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The Most Famous

SWIMMERS from Canada

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This page contains a list of the greatest Canadian Swimmers. The pantheon dataset contains 392 Swimmers, 9 of which were born in Canada. This makes Canada the birth place of the 14th most number of Swimmers behind France and Denmark.

Top 9

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Canadian Swimmers of all time. This list of famous Canadian Swimmers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of George Hodgson

1. George Hodgson (1893 - 1983)

With an HPI of 45.75, George Hodgson is the most famous Canadian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages on wikipedia.

George Ritchie Hodgson (October 12, 1893 – May 1, 1983) was a Canadian competition swimmer of the early 20th century, and considered by many to be the greatest swimmer in Canadian history. Hodgson won the two longer freestyle swimming gold medals at the 1912 Olympics, the only categories in which he competed. He also competed at the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Alexandre Despatie

2. Alexandre Despatie (1985 - )

With an HPI of 29.73, Alexandre Despatie is the 2nd most famous Canadian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Alexandre Despatie (French: [alɛksɑ̃dʁ depati]; born June 8, 1985) is a Canadian diver and broadcaster from Laval, Quebec. He was the world champion at the 1 and 3 m springboards from 2005 to 2007 and is the first, and so far only, diver to have been world champion in all three individual categories (1, 3 and 10 m platform). He is also a 37-time Canadian senior diving champion and nine-time junior champion, and the most decorated male diver in Canadian history, winning two Olympic silver medals and reaching eight podiums at the world championships, including three gold medals. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Photo of Carolyn Waldo

3. Carolyn Waldo (1964 - )

With an HPI of 29.72, Carolyn Waldo is the 3rd most famous Canadian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Carolyn Jane Waldo, (born December 11, 1964, in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian former synchronized swimmer and broadcaster.Competing both as a solo and as part of a duo with Michelle Cameron, Waldo experienced tremendous success in international competition. As part of the duo with Cameron,Waldo won a golden medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montréal and 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Waldo won at the 1985 Rome and Spanish Opens, 1985 FINA World Cup, 1986 Spanish Open, 1986 Commonwealth Games, 1986 World Championships, 1987 Pan Pacific Championships and the 1987 FINA World Cup. Waldo won a silver medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Waldo won the Olympic title in the solo and duo competitions at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, making her the Canadian female to win two gold medals at one Olympic Games.An Officer of the Order of Canada, a four-time winner of the Velma Springstead Trophy, Waldo retired in 1988 and worked as a sportscaster for the television station CJOH in Ottawa, Ontario, until being laid off on November 17, 2015. During her competitive career, she was sponsored by Sears Canada.

Photo of Mark Tewksbury

4. Mark Tewksbury (1968 - )

With an HPI of 22.32, Mark Tewksbury is the 4th most famous Canadian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Mark Roger Tewksbury, (born February 7, 1968) is a Canadian former competitive swimmer. He is best known for winning the gold medal in the 100-metre backstroke at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He also hosted the first season of How It's Made, a Canadian documentary series, in 2001. Tewksbury was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (Civil Division) in 1993 for being a "motivational speaker and a gifted athlete."

Photo of Penny Oleksiak

5. Penny Oleksiak (2000 - )

With an HPI of 18.87, Penny Oleksiak is the 5th most famous Canadian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Penelope Oleksiak (born June 13, 2000) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. Her country's most decorated Olympian, Oleksiak rose to fame during the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she became the first Canadian to win four medals in the same Summer Games, and the country's youngest Olympic champion with her gold medal win in the 100 m freestyle. She was the first athlete born in the 2000s to claim an Olympic gold medal in an individual event. Her success led to her being awarded the 2016 Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete, the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canada's top female athlete for 2016, and a member of the Canadian Press team of the year. Five years later she won three additional medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics, breaking the national record for Olympic medals.Widely considered the face of a resurgent Canadian women's swimming team in the 2010s, Oleksiak is also Canada's most decorated athlete at the World Aquatics Championships, and a multi-medallist at the World Swimming Championships, World Junior Championships, and Commonwealth Games. She is the current junior world and Canadian record holder in the 100 m freestyle, and formerly held the world junior and Canadian records in the 100 m butterfly, as well as the Olympic record in the 100 m freestyle alongside Simone Manuel.

Photo of Brent Hayden

6. Brent Hayden (1983 - )

With an HPI of 18.56, Brent Hayden is the 6th most famous Canadian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Brent Matthew Hayden (born October 21, 1983) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. Representing Canada for a decade, Hayden is regarded as the fastest swimmer in Canadian history. Hayden won a bronze medal in the 100 m freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London with a time of 47.80, and was world champion in the same event in 2007 with Filippo Magnini of Italy. By winning the 100 metre, Hayden became the first Canadian in 21 years to win a gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships, and was also the first Canadian to appear in the 100 metre final at the Olympics since Dick Pound at the 1960 Summer Olympics, and the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in the 100 metre. Hayden added a further three silver and one bronze medal to his World Championship totals. Hayden is currently the Canadian record-holder in the 200 metre and 100 metre in both the short-course and long-course. He has also held the world record in the 4×100 metre medley relay, and the 4×200 metre freestyle relay. Initially retiring after the London Olympics, Hayden returned to the pool seven years later to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Photo of Kylie Masse

7. Kylie Masse (1996 - )

With an HPI of 17.16, Kylie Masse is the 7th most famous Canadian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Kylie Jacqueline Masse (born January 18, 1996) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. She is a four-time Olympic medallist, having tied for the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 100 m backstroke and then won silver medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics in both the 100 m and 200 m backstroke and a bronze medal in the 4x100 m medley. Masse is a two-time world champion in the 100 m backstroke, breaking the eight year old world record in the process, which she held until July 2018. While winning her title in Budapest at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships she became the first Canadian woman to become a world champion in a swimming event. She subsequently became the first Canadian woman to defend her world title at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. She is currently the captain for the Toronto Titans of the International Swimming League. Masse won two gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, setting a games record in both events, and finished the games with a silver in the 50 m backstroke. She is also the Canadian record holder in the 100 m backstroke. Masse won gold in the 100 m backstroke at the 2015 Summer Universiade and was the 2015–16 CIS swimmer of the year while swimming at the University of Toronto.

Photo of Ryan Cochrane

8. Ryan Cochrane (1988 - )

With an HPI of 17.14, Ryan Cochrane is the 8th most famous Canadian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Ryan Andrew Cochrane (born October 29, 1988) is a retired Canadian competitive swimmer who specialised in freestyle distance events. Cochrane is an Olympic silver and bronze medallist as well as a triple gold medallist from the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. He is also a four-time Commonwealth Games champion in the 400-metre and 1,500-metre having won both medals in 2010 and 2014. He holds six world championship medals from the 800-metre and 1500-metre, this also makes Cochrane Canada's all-time leading medallist for a swimmer at the World Aquatics Championships. Cochrane also won gold medals in the 400 and 1,500 m freestyle at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, as well as a bronze in the 4 x 200 m freestyle at the 2015 Games. From the year 2008 - 2015, Cochrane was named the Canadian male swimmer of the year - winning the award 8 times in a row.

Photo of Taylor Ruck

9. Taylor Ruck (2000 - )

With an HPI of 8.57, Taylor Ruck is the 9th most famous Canadian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Taylor Madison Ruck (born May 28, 2000) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. She won two Olympic bronze medals as part of Canada's women's 4×100 metre and 4×200 metre freestyle relay teams at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Ruck won eight medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Her eight medal performance of one gold, five silver, and two bronze tied her with three other athletes for the most all-time at a single Commonwealth Games, as well as making her the most decorated Canadian female athlete ever at a single Commonwealth Games. Ruck is the all-time leading medallist at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships having won nine gold, two silver, and two bronze over the course of the 2015 and 2017 editions.

Pantheon has 9 people classified as swimmers born between 1893 and 2000. Of these 9, 8 (88.89%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living swimmers include Alexandre Despatie, Carolyn Waldo, and Mark Tewksbury. The most famous deceased swimmers include George Hodgson. As of April 2022, 1 new swimmers have been added to Pantheon including Taylor Ruck.

Living Swimmers

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Deceased Swimmers

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Newly Added Swimmers (2022)

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