Swimming Canada Inducts Nancy Garapick, Nigel Kemp to Circle of Excellence
Swimming Canada this week has inducted Olympic medalist Nancy Garapick and coach Nigel Kemp into its Circle of Excellence.
The announcement is timed with Bell Canadian Trials, which is taking place in Montreal on the 50th anniversary of the Montreal Olympics there in 1976.
Garapick, who died in April, enters the Circle with her long-time coach. The Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club swimmer set a world record at age 13, one of the youngest ever to do so, when she set the mark in the 200 backstroke. She won silver in the 200 back and bronze in the 100 back at the World Championships in 1975 and at age 14 was the youngest person ever named Canada’s Female Athlete of the Year.
She earned bronze medals in both backstroke events at the Montreal Games. In those events, she was behind two East Germany swimmers, both of whom were part of a state-sponsored doping program.
“Few individuals have left a mark on Canadian swimming quite like Nancy Garapick and Nigel Kemp. Their accomplishments on the international stage helped elevate our sport and remain a source of pride nearly five decades later,” Swimming Canada CEO Suzanne Paulins said in a press release. “As we celebrate the 1976 Olympics, we are honoured to welcome them into Swimming Canada’s Circle of Excellence, where their legacy will stand alongside the greatest names in our history.”
Garapick also won two silver and three bronze at the 1979 Pan American Games and a relay bronze at the 1978 World Championship.
Kemp swam internationally for Great Britain and arrived in Canada in 1971. He spent more than five decades coaching, first as a lecturer at Dalhousie University and later at Halifax Trojan. He coached for 27 years at Dalhousie, winning 27 conference championships and coaching 63 national medalists (19 gold). He was 10 times named the Athletic University Coach of the Year and was Canadian Swimming Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1975.
“When I came to Halifax, people didn’t feel they could accomplish things at a national level let alone international level,” Kemp said. “I was keen to let athletes travel. We had wonderful people in our club who helped us raise money so we could go to competitions in the United States and across Canada. As a result, our athletes found out people trained the way they did and realized they could do things they thought only other people could do.”
Kemp was on Team Canada’s coaching staff for the 1976 Olympics and the 1980 Games (which the country boycotted). He coached at several World Championships, Commonwealth Games and World University Games. He later became the president of Masters Swimming Canada.
But his connection with Garapick is in many ways the high point of his career.
“During the time I was coaching Nancy, I was very much engaged in coaching – not really feeling what was happening was quite outstanding, but as I look back now, it was really an amazing time,” he said. “I can walk on the pool deck today and see the all the records listed on the Halifax Aquatic Trojan banners, and Nancy still holds 20 of them 50 years later.”