Santa Clara's Olympic Connections

The Olympics represent the spirit that is our community, our state, and our nation. We are proud to look back through the City of Santa Clara's history and find strong ties to the Olympics Games and the perseverance, honor and good sportsmanship that they embody. The Santa Clara Swim Club, with more athletes inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame than any club in the world, has developed 46 Olympians, 34 of them medalists. They have earned 51 Olympic gold medals, 17 Olympic silver medals and 11 Olympic bronze medals. These Olympians include Mark Spitz, Pablo Morales, Claudia Kolb, Don Schollander, Keena Rothhammer, Tom Wilkens and many more outstanding swimmers. A complete list of our Olympians is found below. Santa Clara is also proud to have played a role in the bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics in the San Francisco Bay area. Our International Swim Center was a proposed Olympic venue for swimming and diving.

The George F. Haines International Swim Center, considered by many to be the ‘crown jewel’ of our city, remains a premier swim meet location. Each year scores of elite athletes from all over the world converge on Santa Clara to participate in world-class competition, often posting record breaking times as swimmers head toward the Olympic Games. 16-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps set a world record here on June 29th, 2003 at the 36th Annual International Invitational Grand Prix Meet, with a time of 1:57.94 in the 200m Individual Medley. Since then, he has gone on to break both Meet Records and American Records at our facility almost every year. The International Swim Center is also the home of the world renowned Santa Clara Aquamaids, the most decorated synchronized swim team in the world. The Aquamaids have produced more than 58% of all the Olympic Synchronized Swimmers representing the USA since it became an Olympic sport back in 1952. In addition, the Santa Clara Diving Club, with its rich history of developing national caliber divers, continues to train athletes at our swim center.

Olympians with Santa Clara Affiliations

Tom Wilkens was a Bronze medalist in the 200 Individual Medley at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Tom was also the U.S. Swim Team Co-Captain at those Olympics. Tom was a Santa Clara resident, a graduate of Stanford University in 1998, and a four-year member of the Santa Clara Swim Club when he won his Olympic medal.

Tom was also a 12 time National Swim Champion and a 5 time NCAA Champion. Previously, he won Gold Medals at the Pan Pacific Games and the World University Games.