VALE NACHUM BUCH – Tributes flow in for Israeli swimming pioneer

A “LOVED and revered icon”, a “pioneer of Israeli swimming”, a “Maccabiah Games legend”, and a “generous and truly inspirational man” who taught thousands of Jewish Melburnians to swim, are among a wave of tributes flowing in for Nachum Buch, who died in Melbourne on November 7, aged 89. Most well known for becoming Israel’s first Olympian swimmer – competing in the men’s 100m freestyle at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games – Buch left an influential imprint in Jewish swimming in both Israel and Australia, from the grassroots to the elite international level, as an athlete, a coach, an official and a scholarship provider.

Born in 1932 in Kassel, Germany, Buch moved with his parents to Tel Aviv in 1934, and by the age of 15, he’d set an Israeli national 100m swimming record. After his competitive swimming years, and before migrating to Australia in 1974, Buch became head swimming coach at Israeli club Brit Maccabim Atid, and then coach of Israel’s national swimming team. He participated in 15 Maccabiah Games, including representing Israel as a swimmer three times, and as a water polo player twice, as Australia’s swimming coach at three Maccabiah Games, and later as an official.

When the recently re-established Maccabi-AJAX Swimming Club was a powerhouse in Victorian swimming a few decades ago, it
was under Buch’s coaching watch. And as a swimming instructor at Maccabi’s old Alma Road site, as well as at Mount Scopus College’s pool from 1980 to 1994, Buch was renowned for going out of his way – often at the crack of dawn – to drive Learn to Swim participants
to the pool. In 2018, the father of three, and recently grandfather of two, established with his family the Nachum Buch Maccabi Australia Scholarship, providing a $2000 annual grant. When launching it, Buch said he especially wanted “to help young swimmers to improve, and become top swimmers of Australia, and the world”.

Buch travelled to Israel almost every year, and his death made many Israeli news bulletins. Israel Swimming Association (ISA) president Michael Halika told Israel Hayom, “The entire Israeli swimming family mourns the passing of one of our greatest swimmers – a man who set a path for all of us, and was the first to tread paths that no Israelis had walked before. “We intend to commemorate his memory during the upcoming Israeli national swimming championships.” One of Buch’s sons, Jonathan, told The AJN the family “has received hundreds of uplifting comments of tribute for Nachum, and that’s been such a comfort to us”. “Many have a very strong memory of him – he had a very direct manner, that’s for sure, but he was one of the most generous people, once you got to know him. “It was often said that one should be careful when asking him
for a small favour, because you would end up with a big one.” Maccabi Aquatics chair Barry Carp said, “Nachum lit the flame that still burns in so many of us [competitive Jewish swimmers] today.” And Maccabi-AJAX Swimming Club president Roelof Vogel said, “Nachum was an icon, loved and revered by the squads he coached; and many of the Jewish masters swimmers still competing today talk of the love of swimming that he instilled in them.”

Credit AJN