SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME SPOTLIGHT: Bunny Cederlund Was Iconic Masters Swimmer

2012 Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame iconic Masters swimmer was inspiration to us all

SPACE COAST DAILY TV: When Bunny Cederlund’s name came up for consideration by the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame selection committee she was a consensus choice for the amateur category.

BUNNY CEDERLUND – 2012 INDUCTEE

• 234 Individual Top 10 Swims

• 13 Time All-American

• 4 Masters World Records

ICONIC MASTERS SWIMMER & INSPIRATION

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – When Bunny Cederlund’s name came up for consideration by the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame selection committee she was a consensus choice for the amateur category.

Sadly, we were not be able to personally present her with the award that she so fittingly deserves because she passed away in 2011 at the age of 89.

A longtime member of the Florida Aquatic Combined Team, Cederlund, a truly iconic Masters swimmer and inspiration to us all as we age, was a great swimmer in her youth and returned to competition in the late 1980s.

A world-class swimmer in her late teens and early 20s, Cederlund lost an opportunity to swim in the 1940 Olympics when the Summer Games, originally scheduled for Tokyo, were moved to Helsinki and then ultimately canceled because of World War II.

Competitive swimming came to an end for Cederlund when she married Air Force officer Walt Cederlund, who gave Agnes Cederlund her nickname of “Bunny.”

The couple, who lived in Ridgefield Park, N.J., for approximately 25 years, moved to Florida in the late 1980s after Bunny turned 65 years old.

A world class swimmer in her late teens and early 20s, Cederlund lost an opportunity to swim in the 1940 Olympics when the Summer Games, originally scheduled for Tokyo, were moved to Helsinki and then ultimately canceled because of World War II. — A world-class swimmer in her late teens and early 20s, Cederlund lost an opportunity to swim in the 1940 Olympics when the Summer Games, originally scheduled for Tokyo, were moved to Helsinki and then ultimately canceled because of World War II. (Images for SpaceCoastDaily.com)

FOUR INTERNATIONAL WORLD RECORDS

During her career in Masters swimming, Cederlund achieved 234 individual Top 10 swims and 14 relay Top 10 listings. She was an individual All-American 13 times (11 pool AAs from 1992-2008 and two long-distance listings from 2002-2003) and a relay All-American four times.

As of 2012, she still holds 15 pool individual United States Masters Swimmer (USMS) records in three age groups and dominated the USMS backstroke records from the 50 Short Course Yards (SCY) to the 200 Long Course Meters (LCM) in the 80-84 and 85-89 age groups.

She still holds four FINA (the international governing body of swimming) Masters World Records—the 80-84 50-meter backstroke (LCM) and the 85-59 50-meter backstroke (SCM), 50-meter backstroke (LCM), and 100-meter backstroke (LCM).

According to her daughter, at the time of her death, Cederlund, mother of four, grandmother of seven, and great-grandmother of six children, was already planning out what her strategy would be to win the 2011 Nationals in Auburn, Alabama.

TO MAKE A NOMINATION AND FOR INFORMATION about the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame, call 321-615-8111 or e-mail Contact@SpaceCoastDaily.com.

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