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Tihanyi Bursary relaunched to honour coach-athlete tandems

News –

OTTAWA— Swimming Canada is proud to relaunch the Dr. Jeno Tihanyi Memorial Bursary to honour the incredible legacy the longtime coach left on Canadian swimming.

The fund is a legacy of Dr. Jeno “Doc” Tihanyi and the many accomplishments over his 51-year coaching career. His focus on improvement over performance garnered much respect within the swimming community, and proved to be successful with many of his athletes, one being Olympic double gold medallist Alex Baumann. Tihanyi was one of the first to marry the art of coaching with the science of coaching.

“Jeno was not only instrumental in my success as a swimmer but also my development as a person,” said Baumann, a member of the bursary selection committee, and the Chief Executive of High Performance Sport New Zealand. “He taught me skills like dedication, discipline and the relentless pursuit of excellence which I have been able to transfer to many things in my life.”

The bursary is important because it highlights the coach-athlete tandem working together to achieve ambitious goals. As a way to honour the relationships between coaches and their swimmers, the bursary acknowledges the potential for high performance through the financial support of training, competitive and professional development opportunities. Coach-swimmer tandems must be registered with Swimming Canada, have achieved “On Track” times and demonstrate the potential for high performance.

Previous recipients of the award include Rio-bound Olympians Kierra Smith and Ryan Cochrane, along with their respective coaches Emil Dimitrov and the late Randy Bennett.

After being awarded annually since 2007, the bursary was not distributed for the 2014-15 season, upon the discretion of the selection committee. Swimming Canada would like to recognize the generosity of Swim Ontario, at the initiative of John Vadeika, in reviving the fund from a financial standpoint leading into the 2015-16 application period.

Applications will be accepted between Aug. 31 and Oct. 15 each year. The bursary’s value will be determined according to the number of applications received and the decisions of the committee.

Applicants must complete the form found under Dr. Jeno Tihanyi Memorial Bursary , and may provide up to two reference letters for the committee’s consideration. The application must be delivered to the address listed at the end of the form.

New to the selection committee this year is Andrey Tihanyi, son of Dr. Jeno Tihanyi, who joins Baumann and National Development Coach Ken McKinnon in determining the recipient.

For more information regarding the bursary and application process, click https://www.swimming.ca/en/resources/history-awards/dr-jeno-tihanyi-memorial-bursary/. For additional information, please contact Ken McKinnon at [email protected].