We are proud that over the years we have worked with and advanced a great number of swimmers. Every swimmer is important and every swimmer has a role to play in the history of the City of Liverpool Swimming Squad.
There are a couple of stand out swimmers that do deserve that additional mention and as such we have added just a brief history of some of their wonderful achievements through the years.
Austin Rawlinson
Full name: Austin Rawlinson Gender: Male Born: November 7, 1902 (Age 98) in West Derby, Liverpool, Merseyside, Great Britain Died: November 2000 Country: Great Britain Sport: Swimming
“The Wonder Man of British Swimming.” An innovator, he introduced the alternating arm backstroke to Britain and Europe and was champion of England five times from 1921 to 1926. He came fifth in the final of the 100 metres backstroke at the Paris Olympic Games in 1924, where he swam against the world-famous Johnny Weissmuller of Tarzan fame.
Rawlinson went on to become a life member of Garston Swimming Club and was its president for over 40 years. After his years in active competition, he held just about every administrative and officiating position in the hallowed Amateur Swimming Association (ASA), and was awarded the OBE in 1961 for his services to swimming.
Helen Jameson
Helen Jameson (born 25 September 1963) is a former British swimmer.
She was a member of the silver medal winning British women's 4×100 m medley relay team at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. She swam the backstroke leg alongside Margaret Kelly, Ann Osgerby and June Croft. She also competed in the individual 100 m and 200 m backstroke events.
Helen also represented England at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. LIVERPOOL'S swimming tradition is rich. But while Steven Parry and Andrew Jameson were bronze medallists in Athens and Seoul, Andrew's sister Helen claimed silver in Moscow in 1980, swimming a superb leg for the British relay team.
Andrew Jameson
Andrew ("Andy") Jameson (born 19 February 1965) is an English sports commentator and former competitive swimmer. He competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1980. He was born in Crosby, Merseyside. Jameson's swimming career was initially centred around individual medley events, but after studying at Arizona State University, he decided to specialise in the 100 m butterfly and 100 m freestyle events. A founder member of Kelly College Swim Squad in Tavistock (along with Sharron Davies) Jameson represented Great Britain at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where he finished 5th place in the 100 m butterfly. He then won silver in the 100 m butterfly at the 1985 European Championships (Sofia), behind the legendary Michael Groß. Jameson took bronze in the 100 m butterfly at the 1986 World Championships (Madrid), and then went on to take gold in the same event at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games later that year. He won gold at the 1987 European Championships (Strasbourg) in the 100 m butterfly, and was also part of the team which took silver in the 4×100 m medley relay. Going into the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, he was one of the pre-race favourites to win, having been undefeated for over two years in the 100 m butterfly. He qualified fastest into the final, where he took bronze in a time of 53.30 s, breaking both the British and Commonwealth records in the process. Jameson retired from competitive swimming in 1989. He commentates on swimming for the BBC with fellow Olympian Adrian Moorhouse. His sister Helen was also a swimmer, and represented Britain at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow winning a silver medal in the 4×100 m medley relay
Stephen Parry
Stephen ("Steve") Benjamin Parry (born 2 March 1977) is a former British butterfly swimmer. He competed internationally in 100-metre and 200-metre butterfly distances.
Parry was born in Liverpool, and as a boy attended Booker Avenue Junior School and the Liverpool Blue Coat School in Wavertree. He first joined a swimming club in Woolton, and then went on to swim for the Liverpool Penguins and City of Liverpool clubs. He started training seriously when he was twelve years of age, but also enjoyed playing cricket and basketball for his school teams. Training became more intense when he was sixteen, and he qualified for the European Junior Championships. The following year, aged 17, he won the competition for Great Britain. Aged eighteen, Parry left the UK to attend Florida State University, studying marketing and finance alongside his swimming. He excelled during his time in the United States, winning the NCAA title in the 200 m butterfly. After returning to Britain and joining Stockport Metro, he set a Commonwealth record at the 2000 US Nationals in Seattle, beating, among others, a very young Michael Phelps. Later that year he qualified for his first Olympic Games in Sydney. Four years later in Athens, Greece, Parry won Britain's first Olympic swimming medal in eight years at the Athens Summer Olympics in 200-metres butterfly, being beaten by Michael Phelps and Takashi Yamamoto. Phelps had beaten him into 4th place at Sydney four years earlier. Parry retired from competitive swimming in 2005. After retiring, Parry joined up with former training partner Adrian Turner to create a swimming training program for young people called Total Swimming. He briefly hosted his own Sunday afternoon programme on BBC Radio Merseyside before joining BBC Sport as part of their team covering the swimming at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Michael Rock
Michael Paul Rock (born 13 March 1987 in Liverpool, United Kingdom) is a British butterfly stroke swimmer.
Rock competed in the 100 m and 200 m butterfly events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, after becoming British champion in both events at the 2008 British Olympic Swimming Trials in Sheffield. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, competed in the 100 and 200m butterfly events where he won silver at 200m.
Francesca Halsall
Francesca Jean Halsall (born 12 April 1990 in Southport, United Kingdom) is a British freestyle and butterfly swimmer.
Halsall was the youngest member of the Team England swim squad at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne where she won silver medals in the 4×100 m freestyle and 4×100 m medley relays. She was a member of the European Championships 4×100 m medley relay team that took gold in August 2006 and successfully defended their title in August 2008 in Eindhoven. Halsall won five medals at the 2010 European Championships in Budapest, 2 Golds, 2 Silvers and a Bronze and was a member of the 4x100m medley relay team that successfully defended their title for a second time. In winning five medals, she became the most successful British swimmer ever at a single championships. At the Commonwealth Games in 2010 in New Delhi, India, Halsall won a gold medal, with a national record of 26.19 seconds, in the 50m butterfly, beating the favoured Australians. In the 100m freestyle Halsall was expected to win easily but a bout of illness (Delhi Belly) left her pale and weak and she had to be content with the bronze medal. Just 20 minutes later and despite being almost unable to stand up she returned for the 100m butterfly semi finals but failed to make the final. Later in the Games Halsall recovered enough to win 3 more silver medals in the women's 50m freestyle and as part of the 4 x 100 freestyle and medley relay teams