On this day... in:

• 1933, Frenchman Jacques Cartonnet, who would become a highly controversial figure (see profile below) set a World record in the 200m breaststroke
• 1978, Australian distance ace Tracey Wickham set her first of two World records in the 1500m freestyle, the start of her reign as global standard bearer over 400, 800 and 1500m for a combined 20 years.

Wickham's Legend/SOS Hall of Fame profile to follow later this day

The Controversial Cartonnet

Cartonnet was the first Frenchman to hold the record. The second would follow in 1941, courtesy of Alfred Nakache, who would become known as the "Swimmer of Auschwitz", while Cartonnet's relationship to Nakache's story is summed up by French newspaper Libération when it posed this question and made the assertion that followed it:

“Was Jacques Cartonnet responsible for the deportation of his rival Alfred Nakache, nicknamed the "Auschwitz swimmer"? The question has never been definitively answered. What is certain is that the former, challenged and defeated by the latter in 1938, made no secret of his anti-Semitism and wallowed in the most vile collaboration during the war.”

That story:

Cartonnet & A Torrid Tale Of Collaboration With A Link To His Rival Nakache, ‘The Swimmer Of Auschwitz’

The trouble with Jacques Cartonnet’s story of swimming ‘fame’ is that it holds hands with infamy. Among the facts is a question that hangs over him to this day, long after he was sentenced to death for collaborating with the Nazis before he escaped…

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord