Herman Willemse

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

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. He retired from competitive swimming around 1970 and published a book titled Marathonzwemmen (Marathon Swimming). St. John Lake Swim (1962, Canada, 30 km) – 1st place, 9h 3min Around-the-Island Marathon Swim (1961, Atlantic City, USA, 36 km) – 1st place, 11h 14min National Exhibition race (1962, Canada, 24 km) – 1st place, 6h 38min Tois Riviere (1961–1963 and 1965, Canada, 16 km) – 1st place (4 times) Santa Fe-Coronda (1963, Argentina, 58 km) – 1st place Santa Fe-Coronda (1964, Argentina, 58 km) – 3rd place Santa Fe-Coronda (1966, Argentina, 58 km) – 3rd place Hernandaras-Parana (Argentina, 88 km) – 1st place