The Blues legacy spans over half a century. Colin Russell, Luke Hall and Zsofi Balazs represented the Blues at the 2012 Olympic Games. Liz Warden represented Canada in Athens in three events. In 2002, Jen Button won medals at the Commonwealth Games and PanPacific Games.
Further back in history, Blues medical student Bill Yorzyk won the gold medal at the 1956 Olympics (he was an American citizen), while Dan Thompson set the world record in the 100m fly in 1983.
Since Byron MacDonald’s appointment as head coach in 1978, over 70 Varsity Blues swimmers have made international teams, and there have been over 200 all-Canadians produced by U of T swimming. The Blues have won more team banners than any other team in Canada.
TEAM SUCCESS
U of T has won more conference championship banners than any other swim team in Canada!
Number of OUA (conference) men's titles: 65
Number of OUA (conference ) women's titles: 46
Number of CIS (national) men's titles: 19
Number of CIS (national) women's titles: 15
The Blues men's won 32 consecutive OUA titles from the early 60’s to the 90’s.
The Blues women's team won an incredible 13 national titles in 15 years in the 80’s and 90’s.
[note: men's national title began in 1965 and the women's in 1977]
INDIVIDUAL SUCCESS
From Olympic gold medalists to world record holders, U of T has had them all.
1956 Olympic 200m butterfly gold medallist Bill Yorzyk (who swam for the United States) is a medical school graduate of U of T.
World records were set by Dan Thompson (100m butterfly/1983) and Colin Russell (4x200 freestyle relay/2009).
Recent standouts include Olympians and Commonwealth silver medallists Liz Warden (0T7) and Jen Button (0T6); Olympian and back-to-back CIS male swimmer of the year Colin Russell (1T0), as well as 2012 Olympians Zsofi Balazs and Luke Hall (Swaziland). Kylie Masse won the bronze medal in the 100 backstroke at the 2016 Olympic Games, as well as two silver medals (100 & 200 backstroke) and one bronze medal (4x100 medley relay) at the 2020 Olympic Games.
On December 1, 1978 the University of Toronto 200 m Medley Relay team of Jay Tapp, Henry Vehovec, Dan Thompson and Phil Moore set a national record of 1:48.33. The record was set at the Canada Cup international event at the Etobicoke Olympium. The photo was taken later at Benson Building, University of Toronto. The Varsity Blues went on to win their 19th OUAA title later that season as described in the Sportsweek article.
Updated: December 2022
