John Devitt, the 1960 Olympic 100m freestyle champion for Australia, has been awarded the FINA Prize, for his long and unstinting services to aquatic sports.
After his fine career as an athlete, Devitt served in many roles, both professional and as a volunteer, that helped to further the interests of swimming and swimmers.
Most recently, he was a key figure in the delivering successful major events in Australia, including the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 2006 and the World Championships in the same city a year later.
In 1960, Devitt was the last swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal in the pool where, faced with a difficult decision, the human eye was judged preferable to manual timing and the first electronic device that registered manual times to a hundredth of a second.
Devitt entered the 100m freestyle final in Rome, 1960, as world record holder and 1956 silver medal winner. He led the race in the closing metres but Lance Larson (USA) made a last-moment surge to the wall: three judges went with the Australian, three with the American, while the clock favoured the American, on 55.0, 55.1 and 55.1 to the Australian's 55.2, 55.2, 55.2. An electronic readout had Larson ahead, 55.10 to 55.16. Despite that, German Hans Runstromer, the chief judge who, under FINA rules had no say in the matter, instructed recorders to change Larson's time to 55.2 and to grant gold to Devitt. Four years of protests failed to overturn the decision. Devitt ended his career with two golds (100m, 1960; 4x200m 1956) a silver (100m, 1956) and a bronze (4x200m, 1960), and four individual and 10 relay world records to his credit.
The honour could hardly have gone to someone more deserving than Devitt, a fine ambassador for swimming and one of the most pleasant people you could ever wish to meet. His award was announced by FINA today after it latest Bureau meeting in Lausanne. The theme is the gathering, the first of the federation's Centenary year was 'Water and Environmental protection', lending an apt green theme to celebrations that recognises the need for all us us to treat water with the respect due to the life-preserving element.
The Bureau also heard that Melbourne 2007 had an Aus$105 million positive impact on the local economy and helped to create 660 jobs.
Beyond Devitt's prize, the following were also awarded: