A former Hungarian Olympic athlete turned Canadian coach will be recognized with a British Columbia community achievement award.
Tibor Baldauf of Gibsons has coached competitive swimmers for nearly 40 years, 20 of those with the Sunshine Coast Chinook Swim Club.
"We are trying to raise Olympic swimmers. This is a grassroots club and it is a hobby for me," Baldauf said. "Being awarded was a total shock. I didn't expect anything like it."
On Feb. 20, Baldauf was one of 45 British Columbians named by Premier Gordon Campbell and Keith Mitchell, chair of the British Columbia Achievement Foundation, as recipients of the sixth annual award.
"The initiative, impact and inspiration to others demonstrated by this year's award recipients warrants public affirmation," Mitchell said. "We're privileged to showcase and celebrate the contributions of these exceptional British Columbians."
The award was created in 2003 to recognize excellence in the arts, humanities, enterprise and community service. On March 10, Baldauf will join the other recipients at Government House in Victoria where he will be given a certificate and medallion designed by B.C. artist Robert Davidson.
Baldauf, a Modern Pentathlon competitor, made the Hungarian Olympic team for the 1956 Melbourne Games, but was not able to compete when an anti-Communist revolution threw the country into chaos. He fled to Austria and then Canada in 1957 and soon switched to coaching athletes. He has been volunteering his time long enough that he is now seeing children of kids he coached in the pool.
"I just love coaching because of the appreciation from the kids," he said. "Kids I coached 30 years ago with kids of their own are phoning me from all over the country to thank me."
