Anthony Nesty, who made history in the 1988 Olympics by becoming the first Black male swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal, will lead USA Swimming’s men’s team in Paris.
According to ESPN, Nesty has worked with top American swimmers Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel, and Bobby Finke as the head swim coach at the University of Florida. In 2022, Nesty became the first Black coach to lead a United States team at the World Championships.
In a press release from USA Swimming, Nesty and fellow coach Todd DeSorbo were credited with the leading “the U.S. team at the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary where American swimmers earned 45 medals in the pool–good for the most medals ever awarded at a world championship, surpassing the previous U.S. record of 38.”
“I’m excited to be the men’s head Olympic coach in Paris,” Nesty said. “Todd and I look forward to coaching these athletes to the best of their abilities in Paris next summer.”
Nesty acknowledge the importance of his position in a sport that desperately needs to diversify in an interview with the Associated Press.
“You know you’re a role model. You have to take that very seriously. Maybe it’s why I work so hard at what I do. I try to be the best Anthony Nesty I can be,” he said.
Speaking about the impact of his career for his native country of Suriname, which contains fewer than a million people, Nesty said, “It’s just an amazing story. Whether it was being in the right place at the right time or just luck or just God-given talent that I, of course, had, it’s a unique story, that’s for sure.”
“I remember the first time I saw a Black official at a meet,” Black Swimming Association founder Seren Jones told the AP. “I actually started crying. That reaction surprised me a bit, but there is such a starvation of role models for Black swimmers. I never had one.”
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