate                   Time                       Network

U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming              Sunday, June 29     8:00-9:00 pm ET          NBC

U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming              Monday, June 30     8:00-9:00 pm ET          USA

U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming              Tuesday, July 1       8:00-9:00 pm ET          USA

U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming              Wednesday, July 2  8:00-9:00 pm ET          USA

U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming              Thursday, July 3      8:00-9:00 pm ET          USA

U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming              Friday, July 4            8:00-9:00 pm ET        NBC

U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming              Saturday, July 5        8:00 -9:00 pm ET       NBC

U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming              Sunday, July 6         8:00 -9:00 pm ET        NBC

The Olympics begin on 08/08/08! They’re scheduled to begin at 08:08:08PM on. . . what was that date again? That’s China time, so I’m not sure when to look for it here. Midnightish? Or Noonish? If we set the TIVO, or in our case, the Windows Media Center for Olympics, we should catch it.

And what I’ll be looking for? Is swimming. Because I’m a swim fiend like that.

Before the Olympics, though, there’s the Olympic trials. Cullen Jones is the man to watch.

The current world record holder in the mens 50 freestyle, Cullen Jones was also on the gold medal 4×100 freestyle relay team in the Pan Pacific games last year, along with Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak, and Neil Walker.

None of this means anything, though if he can’t translate his past victories into a spot on that team. We should set our TIVOS and Media Centers for the Olympic Swim trials, from June 29th-July 6th.