Jan Bidrman

Jan Bidrman

Coach | Inducted 2024
Born April 2, 1966
Birthplace: Rakovník, Czechoslovakia

Jan Bidrman's career in international swimming has crossed countries, continents and generations.

First an elite swimmer who represented both Czechoslovakia and Sweden, Bidrman became an Olympic coach whose athletes have won Olympic and international medals, established world records and represented Canada at the highest levels of the sport.

His greatest impact came during nearly two decades in Calgary, where he succeeded Hall of Fame coach Deryk Snelling and helped continue one of Canada's most productive high-performance swimming environments.

Before becoming a coach, Bidrman experienced international swimming as an athlete.

He was a member of the Czechoslovakian national team from 1980 through 1985 before moving to Sweden, where he competed for Malmö KK. He established himself as one of Sweden's leading individual medley swimmers and was selected to the Swedish Olympic team in 1988, although international transfer regulations prevented him from competing in Seoul.

Four years later, he earned another Olympic selection.

At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Bidrman represented Sweden in both individual medley events. He finished 15th overall in the 400-metre individual medley, completing the transition from Czechoslovak national-team swimmer to Swedish Olympian.

Bidrman also competed collegiately at the University of Nebraska, where he was recognized as an NCAA Academic All-American. After completing his competitive career, he remained at Nebraska and began coaching as an assistant under longtime Head Coach Cal Bentz.

The experience launched a coaching career that quickly reached the Olympic level.

Bidrman developed a close coaching relationship with South African breaststroker Penny Heyns, one of the greatest breaststroke swimmers of her generation.

At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Bidrman served as Head Coach of South Africa's seven-member swimming team. Heyns produced the defining performance of the competition for South Africa, winning Olympic gold in both the 100- and 200-metre breaststroke.

The achievement established Bidrman internationally and began a coaching résumé that would eventually include Olympic, World Championship, Commonwealth Games, Pan Pacific and Pan American Games medallists.

Following Atlanta, Bidrman moved to Canada.

In 1997, he was appointed Head Coach of the Calgary Swim Centre, succeeding legendary CSCA and International Swimming Hall of Fame coach Deryk Snelling. He later led the Calgary Academy for Swimming Excellence, working within a high-performance system connected to the University of Calgary, Swim Alberta and Canada's national swimming program.

The transition could have been daunting.

Snelling had spent years establishing Calgary as one of Canada's premier swimming centres and had coached Olympic champion Mark Tewksbury along with generations of national-team swimmers.

Bidrman's challenge was not simply to preserve that tradition.

He had to create the next one.

The impact was almost immediate.

Joanne Malar became one of the centre's leading athletes and one of Canada's most versatile swimmers. She won the 400-metre individual medley at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and followed that performance with an exceptional 1999 season that included gold medals at both the Pan Pacific Championships and Pan American Games.

Calgary swimmers were increasingly prominent throughout the Canadian national team.

Curtis Myden, already an Olympic medallist from Atlanta, continued his international success under Bidrman and became one of Canada's leading individual medley swimmers. At the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships he won two silver medals, and at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney he captured bronze in the 400-metre individual medley, adding a third Olympic medal to his career.

Morgan Knabe emerged as another world-class swimmer from the Calgary environment, particularly in the breaststroke events.

At the 2000 Olympic Games, the depth of Bidrman's program was unmistakable.

Swimming Canada's historical Olympic records identify Bidrman as the personal coach of multiple members of the Sydney team, including Malar, Myden, Shamek Pietucha, Chris Renaud and other Calgary-based swimmers.

That pattern continued through subsequent Olympic cycles.

Bidrman became a regular presence on Canada's national-team coaching staffs, serving at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, as well as World Championships, Commonwealth Games and other major international competitions.

By Beijing 2008, the University of Calgary described Bidrman as taking six club athletes to the Olympic Games as part of a large Calgary contingent.

One of those athletes was Mike Brown.

Brown had developed into one of Canada's greatest breaststrokers. He won silver in the 200-metre breaststroke at the 2005 World Championships and gold in the event at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Brown produced one of the finest breaststroke performances in Canadian history.

He finished fourth in the 200-metre breaststroke in 2:08.84, missing the Olympic podium but establishing a Canadian record that would survive for almost 18 years.

The mark remained the national standard until July 28, 2026, when Oliver Dawson finally lowered it to 2:08.39.

Bidrman's athletes also reached the top of the world rankings in relay swimming.

In 2009, Calgary-trained swimmers contributed to Canadian short-course relay performances that established world records. Paul Kornfeld and Joel Greenshields were among the athletes from Bidrman's training environment who became world-record performers, while Katy Murdoch was also part of a Canadian world-record-setting medley relay.

The performances reflected the remarkable depth of the Calgary program during Bidrman's tenure.

Across the years, athletes associated with his program included Joanne Malar, Curtis Myden, Morgan Knabe, Lauren van Oosten, Rick Say, Erica Morningstar, Mike Brown, Shamek Pietucha, Paul Kornfeld, Joel Greenshields, Ray Betuzzi, Erin Gammel, Tianna Rissling and many others.

Swimming Canada's historical national-team records repeatedly identify Bidrman as the personal coach of Canadian Olympians including Malar, Myden, Brown, van Oosten, Gammel, Morningstar and others.

The number of elite swimmers mattered, but so did their range.

Bidrman's athletes succeeded in breaststroke, individual medley, freestyle, backstroke and relay events.

Some arrived in Calgary already established internationally.

Others developed within the program.

That ability to coach different athletes, events and stages of development became one of the defining features of his career.

Bidrman's influence was also felt through Canada's national teams.

Beyond the Olympic Games, he served Canada at multiple World Championships and Commonwealth Games. In 2006, he was named to Canada's Commonwealth Games coaching staff after having served as personal coach to Brown, Myden and Malar and as a coach at several World Championships.

He continued representing Canada internationally well into the following decade. In 2013, the University of Calgary confirmed Bidrman as a Canadian coaching staff member for the Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia, where five Calgary swimmers were also selected to compete.

His success brought repeated recognition from his peers.

Bidrman has been named the Canadian Swimming Coaches Association Coach of the Year six times, placing him among the most frequently honoured coaches in the history of the award.

He also gave back to the profession through service on the CSCA Board of Directors, contributing to the organization representing Canadian swimming coaches nationally.

Although his primary high-performance leadership role in Calgary concluded in 2014, Bidrman's connection to coaching did not end.

He continued working with swimmers in Calgary and remains active on deck. As of 2026, the University of Calgary Swim Club lists Bidrman as its 12 Stream Head Coach, continuing to work directly with developing athletes decades after first coaching Olympic champions.

That continuation is fitting.

Bidrman's career has never been defined by a single athlete or a single Olympic Games.

There is Penny Heyns' double Olympic championship in Atlanta.

Joanne Malar's international success.

Curtis Myden's Olympic bronze.

Mike Brown's extraordinary Beijing performance.

World-record relay swimmers.

And generations of Canadian Olympians who trained within the Calgary environment he led.

In 2024, the Canadian Swimming Coaches Association recognized that body of work by inducting Jan Bidrman into the CSCA Hall of Fame in the Coach Category.

It was recognition of an international career that had begun in the water and evolved into decades spent helping others reach the same stage he once experienced himself.

From Czechoslovakia to Sweden, Nebraska to South Africa, and ultimately Calgary, Jan Bidrman's career has crossed borders while remaining centred on the same pursuit:

Helping swimmers discover how good they can become.