jonty skinner

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Coach Doug Skinner

Jonty Skinner - world record holder
John ("Jonty") Alexander Skinner (born in Cape Town, South Africa) and matriculated from Selborne High School in East London, is a former South African swimmer turned national American swim coach. At the 1973 South African National Swimming Championships he won the 100 metre freestyle event and backed that up by winning the event again at the 1974 National Championships. He was awarded the title of South Africa Athlete of the Year and was also awarded Springbok colours in Swimming and Life Saving. He decided to move to the United States and attend the University of Alabama. Whilst there, he won gold in the 100 yard freestyle at the 1975 Division I NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships and was voted Alabama's most valuable swimmer in 1975, 1976 and 1977. He was also voted as Alabama's Athlete of the Year.In 1976, he weighed 185 pounds and stood 6'5" and had a good chance of taking the gold medal in the 100 metres freestyle at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, however at the time South Africa was still banned from the Olympics hence making Skinner ineligible to compete. However, after the completion of the Olympics, at the 1976 United States Summer National Swimming Championships in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and after just qualifying for the final, Skinner broke Jim Montgomery's 20-day old world record in the 100 metre freestyle by 0.55 seconds beating home the Olympic champion and Joe Bottom who won silver in Montreal. His record stood until 3 April 1981 when Rowdy Gaines swam the distance in 49.36 seconds in Texas. In addition to his world record, he set three American records in the 100 yards freestyle. In 1985, he was recognized by the swimming world when he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Swimmer. See the International Swimming Hall of Fame page for Jonty's swimming biography Coaching career Skinner began his coaching career in 1978 when appointed head coach of University of Alabama's swim team. After three years he moved to California and became the head coach of the San Jose Aquatics Club where under his guidance the club won five junior national championship team titles and in 1986 took the national championship team title at Phillips 66 Long Course Senior Nationals. He served as head coach until 1988.[4] From 1994 to 2000 Skinner served as USA Swimming's Resident Team Coach, which involved coaching some of the nation's top swimmers at the elite national and international level. From 2000 to 2008 Skinner served as USA Swimming's Director of National Team Technical Support, which involves coordinating all of the testing, tracking and assessment of the National Team athletes. He currently operates Athletic Intelligence Consulting and is an UpMyGame coach. Most recently he has taken up a position with British Swimming.

Sport Illustrated - August 23, 1976 A Feat Of Olympian Proportions Barred from Montreal, South African Jonty Skinner held his own "Games" in the AAU swim meet and became the Fastest Man Afloat After winning the 100-meter freestyle in Philadelphia's sun-drenched John B. Kelly Pool, Jonty Skinner, a South African who swims during the college season for the University of Alabama, took one look at the overhead clock, saw the numbers 49.44, leaped into the air and joyously embraced his rivals. Then the 6'5" Skinner slumped, sobbing, against the edge of the pool. A moment later he climbed out of the water and put his arms around Alabama Coach Don Gambril. "Oh, Coach," he said in a choked voice, "Coach, I did it." The cause of Skinner's tearful jubilation at the AAU outdoor championships was a world record made doubly gratifying by the fact that he had been deprived of an opportunity to do the same at the Montreal Olympics. Because of its apartheid policy, Skinner's homeland is banned from Olympic competition, and last winter he had sought Congressional assistance in hope of becoming an American citizen in time to try out for the U.S. team (SI, March 29). But a bill providing for hurry-up citizenship was rejected by a House subcommittee, forcing Skinner to watch on TV as Indiana University's Jim Montgomery won the 100 freestyle at the Games in 49.99—[6/10] of a second faster than Montgomery's old world record. U.S. men won 12 of 13 events in Montreal, but Doc Counsilman, the Indiana and Olympic men's coach, singled out Montgomery's breaking of the 50-second barrier as "an historic achievement." In rewriting history so soon, Skinner created an ironic situation: his record means that in the most stunning year in Olympic swimming history, a non-Olympian now holds the title of Fastest Man Afloat. Leading all the way in Philadelphia, he pared half a second off Montgomery's three-week-old record and 1� seconds off his personal best. Montgomery had elected to pass up the AAU meet, but the cheering crowd of 4,000 at the Kelly Pool obviously agreed with Skinner that his absence was not critical. Once the emotions of the moment subsided a bit, Skinner said, "Since I couldn't swim against Jim, my opponent had to be the clock." Skinner's remarkable performance, which occurred during the final session of the four-day competition, came just as it appeared that the 1976 AAU would become the first major meet in memory that failed to produce a world record. The consensus was that the pool in Philly was slow, and there also was talk about a letdown after Montreal, where world records were set or equaled in 22 of 26 events. In fact, except for Skinner's swim, the times in Philadelphia were so plodding that it seemed almost sacrilegious that the scoreboard clock was one of those used in Montreal. At least the clock seemed to think so; until it was rewired on the meet's third day, it refused to function properly.