2012

Dave Haller MBE

Dave Haller MBE

inducted 2012

Biography

Dave Haller MBE and Head Coach to City of Cardiff Swimming Club has announced his retirement from the sport after 47 years of coaching, including, 10 Olympic Games as Great Britain National Coach, 12 Commonwealth Games as National Coach to England, Hong Kong and Wales

Dave Haller has an impressive pedigree in the world of swimming. An Olympian himself, representing Great Britain in Tokyo in 1964, Dave has been the UK’s most successful swimming coach over the past 45 years and has coached 45 swimmers to every Olympic Games since 1968.

He coached David Wilkie and Duncan Goodhew to Olympic Gold Medals and sprinter, Mark Foster who represented the City of Cardiff Swimming Club in 1996 when he swam at the Atlanta Olympics going on to set no less than 7 world records in the pool.

He has also coached at twelve Commonwealth Games and three Asian games (for the Hong Kong squad). His swimmers have achieved six World records, ten Olympic medals (including three golds), 32 Commonwealth medals and over 20 European and World Championship medals.

After Dave’s initial appointment as Head Coach with the formation of the City of Cardiff Swimming Club in 1974, he returned to the Club in 1991 following successful coaching roles in Scotland, England and Hong Kong where he was coach to the National Team.

On his return to Cardiff, Dave Haller was instrumental in the success of Cardiff’s own Olympic medallist David Davies guiding him to Olympic Bronze in the 1500m Freestyle in Athens, 2004 followed by Silver in the 10K Open Water in Beijing 4 years later.

Scottish Swimming honoured Dave with a coaching award for the work he has done with Gregor Tait. Gregor won two golds and two bronze medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the best performance ever by a Scottish athlete in any sport at the Commonwealth Games.

His coaching success has continued throughout his illustrious career having 2 Cardiff swimmers on the team for London 2012, Ieuan Lloyd and David Davies for his 3rd Olympics.

In 2014, six of his swimmers from the City of Cardiff Swimming Club were selected for the Welsh Team in the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Achievements

  • Hall of Fame 2012 recipient
  • BBC Wales Coach of the Year 2004
  • Sports Council for Wales ‘Sports Coach of the Year’ 2004 & 2006
  • Great Britain Swimming Coaches Association ‘Coach of the Year’ award no less than nine times
  • Awarded MBE for services to Sport in 2008
  • British Swimming Coaches Association has presented Dave with the accolade ‘Performance Coach of the Year’ and the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for 40 years of swimming coaching.
  • In the Commonwealth Games at Melbourne 2006 Dave coached David Davies to Gold in the 1500m & bronze in the 400m.

David Davies

David Davies

inducted 2012

At the 2003 European Junior Championships he won a gold medal. At the 2004 Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the men’s 1,500m freestyle, in a time of 14:45.95 (a British and European record). He also swam at the 2004 European Championships and the 2005 World Championships.

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Davies won the 1,500 freestyle and was third in the 400 freestyle. In 2008, he finished second in the 1500 free at the 2008 Short Course Worlds. 

Davies represented Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics, swimming in both the pool competition and open water race. In the men’s 1500m freestyle race, he finished 6th. In the open-water 10K race in Beijing, Davies finished second in the new Olympic event. Shortly after finishing the event, there was concern for Davies’ state of health as First Aid staff rushed to stretcher him off for medical attention. Davies told the BBC shortly afterward: “For the last part of it I was delirious, I wanted it so bad. I’ve given it everything – the stretcher at the end was a bit mad but I’ve got something to show for it. I felt a bit violated to be honest, people swimming all over me, and the last lap was a real struggle.”.

Davies qualified for the Olympics 10K at the 2008 Open Water World Championships in Seville, Spain where he finished just .03 behind the winner.

Achievements

  • Swim Wales Hall of Fame recipient 2012
  • Olympic Games 2008 Silver Medallist – 10k Open Water
  • Olympic Games 2004 Bronze Medallist – Men’s 1,500m freestyle, in a time of 14:45.95 (a British and European record)

2014

Martyn Woodroffe

Martyn Woodroffe

inducted 2014

Biography

Martyn, retired National Performance Director at Swim Wales was himself a great swimmer. Martyn represented Wales at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, and 1970 British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, winning one silver and two bronze medals at the latter.

In 1968 he represented Great Britain at the Olympics in Mexico City in 5 swimming disciplines – 100m, 200m butterfly, 200m, 400m individual medley, and in the 4×100 m medley relay. He won the silver medal in the 200 m butterfly in a time of 2 minutes 9.0 seconds behind Carl Robie of the United States.

Martyn was awarded the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year in 1968, and was admitted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame in 2001

Achievements

  • Swim Wales Hall of Fame 2014
  • Welsh Sports Hall of Fame 2001
  • BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1968

David Roberts MBE

David Roberts MBE

inducted 2014

Biography

His first represented Wales in competition in Glasgow in 1993. His first major competition for Great Britain was at the 1999 European Disabled swimming Championships in Braunschweig, Germany where he won all four of his races. He competed in his first Paralympic Games in Sydney in the summer of 2000. Here he won an impressive haul of seven medals.

At the 2001 European Disabled Swimming Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, David won five gold medals including a clean sweep of the S7 50 m, 100 m and 400 m freestyle events.

The Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games saw Elite Athletes with Disabilities (EAD) competing alongside able-bodied athletes at a major competition for the first time. David was the only disabled swimmer from Great Britain to win a medal, taking the bronze in the men’s multi disability 100 m freestyle.

Roberts won his first IPC World Swimming Championship medals in Mar Del Plata, Argentina in December 2002. He won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

His second experience of Paralympic action came at the Athens 2004 Summer Paralympics. Here David won four golds and one silver. His medals came in the following events:[2]

Men’s 50 m freestyle S7 – GoldMen’s 100 m freestyle S7 – GoldMen’s 400 m freestyle S7 – GoldMen’s 200 m individual medley SM7 – SilverMen’s 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34 pts – Gold

His achievements at the 2000 and 2004 Paralympics, alongside his previous successes for Great Britain, earned David an MBE for his services to disabled sport in the Queen’s New Years Honours. He received his award from the Queen at Buckingham Palace in March 2005. He also made it onto the shortlist of the 2004 BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year Award which was won by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson.

David retained his Commonwealth Games men’s multi disability 100 m freestyle bronze medal at the 2006 event held in Melbourne, Australia. At the 2006 IPC World Swimming Championships, held in Durban, South Africa, he won four gold, 1 silver and a bronze. Included in the medal haul was another clean sweep in the S7 freestyle events.

The first half of 2008 saw David set new world records for the S7 50 m, 100 m, 200 m and 400 m freestyle events in the space of six weeks. He retained his S7 50 m freestyle World record off Great Britain rival Matthew Walker in April at the British Swimming Championships in Sheffield setting a new time of 27.67. At the same event he lowered his S7 100 m freestyle world record to a new time of 1:00.34.

He set a new S7 200 m world record of 2:18.86 at the German Open Championships in May 2008. For the first time in his career he finally took the S7 400 m freestyle world record, which had been held by Dean Booth from New Zealand for eight years previously, at the British International Swimming Championships held in Sheffield in April, recording a time of 4:49.12.

He achieved selection for his third consecutive Paralympics in May 2008 by being named as part of the squad to attend the Beijing Paralympics.

He won four gold medals at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games taking the S7 50 m, 100 m and 400 m freestyle events and was part of the gold medal winning Great Britain 34 point 4×100 m freestyle relay team that broke the world recordby seven seconds. Other members of the team were Graham Edmunds, Robert Welbourn and Matthew Walker.

To show support for his, at the time, coach Billy Pye, who supports Cardiff City Roberts performed The Ayatollah in front of the Western Mail reporters to celebrate winning his 11th gold medal. David is a keen supporter of Wrexham FC and regularly attends games as a supporter of Welsh rugby team, Bridgend Ravens. In winning this 11th gold, David Roberts equalled Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson’s record as being Wales and Britain’s most successful Paralympian.

David  Roberts is one of Great Britain’s most successful Paralympians ever. After winning four golds in the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, David was selected to carry out the British flag at the closing ceremony.

At the start of 2010, David made the move from the Swansea High Performance Centre to Caerphilly County Swim Squad and a new coach in Peter Key. On 4 March 2010 David was chosen to be a patron of the Jaguar Sports Academy. In August 2010 he once again represented Britain at the IPC World Swimming Championships, which were held in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Despite only recently returning to action after a period of prolonged injury and illness, he still managed to retain his S7 100m Freestyle crown, alongside picking up a silver and two bronze medals. He was selected and competed for Wales at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, coming 4th in the S7 100m Freestyle, an event which saw him swim against competitors a class higher than his own.

In April 2012 Roberts was omitted from the GB Swimming Team for the Paralympics at London 2012 because he did not meet his qualifying times due to having pneumonia three weeks before the trials. Despite missing out on qualification by a fraction of a second, and from only having three weeks of training, Team GB’s selector John Atkinson chose not to take him. David subsequently appealed this decision and indeed won, forcing Atkinson to reconsider his decision. Despite winning this appeal, Atkinson again chose not to select David.[4]

He proposed to his long term partner Agata Jankowska on a holiday trip to New York in October 2010. On 11 March he was invited to address the Human Rights Council in Geneva on London 2012 and the rights of people with disabilities.

Achievements

  • Awarded MBE from HRH the Queen in 2005
  • Nominated for the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year for the second time in 2008
  • Awarded CBE from HRH Princess Anne in 2009
  • Swim Wales Hall of Fame recipient 2014

Jazz Carlin

Jazz Carlin

inducted 2014

Biography

Jazz Carlin has won medals at every level of international competition.

Jazz continued her strong form into 2015 taking three Domestic titles at the British Championships in London, 200m, 400, and 800m Freestyle were all hers. She then headed out to her fourth World Championships in Russia where she took bronze in the 800m Freestyle.

She hit top form in 2014, winning the Commonwealth, European and British titles over 800m Freestyle as well as European and British gold and Commonwealth silver in the 400m Freestyle, lowering her Welsh records over 200m, 400m and 800m Freestyle over the course of the season.

2013 was the comeback season for Carlin, bouncing back with a hat-trick of golds across 400m, 800m and 1500m Freestyle at the 2013 British Gas Swimming Championships then a fourth-place finish in the 400m Freestyle at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona.

The combination of recurring tonsillitis and glandular fever disrupted her progress during the 2011 and 2012 seasons, preventing her from qualifying for the 2012 Olympics. Jazz qualifies for teh 2016 Olympics and came away with 2 Silver medals in teh 400 & 800m freestyle.

 Jazz proved she was more than just a relay swimmer as she became the first Welsh female swimmer in 80 years to win two medals at one Commonwealth Games by scooping 200m Freestyle silver and 400m Freestyle bronze in Delhi in 2010.

 Carlin’s international breakthrough came in 2009 when she was selected for the World Championship team after two bronze medals and a silver at the British Swimming Championships in Sheffield. The Welsh swimmer immediately made her mark at the highest level, helping the British 4x200m Freestyle Relay quartet to bronze in Rome.

Achievements

  • Swim Wales Hall of Fame recipient 2014

British Championships

  • 800m Freestyle 2017 – Sheffield 8.30.56 Gold
  • 400m Freestyle 2017 – Sheffield 4.06.37 Silver
  • 200m freestyle 2017 – Sheffield 1.59.59 Bronze
  • 200m Freestyle 2016 – Glasgow 1:57.62 Gold
  • 400m Freestyle 2016 – Glasgow 4:04.33 Gold
  • 800m Freestyle 2016 – Glasgow 8:27.49 Gold
  • 200m Freestyle 2015 – London 1:56.88 Gold
  • 400m Freestyle 2015 – London 4:03.51 Gold
  • 800m Freestyle 2015 – London 8:21.58 Gold
  • 200m Freestyle 2014 – Glasgow 1:57.97 Silver
  • 400m Freestyle 2014 – Glasgow 4:04.68 Gold
  • 400m Freestlye 2013 – Sheffield 4:04.25 Gold
  • 800m Freestyle 2014 – Glasgow 8:18.36 Gold
  • 800m Freestyle 2013 – Sheffield 8:18.58 Gold
  • 1500m Freestyle 2013 – Sheffield 15:47.26 Gold

Olympic Games 2016

  • 400m freestyle 2016 – Rio Silver Medallist
  • 800m Freestyle 2016 – Rio Silver Medallist

World Championships

  • 800m Freestyle 2015 – Kazan 8:18.15 Bronze
  • 4x200m Freestyle relay 2009 – Rome 7:45.51 Bronze

Commonwealth Games

  • 400m Freestyle 2014 – Glasgow 4:05.16 Silver
  • 800m Freestyle 2014 – Glasgow 8:18.11 Gold
  • 200m Freestyle 2010 – Delhi 1:58.29 Silver
  • 400m Freestyle 2010 – Delhi 4:08.22 Bronze

European Championships

  • 400m Freestyle 2014 – Berlin 4:03.24 Gold
  • 800m Freestyle 2014 – Berlin 8:15.54 Gold
  • 4x200m Freestyle Relay 2010 – Budapest 7:55.29 Bronze
  • 800m Freestyle 2016 – London Silver
  • 400m Freestyle 2016 – London Silver

2016

Aaron Moores

Aaron Moores MBE

inducted 2016

Biography

Aaron Moores MBE (born 16 May 1994) is a British Paralympic swimmer competing in the S14 category, mainly in the backstroke and breaststroke. In 2010 he set a new British record in his class for the 50m breaststroke and after qualifying for the 2012 Summer Paralympics he won a silver medal in the 100 m backstroke.

Aaron became Olympic Champion in Rio 2016 in the 100m Breaststroke

Achievements

Olympic Games 2016

  • 100m Breaststroke – Rio – Paralympic  Champion

Olympic Games 2012

  • 100m Backstroke – London Paralympics – Silver

British Para-swimming International Meet

  • MC 100m Breaststroke 2016 – Glasgow 1:06.33 Gold
  • MC 100m Breaststroke 2014 – Glasgow 1:12.41 Silver
  • MC 200m Individual Medley 2013 – Sheffield 2:26.42 Silver

Personal Best -Long Course

  • SB14 50m Breaststroke 2016 30.46 
  • SB14 100m Breaststroke 2016 1:06.33 
  • SB14 200m Breaststroke 2016 2:37.42

Peronal Best – Short Course

  • SB14 50m Breaststroke 2011 31.03 
  • SB14 100m Breaststroke 2011 1:07.51 
  • SB14 200m Breaststroke 2011 2:38.95

Georgia Davies

Georgia Davies

inducted 2016

Biography

Georgia Davies made her senior breakthrough as part of the Wales team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games where she landed 50m backstroke bronze and then finished 15th in the 100m discipline at London 2012.

Two years later at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow she went even better and won gold in the 50m and  silver in the 100m backstroke in a medal-laden 2014.

The London-born sprinter then claimed 50m silver and bronzes in the 100m and 4x100m medley relay on her European Championship debut in Berlin later that year.

Achievements

 Olympic Games

  • 100m Backstroke 2016 – Rio 59.85 10th
  • 4x100m Medley Relay 2016 – Rio 3:56.96 7th
  • 100m Backstroke 2012 – London 1:00.56 15th

Commonwealth Games 2014 

  • 50m Backstroke 2014- Gold
  • 100m Backstroke 2014- Silver
  • 50m Backstroke 2010- Bronze

European Championships 

  • 50m Backstroke 2014- Silver
  • 100m Backstroke 2014 – Bronze
  • 4x100m Medley Relay 2014 – Bronze
  • 50m Backstroke 2016 – Bronze

British Championships

  • 100m Backstroke 2017 – Sheffield 59.34 Gold – WELSH RECORD
  • 50m Backstroke 2017 – Sheffield 27.69 Gold
  • 100m Backstroke 2016 – Glasgow 59.64 Gold
  • 50m Backstroke 2015 – London 28.00 Gold
  • 50m Backstroke 2014 – Glasgow 27.99 Silver
  • 100m Backstroke 2014 – Glasgow 59.78 Gold
  • 50m Backstroke 2013 – Sheffield 27.97 Gold
  • 100m Backstroke 2013 – Sheffield 1:00.13 Silver
  • 100m Backstroke 2012 – London 1:00.21 Silver