North Baltimore Aquatic Club

The North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC) is an elite swim club based in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1968,[1] it continues to offer training for young swimmers. It is best known for developing a dozen Olympic swimmers, five of whom earned gold medals.

Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, one of three facilities NBAC uses.

Facilities

The club started training in the Loyola High School pool,[2] but as it has grown, its location has changed. It currently operates out of three locations - Goucher College in Towson,[3] Meadowbrook Aquatic Center in the Northwest Baltimore neighborhood of Mount Washington and Loyola University Maryland in the North Baltimore neighborhood of Homeland.

Olympic swimmers

NBAC has produced eight Olympic swimmers overall.

The organization's best known swimmer is Michael Phelps, who initially competed in the 2000 Sydney Games, then won six gold and two bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Games. In the 2008 Beijing Games Phelps broke seven world records and won the gold medal in all eight events that he competed in. At the 2012 London Games, he earned four gold and two silver medals. Phelps holds the records for most career Olympic gold medals in any sport and the most gold medals in a single Olympic Games, and the record for most Olympic medals overall. At the 2016 Rio Games, Phelps' fifth, he won his 21st Olympic gold medal in the Men's 4x200 freestyle relay.

Olympic swimmers who have trained at NBAC include:

Paralympic swimmers

Along with NBAC's Olympic swimmers, NBAC sent their first Paralympian, 17-year-old Ian Silverman, to the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

NBAC Paralympians

  • Ian Silverman – Competed in the 2012 Paralympic Games. Gold in the 400 meter freestyle; sixth in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay, 4x100 meter medley relay, and the 50 meter freestyle; seventh in the 100 meter freestyle and 200 meter Individual Medley; and eighth in 100 meter butterfly.
  • Rebecca Meyers
  • Jessica Long - Competes in S8 and SB7 category events. She's held multiple world records and has won multiple gold medals over four Summer Paralympics. In total Long has won 23 Paralympic medals, making her the second most decorated American Paralympian.

References

  1. "Where only swimmers' best will do". The Baltimore Sun. August 14, 2008.
  2. "Different Strokes". Baltimore Magazine. August 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-08-21. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  3. "North Baltimore Aquatic Club" Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  4. University of Florida Olympians. Archived 2012-05-11 at the Wayback Machine University of Florida Swimming & Diving. Retrieved May 10, 2011.

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