Kelowna has lost a valued member of its swimming community.

Steven Verseghy, a national level swimmer in the 1980s, passed away last week after drowning in Okanagan Lake.

He was 49.

After his days of competitive swimming, Verseghy went on to coach in several cities across Canada, including Kelowna where he moved to in 2000.

One athlete he coached during his time with the Kelowna AquaJets in 2004-05 was Kierra Smith, who went on to win two gold medals at the 2015 Pan Am Games and compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

Smith posted the following comments about Verseghy on her Facebook page:

香蕉视频直播淗e was on a completely different level than the rest of us and I don香蕉视频直播檛 know if I香蕉视频直播檝e encountered anyone with his intensity,香蕉视频直播� Smith wrote. 香蕉视频直播淗e wouldn香蕉视频直播檛 measure a good set with a stopwatch but by how red your face was and how out of breath you were afterwards. Steven didn香蕉视频直播檛 coach that year for the money. He took the job as the Kelowna AquaJet assistant coach because he wanted to give back to the sport that was so good to him.

香蕉视频直播淎lthough we香蕉视频直播檙e spread out, the Canadian swimming community is small and it香蕉视频直播檚 even smaller in Kelowna.

香蕉视频直播淟ike most smart people he asked a lot of questions and did most of the listening. He was one of the few who was more interested in learning the details about one of my random November workouts than a big meet somewhere.香蕉视频直播�

Verseghy was born in Toronto and competed with the Ajax Swim Club. He eventually made it on to Canada香蕉视频直播檚 national men香蕉视频直播檚 team in the 1980s where he swam with the likes of Victor Davis and Alex Baumann.

A celebration of will be held on Friday, Aug. 4, 2017 at 1 p.m. at Springfield Funeral Home, 2020 Springfield Road in Kelowna.

Steven is survived by his wife Natalie Verseghy and their daughters, Hayley and Lauren Verseghy.