Ned Denison, chairperson of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, formally inducted Sam Greetham as an Honor Administrator in the IMSHOF Class of 2024.
The long-time British coach, official, and administrator was honored today at the Class of 2024’s International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame ceremonies in Cancún, Mexico – along with the following luminaries of the sport:
- Penny Lee Dean, EdD – ISHOF Poseidon Award
- Massimo Giuliani – ISHOF Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award
- Melissa Cunningham Roberts – The Dale Petranech Award for Services to IMSHOF
- Leonie Beck, Honor Swimmer, Germany, 2024
- Ros Hardiman, Honor Swimmer, Great Britain, 2024
- Allan do Carmo, Honor Swimmer, Brazil, 2024
- Sam Greetham, Honor Administrator, Great Britain, 2024
- Catherine Vogt Kase, Honor Coach, United States of America, 2024
- Lynton Mortensen, Honor Swimmer, Australia, 2024
- Pauline Jackson, Honor Administrator, United States of America, 2024
- Dr. Evgenij Pop Acev, Honor Swimmer, Macedonia
- Courtney Moates Paulk, Honor Swimmer, USA
- Arianna Bridi, Honor Swimmer, Italy
- Suzanne Heim-Bowen, Honor Swimmer, USA
- Dan Simonelli, Honor Coach, USA
- Simone Ruffini, Honor Swimmer, Italy
Sam Greetham Legacy
Sam Greetham has served as a long-time technical member on the FINA Technical Open Water Committee (TOWSC) from 2009 to 2022. He served as Secretary of the Committee 2019 to 2022.
He accepted the pressure-packed position to serve as the Chief Referee for the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Steven Munatones recalls, “In front of his home nation, he was in charge of the tough race where he had to be closely observant for nearly two hours and constantly make split-second decisions regarding possible impeding violations and unsportsmanlike conduct among a tightly packed pack. But, like the other officials with such a heavy responsibility, he called a great race and fairness prevailed. With all his decades of experience, his professionalism and placing of the athletes first and foremost were quite evident.”
Greetham also placed was key roles in the organization of the Olympic marathon swim at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
His duties have required him to travel to 20 different countries and been involved with six different Olympic Games in 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney, 2008 Beijing, 2012 London, 2016 Rio de Janeiro, and 2021 Tokyo. During those times, he has served as a FINA School Lecturer within the FINA open water swimming community between 2008 to 2023. In Europe, he was the Secretary of the Technical Open Water Committee of LEN (since its inclusion in the main body in 1998) to 2023 and became its Chairperson from 2018 to 2023.
In addition to his international responsibilities for FINA and the global swimming community, Greethm has also run his local swimming club for 40 years – Scarborough Swimming Club where he also competed as a swimmer – and fulfilled numerous roles representing the sporting community at all levels.
© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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