Herman Willemse

Herman "Flying Dutchman" Willemse (22 May 1934[1] – 7 July 2021[2]) was a Dutch long-distance and marathon swimmer. In 2008, he was inducted to the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.[3]

Willemse in 1961

Willemse started his career as a freestyle swimmer, winning 13 national titles and setting 19 national records in the 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m events between 1952 and 1958. In 1959, he switched to marathon swimming and became the second Dutchman to cross the English Channel, with a time of 12h49.[4][5] Later in the 1960s he dominated the world marathon swimming. For three years after 1964, when the point system was introduced, he was ranked world number two, after Abo Heif.[3][6][7] His clean sweep of the Around-the-Island Marathon Swim in 1960–1964 brought the organizers to a problem that spectators lost interest in the race. The race was discontinued in 1965.[8]

A school teacher by profession, Willemse was known for his academic approach to swimming. He would often travel around the place before the competition and measure the water temperature, to optimize his racing strategy, or even withdraw from a potentially disastrous race if the temperature was too low.[9] He retired from competitive swimming around 1970 and published a book titled Marathonzwemmen (Marathon Swimming).[10]