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Ryan Cochrane named AFC Male Athlete of the Year

Nov. 11, 2008 - By: Swim BC

Ryan Cochrane named AFC Male Athlete of the Year

The Aquatic Federation of Canada (AFC) announced it’s awards recipient for 2008 at their Annual General Meeting in Ottawa. The AFC awards recognizes athletes and coaches high performance achievements, as well as volunteers, administrators and media representatives who have greatly contributed to the four Aquatic Sports, Swimming, Diving, Synchronize Swimming and Water polo.

Olympic Bronze medallist Ryan Cochrane of Island Swimming was named the Aquatic Federation of Canada Male Athlete of the Year after his outstanding performance in the Men’s 1500m freestyle. Ryan Cochrane broke the Olympic record during the prelims of the 1500m Free in Beijing, and earned his spot on the podium two days later at the Water Cube beside Grant Hackett and Oussama Mellouli.

Emily Heymans of St. Lambert, QC was honoured with the AFC Female Athlete of the Year following her triumphant silver medal performance in the Women’s 10m tower diving event at the Beijing Olympic Games. Throughout the season, Heymans, who is coached by Yihua Li, has consistently shown great competiveness at the international level by collecting 10 medals during the FINA World Cup circuit

Diving Coach Yihua Li of Pointe Claire, was honoured as a AFC Coach of the Year. She has helped guide Émilie Heymans, Arturo Miranda, Reuben Ross and Melanie Rinaldi to national and international success. Her biggest accomplishment this year was helping Émily win her silver medal at the Olympic games.

A special recognition for outstanding volunteer work was presented to Lockie Lister, a Paralympic Swimming Official that has contributed countless hours to the enhancement of the Paralympic Swimming movement. Lister received the AFC Volunteer of the Year award.

AFC President Bill Hogan also presented the President Honour Roll recognition to Benoit Seguin (Diving), Linda Cuthbert (AFC past president), Mark Smorong (Water Polo past president) and Philip Clark (Swimming Official) who past away last July. These individuals have demonstrated great leadership and are considered great pioneers within the Aquatics community.

The AFC is the voice for the Olympic aquatic sports, both domestically and internationally, and the vehicle for cooperative initiatives in order to improve its member sports’ development and results.