In our countdown of the past decade, we reach No 7 and consider 10 of the biggest movers and shakers in the world of swimming

No 7: Ten of the biggest off-deck players and contributors in world swimming

Chuck Wielgus, Jim Wood and team at USA Swimming. The work of the federation, the importance it attaches to working with coaches, to establishing solid links to FINA via long-standing and serving officials such as Carol Zaleski and Bureau member Dale Neuburger, and the wisdom and work of the USA Swimming Foundation. USA Swimming will doubtless have its critics. It is also an organisation that has many lessons to teach the rest of world swimming, and a federation that proved itself capable of assuming the role of firm leadership in the absence of the same from the international federation when it came to a critical moment for the sport of swimming in 2009.

Julio Maglione was the President of FINA for just a short few months of the past decade, having been elected to office on the eve of the world championships in Rome. His impact was immediate: he was mno lover of suits that "hid the wonderful physiques of our athletes and l;eft doubt where there should be none". He had been a member of the bureau executive during the suits crisis and therefore must bear as much responsibility for what came to pass as any other member of a Bureau that often felt powerless and uncertain in the face of a crisis out of control. Maglione served as Treasurer for much of the past decade and it is to that role that we nod. Never before has so much money been handed out to athletes: by 2007, the figure topped $5m in prize money, and when Maglione boasted that in a statement issued in 2007, he was also careful to note the responsibility that accompanies any move into a world where there is a risk of money becoming king, the sport and the athlete of secondary importance, along with the value of Olympic gold. In September this year, Maglione will host the first FINA Aquatic Convention in his native Uruguay. It will be an early test of his presidency: talking shop or building blocks fit to stack on the foundation of "integrity" he has pledged as the theme of his term in the highest office of aquatic sports.

John Leonard (USA): doping, calendar chaos and suits. the head of the American Swimming Coaches Association has fought on all fronts in valiant fashion, and known success too. His place in this list is by right gained through his own efforts and as a symbol of the importance of granting coaches representation and including them in the governance of the sport, worldwide, regionally and nationally. If the voices of those who work with youth of all shape, size and ability day in and day out, year in and year out, decade in and decade out - and serve as guardians alongside parents of young athletes for whom direction can mean the difference between very different destinations -  cannot be heard at the top tables of the sport, the sport is missing a trick.

Forbes Carlile (AUS): to some a thorn in their sides, to others a hero for his time and ours, so long in the tooth is the man and his experience, that meant in the nicest possible way. Pioneer of pace clock and the taper, Carlile, an Octogenarian on the move, started the past decade warning us all of the trouble with bodysuits and where it would all lead. He was right, and it took the arrival of non-textile surf boards with in-built compression to make the point in forceable fashion. No surprise to find Carlile at the table thumping the odd fist down when Leonard met Dr Phil Whitten for lunch as the Beijing Games drew to a close in 2008. "What the hell are we going to do about these suits", was the question from Carlile. The rest is history (though it is not over yet, the man notes), as they say, and no little thanks to Carlile and the long-suffering angel by his side, a hero too long unsung, Ursula, his wife.

Nick Thierry (SwimNews): there is only one man who has kept a comprehensive and constantly updated annual world ranking list for the past 30-plus years and moved with the times by having it all placed in a digital database at his own cost: Nick Thierry. The value of the work of the SwimNews owner and publisher is one not lost on any journalist, swim official or coach keen to keep track of a sport constantly on the move. Trends tell us much about the truth of the sport, be that truth doping, suits or sheer brilliance through dedication, determination and drive at the heart of workloads that would leave many an athlete from another sport reeking just at the reading of it all. Among those who deserve the gratitude of FINA, among others, Nick Thierry is in the premier league.  

Peter Huerzeler (Omega): beyond the pleasantness of the man and his the knowledge of the sport that he has watched from a particular angle for so many years, Huerzeler deserves recognition as the front man in a team that dedicated itself to find the latest tech solution that works to the benefit of swimming when it comes to recording progress. No need to say too much. Omega Live Timing will do. Fabulous. Shame on the IOC for being so selfish and egotistical: Olympic guardians no longer allow Games results to appear anywhere other than on its own official website of the Games, which is no longer accessible to the public even though those results are a matter of record and can be found on various other platforms in a variety of forms. Omega Live Timing, built by an Olympic sponsor under contract, has built an invaluable archive of swimming results. Come on IOC = grow up!

Cornel Marculescu - the polyglot director of FINA is to be found tirelessly on the move, out in the world, seeking new venues, backers, money, hosts, bidders and more in the interests of world aquatic sports. That is his job, of course. But he does it with vigour, passion and a beyond-the-call approach. Here is a man on a mission, one that has often produced rich rewards and delivered more money, spectacular events and activity than ever before. That road has brought treasure but is also one rife with risk in the absence of sound debate and decision making. In the latter years of the presidency of Mustapha Larfaoui, FINA often gave the impression of being a one-man band with all issues left to the director to solve. Some Bureau members were happy for that to be the case: all was well provided that their place on the gravy train was secure. Others were not and complained in ever louder, if confidential terms, that their voices were not being heard. Several Bureau members contacted SwimNews during the suits crisis to complain that the FINA Bureau was being lambasted by swimmers, coaches and media for decisions being taken in their name but not actually by them, for they had been cut out of the loop. That culture appears to have developed in part because of the approach of the majority when it came to serving FINA: ask not what i can do for the federation but what the federation can do for me. A little of the remedy of Kennedy might not go amiss as FINA embraces its second centenary as the guardian of world swimming.

Mike Unger (USA) - some people call it right and do their homework. They have the right instinct, can spot trouble long before the rain starts falling, and know when to turn back and have another look. Unger, both within FINA and within USA Swimming, has shown himself to be such a person on a number of critical occasions and his influence has helped others who hold a vote in their hand to understand the meaning of consequence and the difference between being reactive and proactive.

László Szakadáti (HUN) - the director of LEN joined the staff of the European League just before the new Millennium and has spent the past decade building knowledge and experience of the aquatic world. His influence has now started to flow beyond the confines of his continent, his work alongside the politics that run in parallel to the office job helpful to Europe's weighty role in the governance of world swimming. LEN had its divisions last year. Sense prevailed when a FINA Congress vote settled stormy waters and showed how good can come of youthful influence - in the form of the likes of Paulo Frischkneckt, US-educated president of the Portuguese federation - stepping up for nomination sooner than a process of waiting in line might have preferred. As a paid director, Szakadáti is at arms length when it comes to the politics of sport but, like Unger above, his experience of the decade past may yet prove significant to the next chapter in the history of aquatic sports.

Suit Bosses: Stephen Rubin, head of Pentland, Speedo's parent, and Christiano Portas, boss at arena, had very different ideas of where the sport of swimming ought to be going. Rubin spent his firm's money on developing a suit that changed pushed swimming across the line from technique-based sport to equipment-based sport. FINA allowed him to head the organising committee of a world championship that then served as a massive launch pad for a product called the LZR racer. Portas rained on the Manchester parade somewhat when he let FINA and the world media know that he saw dangers in allowing the use of non-textiules that non-Speedo companies had believed beyond the bounds of Rule SW10.7, which banned the use of devices that may aid speed, buoyancy or endurance. Diana had a poly suit rejected partly on those grounds before the LZR came along. If Speedo started suit wars, the arena, with its X-Glide surely brought battle to an end in Rome, taking most gold medals and claiming 13 world records with apparel that upped the ante on polyurethane. Suit makers have had a huge influence in the sport of swimming down the years but never before have they called the shots and be shot at so much as they have been in the past two years. FINA, meanwhile, has surely learned (as it plans to meet prospective commercial partners in Uruguay this September) that lines must be drawn when non-profit organisations do business with organisations who must strive to make money if they are to survive, thrive and expand in keeping with the nature of their existence. As the judge in the TYR action against Speedo, USA Swimming and Mark Schubert ruled in reference to a TYR charge of alleged "Research Collaboration": " ... manufacturers are not required to be altruistic when working in a joint venture with a non-profit". Caveat Emptor. That means you, FINA.

The Top 100 Memories:

Part I: 91 - 100, the year 2000.

Part II: 81 - 90, the year 2001.

Part III: 71 - 80, the year 2002.

Part IV: 61 - 70, the year 2003.

Part V: 51 - 60, the year 2004.

Part VI: 41 - 50, the year 2005.

Part VII: 31 - 40, the year 2006.

Part VIII: 21 - 30, the year 2007.

Part IX: 11 - 19, the years 2008-09.

Part X: No 10 - the best 20 swimmers of the decade

Part X: No 9 - the top 10 nations

Part X: No 8 - US and Them