Courtesy: University of Toronto Athletics
Long time University of Toronto Varsity Blues swimming coach, Byron MacDonald has added another honour to his impressive resume.
Over the weekend, MacDonald was inducted as the newest member to the Canadian Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
About to head into his 45th season at the helm of the Varsity Blues swim team, MacDonald has had an illustrious career, being named a 17-time U SPORTS coach of the year (11 men’s and six women’s).
Arguably, one of Canada’s most decorated university coaches, MacDonald has coached over 200 swimmers to all-Canadian status and over 70 swimmers to international teams. He has guided his teams to 59 conference championships (34 men and 25 women) and 20 national championship titles (11 women and nine men).
As an Olympic coach in 1992, he helped guide his swimmer to a bronze medal and most recently coached Blues standout Kylie Masse to an Olympic bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games, a gold medal and world record time at the 2017 FINA world championships, four medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and two silver and one bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. He has also served as the head coach Team Canada’s very successful FISU and Pan Pacific teams.
A former national team member himself, Byron was ranked top 10 in the world for five years in the 1970s and won several medals, including two golds at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh and placed sixth at the 1972 Olympic Games in the 100m butterfly.
Byron is a two-time Gemini Award winner for his CBC swimming coverage at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.
Byron makes watching Canadian swimming super interesting to me.A walking encyclopedia of knowledge.One of a kind.
Well deserved!
WELL deserved, Byron…..CONGRATULATIONS!
Lest we forget…
Mister Byron swam at Univ of Michigan.
Prior to that, he was a member of the
New Trier East (Winnetka, IL) HS team.
In probably one of the most memorable
HS dual meets ever, Hinsdale Central HS
beat his team 48 – 47 (old scoring). How do I remember? I was a sophomore on the winning HCHS team…
Congratz, Byron. Make it FIFTY! 🏊♂️
Byron swam at Indiana
Congratulations Byron! A great guy who always has a joke or interesting stories. Someone who helps all swimmers be better both in and away from the pool. I enjoyed seeing and talking with you during your winter training camps in Florida and my visit to Canada.
Congratulations Byron.
Well deserved!
Congrats Guy Smiley!
Byron’s superpower is being able to fit an interesting fact about each swimmer in a single breath as he introduces a final. I appreciate the research he does about *every* competitor in the field.
Summer Mortimer 😂
Yeah, not withstanding some brainfarts – guess that happens when you talk a mile a minute