Fernando J. Canales
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Fernando J. Canales (born November 2, 1959 in
Guaynabo, Puerto Rico Guaynabo (, ) is a city, suburb of San Juan and municipality in the northern part of Puerto Rico, located in the northern coast of the island, north of Aguas Buenas, south of Cataño, east of Bayamón, and west of San Juan. Guaynabo is spr ...
) is a former
freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...
swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...
from
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
and swimming coach. Up until the Beijing Olympics in 2008, he was the head assistant coach for men's swimming & diving at his alma mater, The University of Michigan, and also for the USA National Championship Team, Club Wolverine, home for numerous Olympic champions and medalists. He is a member of the
USA Swimming USA Swimming is the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. It is charged with selecting the United States Olympic Swimming team and any other teams that officially represent the United States, as well as the overal ...
's International Relations Committee as well as the United States' technical representative for the
Amateur Swimming Union of the Americas The Swimming Union of the Americas is the swimming continental association for the Americas (i.e. it oversees international aquatics competition within North and South America). It is commonly referred to as ASUA in English, or by its Spanish and Fr ...
(ASUA/UANA). He is an assistant director of development for The University of Michigan Athletic Department. He then was the head coach at
Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...
. In his first season at Colgate, the women's team took home the 2011 Patriot League Championship, and the men's team finished the meet in fifth place. In 2016 he coached his home country Puerto Rico at the Olympics in Rio. Currently he is the head coach for Pitchfork Aquatics and Puerto Rico. His father is Francisco Canales Roman, from Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, and his mother is Carmen Alvarez Canales, from Mexico City D.F. Fernando has two brothers (swimmer Francisco—Harvard '78 and Stanford '82; Harry Noel—Michigan '87) and one sister (Sandra Lee—CMU '88 & Grand Valley State '89). He graduated from
Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola (San Juan) Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola is a private, Catholic, Jesuit, all-male college-preparatory school run by the U.S. Central and Southern Province of the Society of Jesus in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1952.
in 1977 and was honored for civic service and athletic achievements with the symbolic key to the City of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, in 1978. He graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in physiology of exercise and a Bachelor of Arts in history and English from the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. After his graduation he worked with legendary Olympic coaches Jon Urbanchek and
Dick Kimball Dick Kimball (born c. 1935) is an American former diving champion and diving coach at the University of Michigan. He was the NCAA springboard champion in 1957 and the Professional World Diving champion in 1963. He coached the University of Mich ...
from 1982 to 1987 and helped the Wolverines reclaim the Big Ten Championship Title after a 24-year drought in March 1986. Canales was the head swimming and water polo coach at the
University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...
from 1990 to 1992, where he also taught classes within the Physical Education Department. He became a national swimming champion at an early age by becoming the top-ranked 17 and under, 100 meter freestyler in the US in 1977 while training under Coach
Brad Glenn Bradley Edward Glenn (born April 2, 1987) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in six games for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2014. Career Glenn played college baseball for the University o ...
in
Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...
. Canales was ranked 25th in the world that very same year in the 100 Free. His triumphs brought him to the University of Michigan from 1977 to 1982. He excelled at the national and international level by winning All-America Awards in each of his four years of competition. He earned a total of 13 Big Ten Championship titles. Canales was the first swimmer in Big Ten Conference history to capture an individual title (100 yard freestyle) during his four years of competition while training under Head Olympic Coach
Gus Stager Augustus Pingree "Gus" Stager, Jr. (February 18, 1923 – July 6, 2019) was an American swimmer and swimming coach. He was the swimming coach for the 1960 U.S. Olympic team and the swimming coach at the University of Michigan for 25 years (1955– ...
and 1964 US Olympian Bill Farley. Canales was a 100-meter freestyle finalist in the 1978 World Championships in West Berlin, Germany, earning a 5th place. He was the "first" Puerto Rican swimmer to final in the world championships along with Jesse "Cheyenne" Vassallo. He earned five gold medals and one silver medal during the
1978 Central American and Caribbean Games The 13th Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Medellín, Colombia from July 7 to July 28, 1978, and included 2,605 athletes from nineteen nations, competing in 21 sports. Sports * * References Meta* Central American and Ca ...
in Medellín, Colombia. He became the first Puerto Rican to win an individual medal in the
Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
by winning silver in the 100 meters free in
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
(San Juan, Puerto Rico) and repeating that feat in
1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
(Caracas, Venezuela). He also won a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 meters medley relay in 1979. Fernando became a national champion while representing Club Wolverine in 1986, when he won the 4 x 100 meter free relay alongside three other Wolverines, Joe Parker, Greg Varner and Dave Kerska. This was the fastest Club Relay in the World for that year. He won the 100 meter free gold medal during the Soviet Spartakiade National Championships in 1979. He won the 50 meter and 100 meter freestyle events during the Swedish and German World Cup events in 1983 and 1984. He won the Latin Cup in 1978, 1979 and 1981. He won sprint freestyle titles in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, Puerto Rico, The United States,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
,
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
and
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
. Canales made three Olympic Teams: Montreal '76, Moscow '80 and Los Angeles '84). He was honored as the flag bearer for the Puerto Rican Olympic Team during the
1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...
Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Los Angeles, 1984. Canales, a 13-time Big Ten Champion and 4 year All-America at Michigan, is featured in the book "Paths to the Olympics – Maize and Blue to Olympic Gold" by Marc Parrish, Colemar Press 1997. He attributes his triumphs to the support of his mother, brothers and sister, the memory of his father, John Daly's tutelage, his teammates, and the wonderful coaches that helped him during his career: Kika, Julia, Mr. Tom Forte, Carlos Sala, Brad Glenn, Gus Stager, Bill Farley, Dick Kimball, Maggie Shook, Bob Bowman, Mona Nyheim and Jon Urbanchek. All of these coaches shared one thing in common: they participated in the Olympics or the Pan American Games, thus instilling the Olympic dream and the desire to rise above the rest of the competition from an early age. Canales was inducted into the Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame with the class of 1993, which also included internationally famous sports personalities: Orlando "Peruchin" Cepeda, Carlos "Charlie" Passarell, Raymond Dalmau, Amado Morales and Osvaldo Gil. In addition, he was also inducted into the City of Bayamon, P.R., Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. Fernando is married to Mona Nyheim-Canales, a Norwegian national swimming champion and Arizona Wildcat, she is the head assistant coach for Club Wolverine in Ann Arbor. They have two sons, Francisco Enrique Canales and Thor Bjorn Canales. Canales coached in Texas from 1992 to 2006 with the City of Richardson Swim team. He speaks five languages and has lived in Canada, Italy, Brazil, the United States and Puerto Rico. He is an active volunteer with the American Red Cross.


See also

* List of Puerto Ricans


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Canales, Fernando 1959 births Living people American Red Cross personnel Puerto Rican male freestyle swimmers Michigan Wolverines men's swimmers Puerto Rican male swimmers People from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico Olympic swimmers of Puerto Rico Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1979 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1983 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Pan American Games silver medalists for Puerto Rico Pan American Games bronze medalists for Puerto Rico Pan American Games medalists in swimming University of Michigan alumni Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Puerto Rico Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola alumni Competitors at the 1978 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games