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Jeno Tihanyi's legacy lives on

BY SABRINA BYRNES Dr. Jeno Tihanyi, otherwise known as Doc, was honoured Wednesday afternoon as Laurentian University renamed its pool the Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool in a tribute to the well-known swim coach.
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Cathy Tihanyi and Olympic gold medalist Alex Baumann at the official renaming of the Laurentian pool. It was named the Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool in honour of Cathy's husband and Baumann's coach. Photo by Sabrina Byrnes.

BY SABRINA BYRNES

Dr. Jeno Tihanyi, otherwise known as Doc, was honoured Wednesday afternoon as Laurentian University renamed its pool the Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool in a tribute to the well-known swim coach.

Tihanyi, who passed away in 2007, coached Laurentian alumnus Alex Baumann to two gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Summer Games.

"It's incredible," said Baumann, commenting on the pool being renamed after his coach.

"I'd like to thank Laurentian University and the board of governors I think it's a well deserved honour for what Jeno, or 'Doc,' has done for the university and for the swim club as well."

"I'm pleased to see it...I believe his legacy will live on," Baumann said.

An official ceremony was held at the university where comments were shared, including from Tihanyi's wife Cathy, about what it meant to rename the pool after her husband.

"This university, the pool and LUSC (Laurentian University Swim Club), became Jeno's home away from home," Cathy said addressing the crowd. "Here he was able to fulfill his life's ambitions and dreams."

Cathy shared with guests and faculty what the renaming of the pool meant to her and her family.

"For my sons and myself, the renaming of the pool the Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool means that his legacy to his family will forever be just down the road from where Jeno and I began our life together, and where our sons were able to swim for their coach, their father," she shared.

"His desire would have been to have a legacy, to leave a legacy, not only to the university and the swimming world but also to his family, and he did just that."

Tihanyi, a former faculty member of human kinetics and founder of the Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club, coached swimming for 44 years.

He trained Baumann starting at the age of nine in the Laurentian Swim Club. His coaching achievements included 16 world swimming records, four time Canadian swim coach of the year and induction into the Canadian Olympic Hall of of Fame.

"He's contributed so much to the university, to the students and to the whole of the university that I think it was appropriate that we recognize his contributions," said acting president of Laurentian University Robert Bourgeois.


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