Olympic Flashback: The Night Duncan Armstrong Became the Dragon Slayer and Laurie Lawrence Embodied a Caged Animal
by JOHN LOHN – EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
10 July 2024, 06:30pm
The Night Duncan Armstrong Became the Dragon Slayer and Laurie Lawrence Embodied a Caged Animal
Ranked 46th in the world in the 200 freestyle entering the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Australia’s Duncan Armstrong was an afterthought in medal discussions. When the championship final was over, however, Armstrong was the gold medalist and his stunning triumph set off one of the great coaching celebrations the sport has seen.
Wherever Duncan Armstrong looked, he had reason to be in awe. From what he heard, he had reason to be in awe, too. It was the championship final of the 200 freestyle at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea and Armstrong was supposed to be an also-ran in a clash of titans.
Next to Armstrong was the United States’ Matt Biondi, the world’s most dominant swimmer of the time and – prior to arriving in Seoul – tabbed as a threat to equal the seven gold medals won by Mark Spitz at the 1972 Games in Munich. As the meet announcer introduced Biondi, set to compete in Lane Five, it seemed like a dissertation was being read. Accolade followed accolade. If spectators somehow didn’t know Biondi before his introduction, they were well-versed on his accomplishments afterward.
Also behind a starting block was West Germany’s Michael Gross, nicknamed “The Albatross” for his seven-foot wingspan. Like Biondi, Gross was wildly decorated, an Olympic champion from four years earlier and a world titlist on multiple occasions. He headed into the final of the 200 freestyle as the world-record holder, a mark he set en route to the gold medal at the 1984 Games.
In another lane was Poland’s Artur Wojdat. Although not as esteemed as Biondi and Gross, Wojdat was quite accomplished. He was the world-record holder in the 400 freestyle and was viewed as a future star in the sport, a man who was just tapping into his potential.
Then there was Armstrong, a Commonwealth Games champion for Australia two years earlier, but hardly of the same status as his fellow competitors. He ranked just 46th in the world in the 200 freestyle at the time of the Olympic Games and when it was time for Armstrong’s introduction in Seoul, it was basically over as soon as it started. Little was said, prompting Armstrong to think, “Oh, come on!” More, Armstrong didn’t exactly possess an imposing physique. While Gross was a towering 6-foot-7 and armed (literally) with a propeller-like wingspan, Biondi looked like a sculptor’s dream creation, himself 6-foot-7 and rippling with muscles. Armstrong? He was built nothing like an Adonis. Rather, he was an unimposing 6-foot-2 and 160 pounds.
Photo Courtesy: Swimming World Magazine
If Armstrong was not a contender in many minds, Laurie Lawrence was unaware that his student was an underdog. One of the finest coaches in Australian history, Lawrence saw great potential in Armstrong. Physically, he drove Armstrong into the ground in training, providing a new definition of what was painful. Equally important, Lawrence influenced Armstrong on a mental level, convincing his charge that excellence was attainable. It was that mentality which allowed Armstrong to believe – if others did not – that guys like Biondi and Gross were beatable.
“He’s a wonderful and enthusiastic person,” Armstrong said of Lawrence. “He just sells it. He sells passion. He’s a wonderful man. In swimming, where you have to do hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of laps, passion and enthusiasm are very important. He really understood the Olympic equation that you only get one shot. The door of opportunity only opens once every four years. He gave you the tools of the trade to step on deck so the Olympic pressure would not crush you. You look down your lane and know you’ve done everything you possibly can and you’re prepared for this race. Someone has got to win it. Why not me? You go out against great opposition and perform your best and not let the pressure cooker crush you.”
The pressure cooker is what Biondi was under. In the 16 years since Spitz packaged the finest Olympic performance in history – seven gold medals and seven world records – the sport was waiting for someone to challenge that epic run. Biondi was that man. He was slated to race seven events – four individual and three relays – and the potential for a gold medal in each event certainly existed.
Of all the events, however, the 200 freestyle was going to be the toughest for Biondi, who was more of a sprinter extending his talent as far as it would go. In the case of the 200 freestyle, that was four grueling laps against athletes who were primarily middle-distance performers. While Biondi knew the situation and fans in tune with the sport understood the task at hand, the casual follower saw the 200 freestyle as nothing more than a fragment of a seven-piece puzzle.
“I’d like to say something,” Biondi wrote for Sports Illustrated. “I’m doing this diary because I want to voice the other side of the Olympics. Everyone will be counting the medals and the times and the world records, and making this big judgment: Is Matt a success or a failure? It seems there’s so much emphasis put on that stuff and so little on how a person grows as he works his way toward the Olympics. To me, it’s the path getting there that counts, not the cheese at the end of the maze. Having said that, I have to admit that I’ve got a case of prerace jitters right now. I want to win. After all, I’ve trained my whole career for this.”
Armstrong, too, wanted nothing more than to win, and he might have been in a more advantageous position to get the job done. While Biondi and Gross were under enormous pressure, Armstrong was in a nothing-to-lose position. It was a scenario which paid tremendous dividends.
As the 200 freestyle started, Armstrong immediately put himself in contention. While Biondi had the lead at the 50-meter mark and Sweden’s Anders Holmertz was in front at the midway point, Armstrong was lurking – and his coach knew it. A nervous wreck in the stands, Lawrence paced and fidgeted throughout the race. With a rolled-up program in his hands, Lawrence repeatedly pounded his hand with the paperwork, or waved it in the air. Armstrong was where Lawrence wanted him to be.
During the third lap, Armstrong remained near the front of the pack, not losing touch with the leaders. As the athletes hit the 150-meter mark, Biondi had regained the lead and was one lap from collecting what would be the most difficult gold medal. Armstrong, though, produced a sterling final turn, one he called a “cracker,” and he was suddenly even with Biondi. A few strokes later, Armstrong was ahead. As the swimmers charged through the final 15 meters, Armstrong was clearly in front and ended up securing the gold medal with a world record time of 1:47.25. Holmertz managed to clip Biondi for the silver medal, with Biondi fending off Wojdat and Gross for the bronze medal.
“I finished third in a great 200 (freestyle) behind Holmertz and Duncan Armstrong of Australia, who broke Gross’’ world record with a 1:47.25,” Biondi wrote in his Sports Illustrated diary. “I was happy. I swam the way I wanted to and beat the guys I thought I needed to, Gross and Wojdat. Duncan just had a hell of a swim. I had the lead and he stayed right on my shoulder, right by the lane line. I think he should buy me a beer or something because he probably got a pretty good draft from me.
“The press always throws stuff at you. Like tonight I heard Bob Costas say on TV, ‘Matt Biondi isn’t going to win his seven gold medals. Today he had to settle for bronze.’ But I feel good about the bronze. My most difficult event is over, and I still have a chance to walk away with seven medals. I think that would be a hell of a performance.”
A hell of a performance is the only way to describe what Armstrong pulled off. He celebrated the greatest triumph of his career with a few fist pumps and extended his arms over his head. Australian fans in the stands reveled in the moment. They had just witnessed an improbable triumph, a victory which required Armstrong to produce a perfect race – physically and tactically.
As excited as Armstrong was with his career-defining moment, his celebration did not compare to the jubilation expressed by Lawrence. At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Lawrence had mentored teenager Jon Sieben to the gold medal in the 200 butterfly, a victory which happened to come at the hands of Gross. Sieben charged down the last lap of that race and set a world record to grab the gold medal. Four years later, it was Armstrong who stormed down the final lap, defeated Gross, among others, and set a world record. Both men raced out of Lane Six in the championship final, a fact not lost on Lawrence, who repeatedly screamed, “Lucky Lane Six!”
The longtime coach acted more like a caged animal than human as he enjoyed Armstrong’s moment briefly with spectators before losing control. He walked up and down the steps of the stands, seemingly unsure what to do. He yelled. He shook a metal barrier along a walkway in the stands, prompting South Korean police to make their way to Lawrence, who assured them he was all right. As Armstrong made his way to the podium for the medals ceremony, Lawrence called down to his pupil a number of times, “Hey, Dunc. I know you.” That repeated calling got the attention of Biondi, who leaned toward Armstrong during the medal ceremony and asked for an explanation. Armstrong wryly informed Biondi, who ultimately totaled five gold medals, a silver and a bronze, that the crazy man was his coach. Simply, Lawrence could not contain his joy.
Still, nothing matched the first interview Lawrence gave immediately after Armstrong’s win. Approached by Australian television journalist Stephen Quartermain, Lawrence was asked one of the most common questions following an historic moment, the old “how do you feel” query.
“Mate, we just beat three world-record holders,” an elated Lawrence yelled at Quartermain. “How do you think I feel? What do you think we come for, mate? Silver? Stuff the silver. We come for the gold.”
During his answer, and without any malicious intent, Lawrence slapped Quartermain on the side of the face a few times. It was supposed to be a love tap, one of those caught-in-the-moment situations. But Lawrence was so excited and on such an adrenaline rush that his slaps were hard enough to break Quartermain’s jaw.
Armstrong’s victory and Lawrence’s celebratory antics are highlighted on Bud Greenspan’s documentary, “Favorite Stories of Olympic Glory.” In the documentary by Greenspan, considered one of the foremost Olympic experts in history, Armstrong and Lawrence both cherish and laugh about their moment of glory. Quartermain, too, recalls the impromptu interview which resulted in his facial trauma. It is a sensational package which sums up the meaning of the Olympic spirit, hard work and the meaningful partnership between athlete and coach.
Later in the week, Armstrong added a silver medal in the 400 freestyle, an achievement which only added to his Olympic legacy. In the years since, he has been a motivational speaker, telling others about the importance of focus, belief and dedication.
“It was (a feeling) of more relief than anything else because we had trained four or five years for that moment and the race takes less than two minutes,” Armstrong said. “You go two minutes on one day every four years. That’s the clock. You do an enormous amount of training and then you get there and we had the perfect race. We had the great strategy and some good competition in the water. We had a world record. All my dreams and hopes in swimming came true in one touch of the wall. It was just wonderful. It was the perfect moment for us. It was the pinnacle of my swimming career.”
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Happy Birthday Pamela Morris!!
Pamela Morris (USA)
Honor Synchronized / Artistic Swimmer (1965)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: U.S. SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING NATIONALS: 1965 Indoor Titles (solo, duet, team); 1965 Outdoor Titles (solo, duet, team).
In the young sport of synchronized swimming so popular in the United States and Canada, the quality and quantity of competition has improved dramatically since the sport began its national competition in 1946, adding solo in 1950. Ruth and Gloria Geduldig of the Chicago Town Club were the first indoor and outdoor duet champions.
June Taylor and Beulah Gundling respectively won the first four indoor and outdoor solo titles, but in the entire 16 years of three way competition, only one girl, Pame Morris of the San Francisco Merionettes has been a triple winner. Pame accomplished this difficult combination of individual and team performance twice, winning solo, duet and team titles (the synchronized swimming hat trick) in both the 1965 indoor and outdoor championships at Houston, Texas and Maumee, Ohio. Pame’s duets teamed with Patty Willard. These two great performers were joined in the winning San Francisco Merionettes team competition by Margo McGrath, Rhea Irvine, Patsy Mical, Carol Redmond, Kathie McBride and Sharon Lawson.
In recognizing the recently retired Pame Morris as an honoree, the Swimming Hall of Fame acknowledges synchronized swimming as a mature sport in the swimming framework of aquatic sports.
Happy Birthday Lillian “Pokey” Watson!!
Lillian “Pokey” Watson (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1984)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1964 gold (freestyle relay); 1968 gold (200m backstroke); WORLD RECORDS: 7 (200m freestyle; 6 relays); AAU NATIONALS Titles: 26 (100m, 200m, 200yd freestyle; 100m, 200m backstroke; 20 relays); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1967 bronze (100m freestyle); AMERICAN RECORDS: 42 (100yd, 100m, 200yd, 500yd, 500m freestyle; 200m backstroke; 29 relays).
“Pokey” Watson swam her way from Minneola, New York to Honolulu, Hawaii with gold medal stop-offs in Tokyo for the 1964 Olympics and Mexico City for the 1968 Games. Between her Olympic gold medals, the omnipotent “Pokey” (who never was pokey in the water) made nine overseas trips with U.S. teams. A freckle-faced prodigy for George Haines at Santa Clara, she won the first of her 22 National Championships at 13 and five years later hung it up to become a coach. Along the way, Pokey set six World Records individually and had a relay leg up on 20- more for a total of 26. Her American records were even more impressive with 13 and 29 relays. Thought of principally as a crawl swimmer who had been at it a long, long time, Pokey and her coach George Haines decided to turn her over and almost unnoticed, she won the 100 backstroke at the 1967 U.S. Outdoor Nationals. It was still a surprise when, abandoning freestyle completely, she won the Olympic gold medal in the 200m Back at Mexico by 2.6 seconds over the reigning world Record holder Elaine Tanner of Canada. Pokey was never a good breaststroker. She took care of this when she married one of the best in June, 1971, and became Mr. Allen Richardson. Her coaching career at U.S.C. was cut short when the Richardsons moved back to Hawaii where Allen set up his medical practice.
Video Interview: Rowdy Gaines Provides Analysis of U.S. Performances at Trials; Looks Ahead to the Paris Olympics
Photo Credit Peter H. Bick
06 July 2024, 07:55am
Rowdy Gaines Provides Analysis of U.S. Performances at Trials; Looks Ahead to the Paris Olympics
First as an elite international athlete and now as the lead swimming analyst for NBC Sports, Rowdy Gaines has been a fixture in the sport for more than 40 years. At the 1984 Olympic Games, Gaines earned three gold medals in Los Angeles, including the title in the 100-meter freestyle. He’s been a world-record holder and has demonstrated perseverance by returning to the pool after his Olympic dreams were short-circuited in 1980 by the United States boycott of the Moscow Olympics.
Following his career in the water, Gaines transitioned to sitting behind the microphone, provided analysis at a wide range of meets, including the World Championships, Nationals and the NCAA Champs. But he is best known for being the analyst for NBC Sports during its Olympic coverage, where Gaines works with Dan Hicks. The pair is synonymous with swimming at the Olympics, and they will be together again in Paris in a couple of weeks.
In this Swimming World video, Gaines breaks down the performances that were recently produced at the United States Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. Here, he covers everything from the most thrilling moments of the meet to Team USA’s chances against its global competitors at the Olympics.
Happy Birthday Peter Montgomery!!
Peter Montgomery (AUS)
Honor Contributor (2013)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: FINA TECHNICAL WATER POLO COMMITTEE HONORARY SECRETARY: 1984-1992; CHAIRMAN FINA DISCIPLINARY PANEL: 2005-2009; MEMBER FINA DOPING PANEL: 1998-1999; PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD OLYMPIANS ASSOCIATION: 1995-1999; AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE BOARD MEMBER: 1989-Present; AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE VICE PRESIDENT Since 2001; MEMBER INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE ATHLETES COMMISSION; INTERNATIONAL COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT BOARD MEMBER: 1993-1999; FOUNDER AND MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE OF AUSTRALIAN WATER POLO: 1982-1992; PLAYED OVER 500 INTERNATIONAL WATER POLO MATCHES: 1972-1984; PLAYED ON FOUR OLYMPIC WATER POLO TEAMS: 1972-1984.
He was raised on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, where he played water polo and swam competitively in addition to being a surf lifesaver and junior rugby league player.
As one of Australia’s greatest water polo players, Peter competed in 404 international matches, serving as captain on 167 occasions. He played in the first FINA Water Polo World Cup, four FINA World Championships and in four Olympic Games from Munich in 1972, to Los Angeles in 1984.
Peter Guy Montgomery’s accomplishments were not just in the pool. He has been a solicitor of the New South Wales Supreme Court since 1972 and has been successful as a real estate investor, property developer and public company director for over 35 years. His business success has provided him with the resources to serve the Australian and International Olympic movement ceaselessly since his retirement as a world-class athlete.
He has served Australian Water Polo continuously since 1982 as Treasurer, Vice President and Patron. In 1984, after playing his last Olympic match, Peter was appointed Honorary Secretary of FINA’s Technical Water Polo Committee, a position he held for eight years. In 1985 he was appointed the first Chairman of the Australian Olympic Committee’s Athletes Commission. As a member of the Sydney 2000 bid team, he was instrumental in women’s water polo being added to the Olympic program. In 2001, he was elected Vice President of the AOC, a position he still holds. He was Deputy Chef de Mission for Australia at four successive Olympic Games from 1996 to 2008 and was the first President of the World Olympians Association.
Within the International Olympic Committee he has served in many positions including the Athletes Commission, Olympic Academy Commission, Cultural Sport and Law Commission and Olympic Bid Evaluation Committee. Along with other awards, he has received the Olympic Order bestowed by IOC President Jacques Rogge, the IOC Universality in Sports Award and the University of Sydney’s Aquatic Center is named in his honor.
For over fifty years, Peter has lived the Olympic ideal of developing both his mind and body and giving back to the sport he loves.
Happy Birthday Mike Burton!!
Mike Burton (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1977)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1968 gold (400m, 1500m freestyle); 1972 gold (1500m freestyle); WORLD RECORDS: 7; PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1 gold; AMERICAN RECORDS: 16; NATIONAL AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS: 10; NCAA Titles: 5; 1968 “Swimmer of the Year”; First person in Olympic history to win the 1500m freestyle in two Olympics; first man to break 16 minutes for the 1650yd freestyle; First to swim the 800m freestyle below 8:30.
Mike Burton was finished as an athlete at 13 because he tackled a truck with his bicycle. Swimming was all he could do after that and he made the most of his opportunities. At 5’9″, 165 lbs., it was still bicycle versus truck. From September, 1960 to August, 1969, he improved the 1500m record 4 times from 16:41.6 to 16:08.5 and twice set 800m records on the way. “Mr. Machine or perpetual motion”, Burton set examples of hard work hitherto unheard of in practice and specialized in winning meets when he was sick (stomach trouble in World Students Games & Montezuma’s revenge in the Olympics). If Spitz’s 7 gold medals was the greatest performance in Olympic history, Burton’s comeback win in World Record time was the greatest single performance of the 1972 Olympic Games. Married, working and without sufficient training time, he qualified 8th to make the finals at the Olympic Trials, finished 3rd to make the team, and then won the Olympic Games.
‘I Want to Build’: Dara Torres Embraces Challenge of Boston College Coaching Job
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
by MATTHEW DE GEORGE – SENIOR WRITER
02 July 2024, 08:00am
‘I Want to Build’: Dara Torres Embraces Challenge of Boston College Coaching Job
Coaching was never the plan for Dara Torres. But then again, it also wasn’t the plan. So much so that when a friend asked Torres if coaching might be in her future once her daughter went off to college, the Olympian’s answer was, “yes and no.”
It would take the right situation to grasp the 12-time Olympic medalist’s attention, to pique her legendary fire to defy the odds. Boston College was just that situation.
“I don’t want to be thrown in a situation where everything’s just great and you have these top swimmers,” Torres said by phone, a week after BC hired her to lead its men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs. “No, I want to build. I want the challenge of bringing this program sort of back up again.”
Torres’ first coaching position is going to be a rebuild from just about the ground up, tasked with rejuvenating a program that was suspended last September for the entire season due to a hazing scandal.
Torres represents “a fresh, new chapter,” in the words of BC Athletic Director Blake James. She replaces Joe Brinkman, whose staff was suspended in September when the season was paused and dismissed in January, with the program officially suspended through August. Brinkman had been starting his second season in charge.
An icon of swimming, Torres has never been far from the sport. She’s also never been bashful about taking on a challenge, the more naysayers the better it seems. Doubting the winner of four Olympic gold medals and five-time Olympian – who came out of retirement at age 33 to make the Olympics in 2000, then did so again in 2008 age 41 – carries a certain peril.
Coaching, though, has never quite fit into the 57-year-old’s priorities. A single mother, she has devoted the last 18 years to her daughter, Tessa, who starts college this fall. That left time to be many things, including an author, speaker, spokesperson, clinic coach and master’s coach. But coaching at the club or college level was not something she had time for.
Torres didn’t necessarily plan on coaching as an empty-nest alternative. But she followed the events that cost Boston College its season and reached out to the university to see if there was a way she could help.
When the job posted, Torres again reached out, with the first resume she’d compiled in her life and for the first ever series of job interviews. Her ideas and passion for the position helped her land it.
The perspective that she’s bringing is clear.
“These kids have gone through a lot this past year,” she said. “I just think they need a reset, a fresh start, a fresh set of eyes, someone who can help motivate them and help them learn from what happened in the past, but you learn and you move forward and you look to the future. …
“There’s a lot of moving parts of this job, and it was something that I really wanted to be a part of, especially with the tradition at BC of being such an incredible school, the tradition there and their mission statement and what they’re about, I thought that it would be a great fit.”
Though short on coaching experience, Torres is long on life experience. She’s swum for the likes of Randy Reese, Mark Schubert and Richard Quick, coaches who have won dozens of NCAA titles and from which she takes both dos and don’ts. With four older brothers and a long history of training with men, she understands gender dynamics in the pool. When it comes to taking on challenges in the face of prevailing sentiment … that requires no explanation given her track record in.
She’s clear-eyed about the challenges. Boston College is at the bottom of the ACC (the men and women each finished 12th at the conference championships in 2023), with few resources to contend with its much larger, public institutions. That was true even before last year’s fiasco. Her job will require more fundraising than the average college coach’s.
But the starting point also sets a floor from which Torres is confident she can lift the Eagles.
“Since they’ve been at a low this past year, I feel like they have nowhere to go but up,” she said. “I thrive on challenges. This obviously is going to be a challenge.”
Happy Birthday Sylvie Frechette!!
Sylvie Frechette (CAN)
Honor Synchronized / Artistic Swimmer (2003)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (solo); 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (team); 1986 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (team); 1991 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (solo, figures); 1986, 1990 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (solo, figures); 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: silver (solo); 10 CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (figures, solo, duet, team).
Canada has had a rich history in synchronized swimming. Hall of Famers Peg Seller helped organize initial competitions in the sport starting in the 1920s, and June Taylor became the first national champion in the solo event, including in the United States. Hall of Famer Carolyn Waldo won Olympic gold and silver medals in solo and gold in duet with partner Michele Cameron. Then Sylvie Frechette entered the scene and continued Canada’s winning ways.
At her hometown-team, the Aquatic Club of Montreal (CAMO), Sylvie was destined as a youngster to become Canada’s next Olympic gold medallist.
Under the guidance of her coach, Julie Sauve, Sylvie first competed at the Canadian Junior National Championships in 1979, finishing 19th in duet. Only two years later she was winning gold in solo and duet. By 1983, she was traveling with the Canadian National Team and over the next three years won gold medals in international invitational competitions in Mallorca, Berne, Tokyo, Australia, France and Indianapolis.
In 1986 at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games, Sylvie won the solo gold medal and was a member of the gold medal winning team at the Madrid World Championships the same year. Over the next three years, Sylvie continued to win more international invitationals.
Then, at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games in New Zealand, Sylvie became the first synchronized swimmer to score perfect 10s from all judges in the solo event. The next year at the World Championships in Perth, she earned the highest combined total marks (201.013) received by a synchronized swimmer in the solo event in World Championship and Olympic competition. The record still stands today.
It was at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games that Sylvie reached the pinnacle of international synchronized swimming by winning the gold medal in the solo event. Her routine was done to the music of composer Vangelis and brought fans to their feet. But Sylvie did not receive her medal on site. It was awarded to USA’s Kristin Babb Sprague. However, due to a scoring controversy, FINA recommended that the International Olympic Committee award a duplicate gold medal to Sylvie which resulted in two solo synchronized swimming gold medallists – Sylvie and Kristin. She received her medal 14 months later in Montreal.
Following the Olympics, Sylvie retired from competition, developing a calendar thick with speaking engagements, a television interview program called Simplement Sylvie and a public relations position with the National Bank of Canada. But it only lasted two years, and in 1994, she re-surfaced to help her Canadian Team win a medal in Atlanta. The format for Atlanta had changed and the solo and duet competitions were replaced by one event – the team competition. After the lay-off, she could still execute her movements clearly and decisively. Her artistic expression and physical strength shined. Team Canada won the silver medal, only one-and-one-half points behind the USA.
All totaled, Sylvie had won 45 major international competitions in solo and figures events. Out of the water, she has been an analyst for the Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games and Sydney Olympic Games for Radio-Canada television station. She is author of Sylvie Frechette, Gold at Last. In 1993, she funded a National Bank of Canada bursary program giving $75,000 per year to young athletes in Canada. She has been a master of ceremonies for the Canadian Olympic Association at Olympic events in Sydney (2000) and Lillehammer (1994). She was invited by Prince Albert to do special shows in Monaco. One of the Olympic pools in Montreal has been named in her honor. She has been awarded the Canadian Olympic Order (1994) and Meritory Service Cross of Canada (1993).
Perhaps her most dramatic post-competition achievement has been in founding the O Show of Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. Performed daily at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, the show is Sylvie’s creation and is considered one of the “greatest shows on earth” performed both on stage and in a swimming pool “tank.” As aquatic designer, coach and performer, her greatest challenge is to transform her finely tuned athletes into finely tuned artists, doing ten shows per week, 49 weeks per year.
Happy Birthday Alessandro Campagna!!
Alessandro Campagna (ITA)
Honor Water Polo (2019)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: AS A PLAYER: 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 1986 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver; 1994 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold; 1987 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze; 1989 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze; 1993 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold; AS A COACH: 2011 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold; 2014 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze
He was born in Palermo, on the beautiful island of Sicily, but he grew up in Syracuse, where he began learning to swim at the age of six. Sandro, as he is affectionately known, was afraid at first, but the more time he spent in the water, the more confident he became, and he soon came to love it. At the same time, he also loved football and trained seriously in both sports.
At the age of 12, Sandro was introduced to the sport of water polo. For him, it merged the two sports he loved, and the rules of the sport came quickly to him. In the very first game in which he played, he scored three goals and was hooked! He transferred his love of swimming to water polo and never looked back.
In 1976, when Sandro was 13 years old, he watched Italy win the silver medal in water polo at the Montreal Olympic Games. It was then that he decided that one day, he too would stand on the Olympic podium, playing water polo for his country, just like his idol, ISHOF Honoree, Gianni De Magistris.
Five years later, Sandro was playing for Ortigia, in the first division of the Italian League. In a game against Florentine, and their star, Gianni DeMagistris, Sandro scored three goals. Ortigia won the game 5 to 4 and Sandro was invited to join the Settebello. Literally translated, Settebello means “beautiful seven”, an affectionate nickname the Italian water polo team earned after winning the gold medal at the 1948 London Olympic Games.
Just as his career was beginning to take off, Sandro suffered a serious injury that kept him out of the water for a year. When he returned, he helped the Settebello win the silver medal at the 1986 World Championships and Sandro was voted one of the world’s best.
Unfortunately, after finishing a disappointing seventh in Seoul in 1988, the Italian Federation turned to a foreign coach to make their team beautiful again. That coach was ISHOF Honoree, Ratko Rudic. With two Olympic gold medals for Yugoslavia to his name, Rudic brought with him a winning culture based on discipline and hard work.
The results were immediate. Behind the play of Alessandro Campagna, Italy won gold at the 1992 Olympic Games Barcelona…gold at the1993 FINA Cup in Athens… gold at the 1993 European Championships at Sheffield…and finally, the 1994 World Championships in Rome. It was an unprecedented Water polo GRAND SLAM.
Alessandro (Sandro) Campanga was one of the most complete water polo players of all time. In his professional career, he played for two clubs: The first was, Ortigia Siracusa, where he was the captain and the leading player for ten championship seasons, and the second, Roma, where he won the Coppa delle Coppe, also known as the LEN Cup Winner’s Cup and the Len Cup. The winners of the LEN Cup Winner’s Cup went on to face the European Champions in the European Super Cup.
Campagna credits his success to the four coaches he trained under during his career. To his first coach, Romolo Parodi, he credits getting his love of the game. To Gianni Lonzi, for selecting him to the national team as a young player at 18 years old. He believes Fritz Dennerlein completed him tactically, and lastly he believes Ratko Rudic made him go further mentally than he would have on his own.
Upon retirement, after accumulating 409 caps playing for the Settebello, Campagna decided to put his water polo knowledge to use in coaching. As head coach of the Italian National Team, he led Italy to the top of the podium at the 2011 FINA World Championships, they took the silver medal at the 2012 London Games, bronze at 2014 European Championships in Budapest, and bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
In May 2015, he was selected among the 100 Legends of Sport: in Italy for the Italian Walk of Fame CONI at the Foro Italico, in Roma.
Happy Birthday Bernie Wrightson!!
Bernie Wrightson (USA)
Honor Diver (1984)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1968 gold (springboard); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1967 (springboard); NCAA CHAMPION: 1966 (1m, 3m springboard); AAU NATIONALS: 8 (1964 (1m, 3m springboard), 1965 (1m, 3m springboard; platform), 1966 (1m, 3m springboard), 1968 (3m springboard); 1966 recipient of “Lawrence J Johnson” award.
Bernie Wrightson, the 1968 Olympic gold medal winner, was the best springboard diver by gold medal count and championship head-to-head competition from 1964 to 1968. His eight U.S. AAU and two NCAA titles included one platform title which proved he didn’t always need a springboard for success; although he certainly was king of the sport when he had one. Wrightson’s 1966 honors–winning all major U.S. springboard titles–made him the last diver to win the prestigious Lawrence J. Johnson ‘Swimming” Award. Wrightson’s 170.15 score in the 1968 Mexico Games was a record up until that time.
The key characterization of Wrightson’s diving was the determination on his face during every dive. It was obvious to everyone watching. After retiring from active diving, this blonde-haired, blue-eyed champion coached the Swedish divers for a short time before pursuing a business career as a stockbroker.