IU Athletics has produced 191 Olympic berths for athletes, coaches and judges. And 110 of those have come from the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs.
In the 2012 Olympics, seven Hoosiers represented six countries in six sports. Four of those athletes represented the IU swimming and diving program — Margaux Farrell, Christina Loukas, Dorina Szekeres and Nicholas Schwab. Their representation only continues the history of IU swimming and diving’s contribution to Olympic teams for not only the U.S. but 14 other countries as well.
Of IU Olympians’ 49 gold medals, 35 were from swimmers and divers. Nine of 16 silvers were from Hoosier swimmers and divers, as well as 18 of 23 bronze medals.
Seven of the Hoosiers’ gold medals came from Mark Spitz in the 1972 Olympic Games where he won seven separate events. Spitz held the record for most gold medals won by a single athlete in a single Olympic Game until Michael Phelps won eight medals in the 2008 Beijing games.
On the coaching and judging side, swimming Coach James “Doc” Counsilman, who coached the Hoosiers from 1957 to 1990, and diving Coach Hobie Billingsley, who coached the Hoosiers from 1959 to 1989, both led Team USA to Olympic titles.
Counsilman coached both the 1964 and 1976 U.S. Olympic teams. In that time, he coached 48 medalists, with 17 of them earning gold medals.
Billingsley not only coached the 1968 and 1972 U.S. Olympics teams, but also the Austrian teams in 1976 and 1980 and Danish teams in 1980. In the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, he served as a judge in the diving competition.
Today, the aquatics center in the Student Recreational Sports Center is named for the two coaches.
