Happy Birthday Ian Crocker!!
Ian Crocker (USA)
Honor Swimmer (2017)
FOR THE RECORD: 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4x100m medley); 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4x100m medley), silver (100m butterfly), bronze (4x100m freestyle); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4x100m medley); TWO LONG COURS and THREE SHORT COURSE WORLD RECORD: (50 & 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle); 2001 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): silver (100m butterfly; 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (100m butterfly, 4x100m medley), silver (50m butterfly); 2004 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC): gold (50m butterfly, 100m butterfly, 4x100m medley, 4x100m freestyle); 2005 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (100m butterfly, 4x100m medley), silver (50m butterfly); 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): silver (50m butterfly,100m butterfly); 2002 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m butterfly); 2004 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m butterfly, 4x100m medley)
When 17-year old Ian Crocker entered the 2000 US Olympic Trials, it was with a view to gain experience for 2004, but he left the meet winning the 100m butterfly. Then, at the Olympic Games in Sydney, he won a gold medal as a member of the USA’s world record breaking 4x100m medley relay team.
After graduating from high school, he left Maine to swim for Eddie Reese at the University of Texas and won the NCAA title in the 100yd butterfly as a freshman. He was America’s top flyer and won a silver medal at the 2001 FINA World Championships. At the 2002 Phillips Nationals in Fort Lauderdale, 17-year old Michael Phelps rallied in the final yards to beat him and claim his American record of the 100m butterfly. Thus began an incredible rivalry that would last through the Beijing Olympic Games.
At the 2003 FINA World Championships, Crocker won the 100m butterfly, beating Phelps and becoming the first in history to break 51 seconds. He beat Phelps and bettered his world record again at the 2004 Olympic Trials while also finishing second behind Jason Lezak in the 100m freestyle.
Before their race in Athens, it was clear that Ian had not been feeling well or swimming well. In fact, he arrived at the Olympic village with a sore throat. He performed poorly in the 100m freestyle and freestyle relay and as he was starting to feel better, Phelps took the gold with a brilliant touch at the wall to beat him in the 100m butterfly, which knocked him off the relay, one that he had been a part of since 2000. In a magnanimous gesture of grace and sportsmanship, Michael Phelps gave his medley spot to Crocker. “He wasn’t feeling too well,” said Phelps. “He deserved another shot.” The gesture brought Crocker to near tears and he didn’t disappoint, splitting a world best time of 50.28 seconds, to help his team win gold and set a new world record.
In 2005, Phelps had backed off a bit on training, while Crocker was wholly focused on the FINA World Championships. In the much anticipated rematch, Crocker took the lead and never looked back, finishing a full body length ahead of the field and breaking his world record by more than three tenths of a second.
At the 2008 Beijing Olmpic Games, despite not earning a medal in his signature event, Crocker swam in the prelims of the USA’s 4×100m medley relay and received his third Olympic relay gold medal.
Ian Crocker retired after the Beijing Games with 21 medals in major international competition, spanning three Olympics and four FINA World Championships. He is one of the only swimmers in history to win the same event – the 100yd butterfly – all four years of college. History will remember him as one of the greatest butterflyers, a man who held onto the 100m butterfly world record for six years.
When a Tie Was Not a Tie; How .002 Decided Olympic Gold and Changed the Sport
by JOHN LOHN – EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
30 August 2023, 05:22am
When a Tie Was Not a Tie; How .002 Decided Olympic Gold and Changed the Sport
On Aug. 30, 1972, Sweden’s Gunnar Larsson and the United States’ Tim McKee touched the wall in identical times of 4:31.98 in the 400-meter individual medley at the Olympic Games in Munich. However, the rules of the day required the race to be taken out to the thousandth of a second, and it was Larsson who was awarded the gold medal, with McKee earning silver. Ultimately, .002 separated the men, a time difference that changed the sport.
The guy in Lane Four charged to the finish, looked to the scoreboard and saw what he wanted. He was an Olympic champion, the “1” next to his name confirming the achievement.
Denise Lewis in ‘disbelief’ after being awarded damehood
The man in Lane Seven surged for the wall, looked to the scoreboard and saw the outcome he desired. He was an Olympic champion, the “1” next to his name confirming the achievement.
Gunnar Larsson and Tim McKee arrived at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich in search of gold, and for a moment at the conclusion of the 400-meter individual medley, they both believed their quest was fulfilled. But when the medals were presented inside the Schwimmhalle, only Larsson wore the metal of the most-cherished medal
There have only been three gold-medal ties in the history of Olympic swimming, and all occurred in sprint-freestyle events. In 1984, Americans Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer shared the title in the 100 freestyle at the Los Angeles Games. Sixteen years later, the United States’ Gary Hall Jr. and Anthony Ervin each earned gold in the 50 freestyle at the Sydney Games. At the most recent Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, American Simone Manuel and Canadian Penny Oleksiak posted identical times in the 100 freestyle.
Photo Courtesy:
The fact those six athletes, and not three, were honored as Olympic champions is the direct result of what unfolded in 1972, when Larsson and McKee were inseparable to the human eye and to the hundredth of a second, but not to the timing system in use during the era.
There was no shortage of storylines in Munich, where Mark Spitz corralled seven gold medals and as many world records, and where Australian 15-year-old Shane Gould won five individual medals. So, Larsson and McKee were just doing their part by producing the tightest race – at least to date – in Olympic history.
Despite their personal designs on Olympic gold, neither Larsson nor McKee was the favorite heading into the final of the 400 individual medley. That status went to McKee’s American teammate, Gary Hall, who blasted a world record of 4:30.81 at the United States Olympic Trials in Chicago. It was the fourth time Hall broke the world record since 1969, and it would take a major upset to keep him off the top of the podium.
And then…
Known for his skill in the butterfly and backstroke events, it was not surprising that Hall attacked the front half of the final, which consisted of those two strokes. The aggression displayed by Hall was stunning, as he built a massive advantage during the opening 200 meters. With a weak breaststroke leg, Hall knew he needed separation, but there was also a need to have enough energy for the back half of the race. Would Hall hit a wall?
“Hall went out very fast in the first two legs and was eight seconds ahead (of me) at the 200,” Larsson said. “I had told my dad before the Olympics that if I was six seconds behind or less (at the midway point), I was going to beat him. But six seconds in the last 200 meters is a lot. He went out too hard and died.”
As the competitors shifted into the breaststroke leg, Hall started to show signs of fatigue, and coupled with his struggles in the stroke, McKee was in front of his countryman by the 275-meter mark. Meanwhile, Larsson narrowed his deficit significantly. The question for the Swede, though, was whether he could reel in McKee over the final two laps.
One of several international swimmers on the Long Beach State University roster of coach Don Gambril, Larsson was a well-known force to members of Team USA. And as a former world-record holder and European champion in the 400 freestyle, Larsson was fully expected to make a push down the stretch. But would he have enough room to catch McKee?
Tim McKee
With every stroke, Larsson cut into his deficit and took what was a no-doubt-about-it victory for one of the Americans and made the outcome disputable. At one point, McKee snuck a peek across the pool and saw he had a sizable edge. But when the swimmers approached the wall, there was no separating them, and confusion reigned.
“That whole last leg, I knew I had it won,” McKee said. “Then when I touched and saw Larsson, I didn’t think I’d won. When I saw a one next to my name on the scoreboard, I thought I’d won again, but 15 seconds later, I saw the one next to his name. Then I didn’t know what was going on.”
At the finish, the scoreboard showed Larsson and McKee as co-champions, thanks to matching times of 4:31.98, with Hungarian Andras Hargitay earning the bronze medal. American Steve Furniss was fourth, with Hall in fifth and almost seven seconds slower than his world-record time at Trials.
As officials scrambled, Larsson and McKee sat on the deck and waited for six or seven minutes for a decision. Would they share the gold, as the scoreboard suggested? Would there be a swimoff, which would have been a brutal expectation given the grinding nature of the 400 individual medley? Heck, Larsson even suggested to McKee the idea of a gold-silver hybrid medal.
None of those scenarios was an option. Instead, officials revealed that the timing system – although not displayed on the scoreboard – tracked the swimmers to the thousandth of a second, and Larsson was declared the winner. The Swedish standout’s official time was noted as 4:31.981 to the 4:31.983 of McKee.
“With 20 meters to go, I looked around and that messed up my stroke for two or three turns,” McKee said. “Normally, that wouldn’t matter, but I know it cost me two-thousandths of a second. There has to be a winner and a loser, even if it’s two-millionths.”
When a race is won in that fashion, it is easy to dissect every minute detail of the event. Were there any turns that could have been better? How was the finish? Could more energy have been spent or reserved on an earlier stroke?
For Larsson, there was never any doubt he won. Well, his reaction said as much. After touching the wall and looking at the results, Larsson celebrated the “1” next to his name, only to be told by fellow Swede Bengt Gingsjo that he wasn’t the only athlete shown to have prevailed. It took nearly 10 minutes for the result to be confirmed, and for Larsson to breathe a sigh of relief.
A few days later, Larsson and McKee engaged in another duel, this time in the 200 individual medley. Unlike the longer distance, Larsson won the rematch behind a world record, with McKee picking up his second silver medal. McKee’s career was defined by silver linings. Four years after finishing behind Larsson on two occasions, McKee was again the Olympic silver medalist in the 400 individual medley, beaten at the 1976 Games by American Rod Strachan.
The precedent set by the duel between Larsson and McKee resulted in officials deciding that any future ties would not be taken out to the thousandth of a second. Obviously, that decision provided no solace for McKee, who saw the rule book of FINA, the sport’s governing body, altered to read as part of Section SW 11.2: “When automatic equipment is used, the results shall be recorded only to 1/100 of a second. When timing to 1/1000 of a second is available, the third digit shall not be recorded or used to determine time or placement. In the event of equal times, all swimmers who have recorded the same time at 1/100 of a second shall be accorded the same placing. Times displayed on the electronic scoreboard should show only to 1/100 of a second.”
The change to the rules led to the subsequent sharing of gold medals in 1984, 2000 and 2016. Really, Larsson and McKee – although unaware of their future impact – changed the landscape for Hogshead, Steinseifer, Hall Jr., Ervin, Manuel and Oleksiak. If not for their epic showdown, perhaps ties would not have been allowed.
While Larsson was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1979, McKee did not receive his due recognition until 1998. If not for .002, McKee undoubtedly would have received enshrinement much earlier. Asked about the impact of that finish on his life, McKee once had a simple answer. The reply, too, placed perspective on the moment.
“It’s not who I am,” McKee said. “It’s who I was and where I’ve been.”
Larsson is regarded as one of the two greatest male swimmers in Swedish history, the other being distance legend Arne Borg. Despite the passage of time, Larsson remembers that night in Munich vividly.
“Going into the last 50, Tim was way ahead of me, three or four meters ahead,” Larsson said. “I watch the video and every time, I don’t think I am going to catch him. Every time, it is a new experience where I say, ‘I won this time, also.’”
Barely.
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Happy Birthday Peter Hürzeler!!
Peter Hürzeler (SUI)
Honor Contributor (2022)
FOR THE RECORD: DIRECTOR OF THE SWATCH GROUP SERVICE COMPANY SWISS TIMING OMEGA; COVERED 17 OLYMPIC GAMES
Since 1969, his creative and organizational skills have delivered innovation, technology and timekeeping, successfully to the sport of swimming. Peter Hürzeler is at the nexus of sports, technology and timing systems. Since 1970, Hürzeler and his associates have created practically every timing system for each sport in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. No one could have achieved what he has done in sports and technology for the Olympic movement.
OMEGA has a 164-year legacy which includes countless precision records, conquests of space and the oceans depths, but most importantly to Hürzeler, sports timekeeping, which he and his team are constantly innovating.
Hürzeler began his career with the responsibility of developing the timing equipment of the OMEGA photo finish in 1969. He and his small team of approximately 14, were responsible for the development of the timing equipment, as well as the servicing of it. At that time, there were only two large watch groups, OMEGA and Longines. The two were competitors, located only 30 km in distance, but both basically doing the same thing. Then in 1972, after OMEGA lost the rights to the Olympic Games in Munich, Swiss Timing was founded as the leader in sports timekeeping. In Montreal, for the 1976 Olympic Games, OMEGA returned as the official Olympic timekeeper.
In the aquatic arena, Hürzeler and his team developed the first starting blocks with false start detection, which includes the time between arrival and departure in relays. This new system was introduced in 1976 at the Montreal Games.
The following year, they developed touchpads for swimming, which improved the sensitivity when the athletes would push on the pad. And most recently, in 2013, the team introduced a backstroke ledge for starts, which improved the swimmers start.
In 1986, when OMEGA’s role as the official timekeeper was once again in jeopardy, due to budget concerns, CEO/ Chairman of the Board, Mr. Nicolas Hayek Sr., fought to keep timekeeping as part of OMEGA’s history.
In 2016 at the London Games, OMEGA debuted more new and innovative timekeeping equipment. The first was the Quantum Timer. The resolution of this new device is 100 times greater than the previous devices and delivers precision of 0.1 parts per million. The next upgrade was an innovative light system called the Swimming Show, which has lights mounted on the starting blocks positioned next to the touch pads at the end of the pool, where the race ends. A single large dot of light will indicate the winner, two medium dots for second and three smaller dots of light will show the third-place winner.
The final new feature from OMEGA, and the most challenging, is called the Open Water Gate, for open water/ marathon swimming. This new open water gate allows for times to be reported during the race and not just at the start and finish of the race.
Hürzeler has spent 3,708 days on the road in his capacity with OMEGA. He has been involved in 17 Olympic Games, both Summer and Winter, 36 Continental Games, 19 FINA World Aquatic Championships, 23 European Championships and well over 300 athlete meetings.
Happy Birthday Mikako Kotani!!
Mikako Kotani (JPN)
Honor Synchronized / Artistic Swimmer (2007)
FOR THE RECORD: 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (solo, duet); 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (duet); 1986 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: bronze (duet, team); 1991 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (duet), bronze (solo, team); 1985 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (duet), silver (solo); 1987 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (duet); 1985 WORLD CUP: bronze (team); 1987 WORLD CUP: Bronze (duet, team); 1989 WORLD CUP: silver (duet), bronze (solo, team); 1989 JAPAN OPEN: gold (solo); 1989 SWISS OPEN: gold (solo), silver (duet); 1980 MALLORCA OPEN: gold (solo); 1990 GOODWILL GAMES: silver (solo, duet).
What Hall of Fame Olympic Champions Tracy Ruiz, Carolyn Waldo, Candy Costie, Michele Cameron, The Josephson Twins, Sylvie Frechette and Kristen Babb were to the U.S. and Canada, beautiful Mikako Kotani was to Japan! They all competed against each other and Mikako was always on the victory stand with them. She was so publicized and idolized in her country that Japanese television crews followed her everywhere. With her athleticism and warm personality, she helped to popularize synchronized swimming in her country. She is a “household name” and recognized everywhere in Japan.
Mikako studied abroad at Gail Emery’s Walnut Creek Aquanuts in California and from 1985 to 1988, she won gold medals in solo at the Japan, Swiss and Mallorca Opens. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, as the first female in Japanese history to carry the flag in the Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Games, Mikako won the bronze medal in both the solo and duet events. She repeated as the duet bronze medalist four years later at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Unlike the World Championship and Olympic gold medal duet teams of the Josephson twins, Waldo and Cameron, Vanderburg and Calkins, Ruiz and Costie, all of whom performed in duet competitions together for most of their careers, Mikako had a different partner for each major competition: Tanaka and Okuno for two Olympic Games and Takayama and Itoh for two World Championships – and she still medaled as a silver or bronze winner. After retirement, she opened a school for synchronized swimming, so that every little girl who wanted to participate in synchronized swimming would be able to regardless of finances. She has served on the Japan Olympic Committee, IOC Athletes Commission, and Association of National Olympic Committees and in 1997, introduced the Olympic Truce Resolution to the United Nations General Assembly. She is a television commentator, interviewer and celebrity.
Happy Birthday Leisel Jones!!
Leisel Jones (AUS)
Honor Swimmer (2017)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 3 gold, 5 silver, 1 bronze; WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 7 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze; PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze; COMMONWEALTH GAMES: 10 gold, 1 silver; 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (100m breaststroke, 4×100m medley); 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100m medley), silver (200m breaststroke), bronze (100m breaststroke); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (100m breaststroke, 4×100m medley), silver (200m breaststroke); 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (4×100m medley); 2001 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (4×100m medley), silver (100m breaststroke); 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): silver (200m breaststroke), bronze (100m breaststroke, 4×100m medley); 2005 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke, 4×100m medley); 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke, 4×100m medley), silver (50m breaststroke); 2011 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): silver (100m breaststroke), bronze (4×100m medley); 2010 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC): silver (100m breaststroke),bronze (4×100m medley); 2002 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (4×100m medley), silver (200m breaststroke); 2010 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke, 4×100m medley), bronze (50m breaststroke); 2002 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke, 4×100m medley); 2006 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke, 4×100m medley); 2010 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke, 4×100m medley), silver (50m breaststroke).
She first learned to swim in her backyard pool in Katherine, Northern Territories. As a ten-year old Brisbane school girl, she watched Samantha Riley win the bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Less than four years later, she ousted her idol from the Australian Team by winning the 100m breaststroke at the 2000 Australian Olympic trials at the age of 14. Shortly after her fifteenth birthday, she swam the race of her life to claim the silver medal in the 100m breaststroke and added another silver in the 4x100m medley relay at the Sydney Olympic Games.
At the Athens Games in 2004, she won a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke, a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke and gold in the 4x100m medley relay. After that she was the most dominating female breaststroker in the world, setting six world records, three in the 100m and three in the 200m. She was named World Swimmer of the Year in 2005 & 2006, and in 2007 she dominated her specialty at the FINA World Championships again. The pinnacle of her career came with her first individual Olympic gold medal in the 100m breaststroke at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where she also won a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke and a second gold medal in the 4x100m medley relay.
After a brief break in 2009, she returned to the pool and four years later, when she qualified for the London Olympic Games in 2012, she became the first Australian swimmer to compete in four Olympic Games. Along with Ian Thorpe, she holds the record for the most Olympic medals (nine) won by any Australian, in addition to winning seven FINA World Championships.
Nicknamed “Diesel”and “Lethal Leisel,” she became one of the most popular and visible sports figures in Australia. As she candidly recounts in her 2015 autobiography, Body Lengths, that her achievements and celebrity were not without their challenges. In her book she tells what it was like to be thrust into the limelight so young and under constant pressure from an early age to be perfect — from coaches, from the media and from herself. Despite the highs of her swimming stardom, she suffered depression, and at one time planned to take her own life. In Athens she was criticized for failing to win the gold in the 100m breaststroke. In London, in 2012, she was criticized in the media for her weight, but she handled herself with great composure. She has emerged with maturity and good humor, having finally learned how to be herself and live with confidence. She also hopes that by telling her story, other female athletes will understand they are not alone.
Happy Birthday Alison Streeter!!
Alison Streeter (GBR)
Honor Open Water Swimmer (2006)
FOR THE RECORD: “QUEEN OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL.” 43 CROSSINGS OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL; THREE DOUBLE AND ONE TRIPLE CROSSING OF THE CHANNEL (first time for a woman, 70 miles in 34 hours); YOUNGEST WOMAN AND FIRST BRITISH WOMAN TO SWIM A DOUBLE CROSSING, (49 miles in 21hours 16 minutes) ENGLAND-FRANCE-ENGLAND; COMPETITOR IN 18 INTERNATIONAL RACES. ALSO CATALINA CHANNEL, MANHATTAN ISLAND, 4 PIERS, AROUND JERSEY ISLAND (43 miles), SCOTLAND TO IRELAND (20 miles), THE NORTH CHANNEL (20 miles) and CAPRI-NAPLES (22 miles). FIRST WOMAN TO SWIM THE IRISH SEA. THREE CHANNELS IN FIVE WEEKS LINKING IRELAND-SCOTLAND-ENGLAND-WALES-ENGLAND AND FRANCE.
The King or Queen of the English Channel is the one who holds the most number of crossings at any given time. Hall of Famer Cindy Nicholas had been the “Queen of the Channel” with 19 crossings, but in 1992 Alison Streeter surpassed that number and has gone on to complete 43 crossings by 2005. She may be the English Channel Queen for a long time.
For nearly a quarter of a century, Alison has been swimming the Channel. In 1983, she became the youngest woman and first British woman to swim a double crossing (49 miles in 21 hours 16 minutes) (England-France-England) and repeated it two more times. In 1990, she completed a three-way crossing, the first time for a woman, 70 miles in 34 hours 40 minutes. She is the first to cross the Channel seven times in one year. Along with her English Channel swims, she also has completed the Catalina Channel, Manhattan Island, 4 Piers, around Jersey Island (43 miles), Scotland to Ireland (20 miles), Ireland to Scotland, the North Channel (20 miles) and Capri-Naples (22 miles). She is the first woman to swim the Irish Sea. Alison currently writes for Swimming Times. She was awarded the MBE by the Queen. Most of her swims are tied to fundraising efforts for various charities and to-date she has raised over 120,000 pounds sterling.
Happy Birthday Falk Hoffman!!
Falk Hoffman (GDR)
Honor Diver (1999)
FOR THE RECORD: 1980 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (10m platform); 1978 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (3m springboard, 10m platform); 1974 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (10m platform); 1977 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (3m springboard), bronze (10m platform).
The German Democratic Republic’s Falk Hoffman became one of the world’s best divers and the greatest male diver to emerge from Germany. What motivates an athlete to go on to such greatness? Many of us will never know.
Falk dove internationally for eleven years (1970 to 1981) during the reign of Hall of Famers Greg Louganis, Klaus Dibiasi and Georgio Cagnotto. In 1973, he gained international notoriety by winning the bronze metal in platform diving behind Dibiasi at the World Championships. In 1978, Falk bettered his World Championship performance by winning silver medals on both three meter springboard and 10 meter platform, this time behind Hall of Famer Phil Boggs and Greg Louganis respectively.
Although Hoffman could perform equally well on both springboard and platform, his greatest success came on the 10 meter platform. Falk’s chance for stardom came at the 1980 Olympics, and he grabbed it, winning the gold on the platform. In bringing home the gold to his native Germany, Falk Hoffman became the first German platform diving gold medalist since Hall of Famer Gattlob Walz in 1906.
Happy Birthday Milivoj Bebic!!
Milivoj Bebic (YUG)
Honor Water Polo (2013)
At the age of ten, Milivoj Bebic joined the Pošk water polo FOR THE RECORD: 1980 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver; 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; FINA WATER POLO PLAYER OF THE YEAR: 1982, 1984, 1985; 1982 FINA CUP: gold; 1984 FINA CUP: gold; 1984 EUROPEAN SUPER CUP: gold; 1983 MEDITERRANIAN CUP: gold; 1985 MEDITERRIANIAN CUP: gold; 1980 YUGOSLAVIAN CUP: gold; 1983 YUGOSLAVIAN CUP: gold; AWARDED ORDER OF CROATIA DANICA AS CROATIA’S BEST ATHLETE: 1999, 2000.
At the age of ten, Milivoj Bebic joined the Pošk water polo club. A prodigy almost from the start, he was asked to join the Yugoslavian national team at the age of 17. It was playing with experienced veterans, like Hall of Famer Ratko Rudic and playing under the legendary coach, Vahlo Orlic, father of the modern Yugoslavian water polo system and Miro Circovic, that Bebić developed the skills that made him one of the greatest offensive water polo players of all time.
From 1979 to 1985 none was better than Milivoj. He helped the Yugoslavian national team and Pošk reach the top of the podium in nearly every tournament they entered. In 1980, at the Moscow Olympics, Yugoslavia won the silver, losing to the Soviet Union by a single goal in the decisive game of the round-robin tournament. Four years later in Los Angeles, Yugoslavia again faced the home team in the deciding match and it looked like history would favor the home team once again, as the Americans held a five to three lead heading into the fourth quarter. But after Deni Lusic brought Yugoslavia to within one, it was Bebic’s goal with three minutes three seconds that tied the score and allowed Yugoslavia to win the gold medal on the basis of Yugoslavia’s better goal differential in the round-robin tournament.
During his career on the Yugoslavian national team, Bebic scored a record 620 goals in just 300 games and in 1982-1984, he was judged by “International Swimming” and “Water Polo Magazine” as the best player in the world. In 1991, he made history by becoming the first water polo player to sign a pro contract in excess of one million Deutsche Mark.
After his competition years, he coached water polo for Club Pošk and in 1996, he was appointed director, guiding the team in winning Croatian team cups and national championships. He was also instrumental in reviving women’s water polo in his country.
He remains an executive in Croatian water polo and is a member of the LEN Technical Water Polo Committee. He has received the highest recognition in Yugoslavia, the “Zlatan Jakuka” and the Medal of Order “Danica Hrvatska” from the President of Croatia.
Happy Birthday Janet Evans!!
Janet Evans (USA)
Honor Swimmer (2001)
FOR THE RECORD: 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (400m freestyle, 800m freestyle, 400m IM); 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (800m freestyle), silver (400m freestyle); 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES: participant; SEVEN WORLD RECORDS: 2 (400m freestyle), 3 (800m freestyle), 2 (1500m freestyle); 1991 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (400m freestyle, 800m freestyle), silver (200m freestyle); 1994 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (800m freestyle), bronze (4x200m freestyle relay); 1993 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (400m freestyle, 800m freestyle, 4x2OOm freestyle relay); 45 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 11 (400m freestyle), 2 (400y freestyle), 2 (1000y freestyle), 12 (800m freestyle), 1 (1650y freestyle), 8 (1500m freestyle), 1 (200m IM), 2 (400y IM), 5 (400m IM); 7 NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2 (500y freestyle), 2 (1650y freestyle), 2 (400y IM), 2 (4x200y freestyle relay).
Being teased by other swimmers because of her lack of height and weight while growing up only fueled her to be more competitive and vigorous in the water. Even at 5 feet 4 inches and 99 pounds during her peak years, Janet Evans turned her “windmill-in-a-hurricane” stroke into the machine that won one silver and four Olympic gold medals, set seven world records and qualified for three successive Olympic teams. She was the first American woman to win four individual Olympic gold medals in swimming. As a distance freestyler and 400 IMer, she turned in over half of the top ten 400m and 800m freestyle world best performances in a four-year period. After Shane Gould of Australia, she is only the second female swimmer to hold three world records concurrently (400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle), recognizing her as the USA’s greatest female distance swimmer. In just a few short years, she was groomed from swimmer to world hero.
Evans was a very active child who loved swimming. By age three she could do at least half of an I.M.. As a member of the Fullerton Aquatic Swim Team under coach Bud McAllister, she was a coach’s dream, always trained hard, never complained and focused on improving. All but the fly came naturally to her. In 1984 at age thirteen, she won her first U.S. Junior Nationals (1500m freestyle). In 1987 she opened onto the national and international scene winning her first of 45 U.S. National Championships over a nine year period and first of 12 Pan Pacific gold medals having qualified in four Pan Pacific Championships. 1987 was also the first year of three World Swimmer of the Year titles (1987,1989,1990).
In the year before the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, Janet set three of her seven World Records. Her 400m freestyle time of 4:05.45 broke Hall of Famer Tracy Wickham’s (AUS) nine-year-old mark and her 8:17.12 800m freestyle time broke the 1978 world record time, also held by Tracy. Janet also set the 1500m freestyle record at 16:00.73, beating Hall of Famer Kim Linehan’s 1979 world mark. During her career, Janet set each of these records a second time and a third time for the 800m.
The next year in Seoul, Janet became the first female since Hall of Famer Debbie Meyer in 1968 to win three individual Olympic events – the 400m and 800m freestyle and 400m individual medley. It was her trademark “bursts of speed,” a rapid and timely increase in stroke rate towards the end of each race, that boosted her to defeat competitors sometimes 60 pounds stronger and with longer arms and bodies. By capturing the golds, she captured the hearts of millions of people. At age 17 and still a student at El Dorado High School, Placentia, California, she became a household name, a celebrity and public speaker.
In 1989, she was elected U.S.O.C. Sports Woman of the Year and received the Sullivan Award as the most prestigious amateur athlete in the United States. This is only the fourth time in the award’s history that a female swimmer has been the recipient.
After two years at Stanford University in the early 1990s swimming for Olympic coach Richard Quick and winning 7 NCAA National Championships as well as NCAA Swimmer of the Year, Janet moved to Austin, Texas to be with Olympic coach Mark Schubert who prepared her for the 1992 and 1996 Olympic teams. In Barcelona in 1992, Janet made Olympic history by becoming the first female to win the 800m freestyle for a second time. She also won the silver in the 400m freestyle. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics at the age of 24, she competed as captain on her third U.S.A. Olympic team, culminating a career filled with success and excitement.
Janet’s familiar pose was standing on top of the victory stand. She won six medals at the 1991 and 1993 short course and 1994 World Championships. After college competition, she became eligible to pursue many sponsorship endorsements. She was elected to the First FINA Athletes Commission (1992), chosen as the Atlantic Games Olympic stadium torchbearer with Mohammed Ali and had “The Janet Evans International” in Los Angeles named in her honor. This energy-efficient, two-beat freestyle swimmer, unusually humble with a smile that won a million hearts, is a swimmer who loved competition, loved racing and loved sharing it with all who asked.
Happy Birthday Petria Thomas!!
Petria Thomas (AUS)
Honor Swimmer (2010)
FOR THE RECORD: 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (200m butterfly); 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (4x100m medley relay, 4x200m freestyle relay)), bronze (200m butterfly); 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x100m medley relay), silver (200m butterfly); 1998 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (200m butterfly, 4x100m medley relay), bronze (100m butterfly, 4x200m freestyle relay); 2001 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 4x100m medley relay); 2002 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (25m): gold (200m butterfly), silver (100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle relay), bronze (4x200m freestyle relay); 1994 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (100m butterfly, 4x100m medley relay); 1998 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (100m butterfly, 4x100m medley relay), silver (200m butterfly); 2002 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (50m, 100m, 200m butterfly, 4x100m medley relay, 4x100m freestyle relay); 2002 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (200m butterfly, 4x100m medley relay), silver (100m butterfly).
Petria was held in such high regard for her swimming accomplishments that her hometown pool in Mullumbimby, New South Wales was named after her. But her swimming career was a long struggle with many hardships before she was decorated as Australia’s greatest Olympic swimmer along with legendary Dawn Fraser and Susie O’Neill. Despite three shoulder injury surgeries and bouts with depression, she won eight Olympic medals in three Olympic Games. Early in her career, she battled Suzie O’Neil and Inge de Bruijn in the butterfly events.
She was 20 years old at her first of three Olympic Games during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics where she won a silver medal in the 200m butterfly. Swimming at the Australian Institute of Sport, she had already had excruciating shoulder problems leading later to two shoulder operations as well as bouts of severe depression from the stress of training and keeping up with school work.
But Petria proved in life to be the champion she was in the pool. She competed in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, winning gold medals, and the 1998 World Championships winning silver medals. At the 2004 Athens Olympic Games she won three gold medals in the 100m butterfly and 4x100m freestyle and medley relays. As the team veteran at age 28 in Athens, when she was just touched out .3 seconds by Poland’s Otylia Jetzejezak in the 200m butterfly, a swimmer she had earlier beaten in the 100m butterfly. All totaled, she won eight Olympic medals, seven World Championship long course medals, nine World Championship short course medals, twelve Commonwealth and five Pan Pacific medals. In 2001, she was crowned the AIS Athlete of the Year and the World Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year as Australia’s premier butterfly swimmer. In 2005, she released her autobiography Swimming Against the Tide, where she described her career including her experiences with depression.