Christine (Tina) Martin began her amazing swim officiating career as a typical mom. Like many Southern California swim moms, she signed her kids up for summer league and then onto year-round swimming. In 1973, when her youngest was five years old, she decided to get more involved. More involved is putting it lightly!

She became meet secretary from 1974 to 1984 and an official in 1982. She said during these years, there were few women referees and officials on deck.

Looking back on her career that includes officiating and leading So Cal Swimming, Southern California Aquatics Federation, Masters, NCAA and more, Martin said, “Our work on the Los Angles Olympics in 1984 was life altering.”

She and Mary Jo Swalley were two women in charge—at a time when few women were on deck.

“Mary Jo and I had a huge influence. We were known as Siamese twins. 1984 was a big highlight of our careers.” Martin said the Olympic Swimming Committee let the local committee run the show. She and Mary Jo planned, staffed, designed and managed the operating plans. “We were the ones who came up with and developed the concept. Our little group was able to put on the biggest show in town. No one gave us rules.”

In addition to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, their plans became the blueprint for future Olympic Games including 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. In 1996 in Atlanta, Martin was manager of on-deck media for swimming and she worked directly with NBC. In 2004, she contracted to design and direct the overall competition aspect of the USA Olympic Swimming Trials in Long Beach, CA. She also wrote operations for Korea and Barcelona.

“My role in Atlanta was in charge of deck media (NBC-TV, World feed and other exotic media). I was also the backup French Announcer … was 1^st choice until they found out what I had done at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles (Co-Chair Competition Committee; FINA Liaison; Assistant to Chief Referee; Manager of FINA Complex and a member of the venue management team).”

Martin said she stayed on deck officiating for 20 years and trained many of the officials we have today. Other highlights of her years in Southern California include serving as General Chair of SoCal Swimming and the Review Committee. She spent years organizing meets, including in 1983, when she was meet director for Junior Nationals and Nationals.

She recalls 2004 in Long Beach as her swan song as the Competition Director, principal designer and Member of the Executive Board. According to Martin, there was a staff of 400 volunteers and that event is recognized as one of the most successful in USA Swimming history, with more than 106,000 in attendance and millions watching on NBC TV.

She left California in 2005 for North Carolina and continued officiating with NCAA for Raleigh College, Duke, University of North Carolina, North Carolina State and Davidson. She retired from the role of official in 2008. She said most of her time she was a starter more than referee and she and Mary Jo were two of the first women starters on deck for NCAA.

Her grandkids are continuing the swim tradition with SCS at Rose Bowl. She’s very impressed with Jeff Julian as a coach and how his program is flourishing. She believes that a lot of the success in Southern California can be attributed to strong coaches.

While in Southern California, she taught courses for California Lutheran University’s MBA program and undergraduate classes in ethics for Pepperdine University and California State University in Channel Islands. From 2005 to 2009, she taught virtual classes in executive coaching for the University of Texas at Dallas School of Management.

In 2011, she immigrated to Ontario Canada, where she works as a mentor coach and consultant for businesses, entrepreneurs, executives and other professionals.