Throwback Thursday: Remembering Lance Larson – When Silver Was Faster Than Gold
by JOHN LOHN – EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
25 January 2024, 06:10am
Throwback Thursday: Remembering Lance Larson – When Silver Was Faster Than Gold
As we remember Lance Larson, who passed away last week, this week’s Throwback Thursday focuses on his iconic and controversial showdown with Australian John Devitt in the 100-meter freestyle at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. This piece is a chapter from John Lohn’s book, Below the Surface: The History of Competitive Swimming.
His career included NCAA championships for the University of Southern California. He was a world-record holder in multiple events. He was the first man in history to break the minute barrier in the 100-meter butterfly. He was enshrined in the International Swimming Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 1980.
What Lance Larson did not claim during his career was an individual Olympic gold medal, the defining achievement of any athlete in the sport. But that missing tally on Larson’s ledger was no fault of his own. Rather, Larson’s name is forever linked to one of the biggest controversies in Olympic lore.
At the 1960 Olympics, automatic-timing technology was still in its infancy and, therefore, not trusted as the ultimate judge of the races contested in Rome. Instead, the chore of identifying the finishing order was handed to 24 judges – three officials for each of the eight lanes in the pool. Meanwhile, the timing system was viewed as a backup device to be used only under extenuating circumstances. Through Olympic history, the use of judges had never been a problem, and there was no reason to believe anything would change.
An assessment of the 100-meter freestyle suggested the battle for the gold medal was a two-man affair, matching Larson and Australian world-record holder John Devitt. While Larson was riding a wave of momentum after winning the event at the United States Olympic Trials in 55.0, Devitt held the fastest time in history at 54.6. Barring an upset, those men were going to take gold and silver. But in what order?
After the final concluded, there still wasn’t a clear answer.
Devitt entered the 1960 Games as an Olympic veteran, having won the silver medal in the 100 freestyle in 1956. With a pair of world-record performances in a 10-day span in 1957, Devitt stamped himself as the man to beat on the way to Rome. But Larson was no pushover, his credentials as the world-record holder in the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley reflecting his versatility. However, neither of those events appeared on the 1960 Olympic schedule, which meant Larson had to place his focus elsewhere. The 100 freestyle was his choice.
Larson and Devitt had no trouble winning their respective heats in the preliminary and semifinal rounds, their showdown in the final a much-anticipated affair. Could Devitt improve from silver to gold and follow countryman Jon Henricks onto the top step of the podium? Or, would Larson restore the title in the sport’s blue-ribbon event to the country that produced former champions and legends Duke Kahanamoku and Johnny Weissmuller?
As expected, Larson and Devitt battled side by side for their two laps, the Australian slightly ahead at the 80-meter mark. But a flourish in the final strokes by Larson enabled the American to pull even with Devitt, the men seemingly touching at the same time, Brazil’s Manuel dos Santos back in the bronze-medal position.
As frenetic as the race was, it couldn’t match the confusion and controversy that erupted at the finish. Of the three judges who were charged with determining the first-place finisher, two cited Devitt as the winner. However, the three judges selecting the second-place finisher were also split in their decisions, two choosing Devitt for second place and one selecting Larson as the runnerup. When the results of the six judges were combined, there was a deadlock over the winner. Three picked Devitt. Three named Larson.
When the automatic-timing system was consulted, another story was told. All three stopwatches assigned to Devitt revealed a time of 55.2. For Larson, the stopwatches returned times of 55.0, 55.1 and 55.1. At that point, technology deemed Larson the winner of the race, and because the stopwatches were considered the backup timers, Larson was viewed as the presumptive gold medalist.
That thought was quickly reversed.
Despite no written language in the bylaws allowing for the chief judge to rule on the outcome of a race, Germany’s Hans Runstromer declared Devitt the champion and Larson the silver medalist, much to the chagrin of Larson and the United States contingent.
“I don’t understand,” Larson said. “I don’t understand.”
Larson wasn’t the only individual perplexed by the decision. Max Ritter, the United States’ delegate to FINA and a founder of the international governing body, knew the chief judge was not to have a say in the case of a tie. Rather, he knew the referee was expected to consult the backup timing system and abide by its readouts. In this case, Larson would have been declared the gold medalist, with Devitt taking the silver medal. But Runstromer remained firm in his decision and added insult when Larson’s final time was changed to 55.2, simply to match Devitt’s mark and to make the outcome look reasonable. After all, the Olympic champion couldn’t possibly have a slower time than the silver medalist.
Irate with the decision, Ritter called the situation “unbelievable.” Meanwhile, the United States appealed the decision, citing the rule that the electronic-timing system should have been consulted, and Runstromer should not have involved himself in the selection of the winner. As for Devitt, he was not pleased with the United States’ decision to challenge the result.
“All I did was swim,” Devitt said. “(Larson) took it badly. But he can’t be crooked on me. I don’t know who won, and Larson can’t know either. If the judges change their placings, I am perfectly willing to give the medal back. I have always been taught to accept the judge’s decision.”
With the gold medal in his pocket, it was easy for Devitt to announce he would respect a judge’s verdict against him. However, placed in Larson’s shoes, would he truly have accepted the outcome? He never got the chance to fulfill his words, as FINA rejected the United States’ appeal.
In Rome, Devitt added a bronze medal in the 800 freestyle relay while Larson won a gold medal for handling the butterfly leg on the United States’ victorious 400 medley relay.
Although Larson’s Olympic days ended without a solo crown, he remained a prominent figure in the sport. As a Masters swimmer, he registered times that were on par – and sometimes faster – than when he was setting records during the prime of his career.
“I think it’s the competition that motivates me more than anything else,” Larson said of his Masters involvement. “I enjoy winning, and the recognition that goes along with it. It’s sort of like being on stage again. Sort of an ego trip.”
If there was a positive development out of Larson’s loss, it was the decision by FINA to prominently utilize electronic-timing systems, and eliminate the guessing game that arose in Rome. Of course, the move in that direction came at a price.
Happy Birthday Irina Lashko!!
Irina Lashko (USSR/RUS/EUN/AUS)
Honor Diver (2018)
FOR THE RECORD: 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: competitor for the Soviet Union: 4th (3m springboard), 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: competitor for the Olympic Unified Team: silver (3m springboard), 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES: competitor for Russia: silver (3m springboard); 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES: competitor for Australia: bronze (3m springboard synchro), 7th (3m springboard); 1991 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: competitor for Soviet Union: Silver (3m springboard); 1998 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Competitor for Russia: gold (1m springboard, 3m springboard synchro); 2001 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: competitor for Australia: silver (3m springboard); 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: competitor for Australia: gold (1m springboard); 2002 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: competitor for Australia: gold (1m springboard, 3m springboard); 1991 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: competitor for the Soviet Union: gold (3m springboard); 1993 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: competitor for Russia: silver (1m springboard), 1997 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: competitor for Russia: silver (1m springboard, 3m springboard synchro)
Irina Evgenievna Lashko was born on January 25, 1973 in Samara, Russia. Known as Kuybyshev during the Soviet era, Samara is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers. Irina discovered the sport of diving at the age of five and entered the Sverdlovsk Sports School at the age of ten. Four years later, she represented the Soviet Union at the 1987 FINA Diving World Cup and surprised everyone by winning the silver medal in the 3m springboard event behind Hall of Famer Gao Min of China.
The next year, 15-year old Lashko narrowly missed the podium in the same event at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. In 1989, Irina won her first international gold medal when she upset Gao Min at the USA International Meet in Orlando, Florida.
Leading up to 1992 Olympic Games, Gao and Lashko were the two best women’s 1m and 3m divers in the world, but Gao was unbeatable in Barcelona while Lashko took the silver medal in the 3m event. In 1993, Lashko won two silver medals at the FINA Cup in Beijing, but was out of competition in 1994, to have her daughter, Alina. She returned in 1995 to win the World Cup 1m title and at the 1996 Olympic Games of Atlanta, the following year, it was silver again. This time behind Fu Minxia, another future Hall of Famer.
In 1998, shortly after winning gold medals in the 1m and 3m springboard events at the FINA World Cup, she married Australian businessman Carol Fulner in Melbourne. They had met years earlier at a diving event in Australia, but their relationship created problems for her with the Russian Federation. Not receiving the financial support she felt she deserved, she petitioned the Federation to allow her to compete for her newly adopted country at the 2000 Sydney Games.
Unfortunately, her request was denied and the Games went on without one of the best divers in the world. But in Athens, in 2004, she teamed up with Chantelle Newbury to win a bronze medal in the 3m springboard synchronized event for Australia. This accomplishment made her the first woman in diving history to win medals in three Olympic Games and the only one to represent four different flags in four Olympic Games: Soviet Union (1988), Unified Team (1992), Russia (1996) and Australia (2004).
Irina Lashko had the misfortune of diving during an era dominated by the People’s Republic of China, yet during her career, she managed to record victories over three Hall of Famers, Gao Min, Fu Minxia and Guo Jingjing and no doubt helped push them to greatness. She now joins them as one of the greatest divers of all time.
Today We Remember Bob Duenkel, Long-Time ISHOF Employee and Honoree, on His Birthday!!
Bob Duenkel (USA)
Honor Contributor (2021)
FOR THE RECORD: 40+ YEARS OF DEDICATED SERVICE TO ISHOF AND THE HISTORY OF THE AQUATIC WORLD AS ISHOF’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/CURATOR; AWARDS: 1997 GLENN HUMMER AWARD BY USA SWIMMING, 1997 NAMED IN AQUATIC’S INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE AS “WHO’S WHO IN AQUATICS”, 1999 WEST ORANGE (NJ) HALL OF FAME, 2004 ISHOF PRESIDENTIAL AWARD, 2018 HONOR CONTRIBUTOR INTERNATIONAL MARATHON SWIMMING HALL OF FAME
As a young boy he had a love of swimming from almost the day he was born. He began competitive swimming for the YMCA of New Jersey and was a state record holder before being a star swimmer and water polo player at Kansas State University. After graduating from KSU with both an undergraduate and master’s degree in physical education, Bob Duenkel moved to Fort Lauderdale. He taught physical education and coached swimming at Northeast High School, worked as a water safety instructor and worked for the Fort Lauderdale Beach Patrol – all before “Buck” Dawson convinced him to work as his assistant at the Hall of Fame in 1976.
The ISHOF position afforded Bob the opportunity to work exclusively in the field of his passion – swimming. He had time to train as a Masters swimmer at the Hall of Fame Pool and coach swimming at Broward Community College. In 1978 he was named National Junior College Swimming Coach of the Year. In the summer of 1976, he also took over the running of Dawson’s Camp Chikopi, a boys sports and wilderness camp in Ontario, Canada. Chikopi was also the world’s first summer swimming camp, founded in 1920 by US Olympic swimming coach, Matt Mann, Dawson’s father-in-law. When Dawson passed away, he left the camp to Bob and his wife Colette.
Bob’s greatest contribution to swimming, however, was his 40+ years of dedication and service to the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Bob not only absorbed the rich history of swimming like a sponge from Dawson, but through the lips of Johnny Weissmuller, Eleanor Holm, Buster Crabbe, Esther Williams, and many, many more. His knowledge of swimming history was encyclopedic. He studied and knew all the minutiae of swimming and swimmers, from the ancient Greek swimmer Leander to the most recent inductee, every Olympiad, every event, every time and every stroke. He was museum curator and presided over 40 years of ISHOF Induction Ceremonies.
From 2004-2005 he served as interim CEO and Executive Director, and then resumed his previous duties until his retirement in 2016. For any visitor to ISHOF, Bob was an invaluable resource, always there to tell a story, clarify any facts or just to toss off a quip or two. He made a wonderful ambassador for the sport and was willing to spend as many hours as necessary to aid a visitor’s knowledge of aquatics.
There will never be another person more knowledgeable about every aspect of aquatics than Bob Duenkel. Bob sadly passed away in February of 2019. During his lifetime of service to swimming he was as much part of the International Swimming Hall of Fame as any Honoree – and now he joins those whom he both served and loved, including his little sister Ginny, a 1964 Olympic Champion and world record holder as an honored member of ISHOF.
Happy Birthday Jim Montgomery!!
Jim Montgomery (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1986)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1976 gold (100m freestyle, 2 relays), bronze (200m freestyle); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1973 gold (100m, 200m freestyle; 3 relays); 1975 gold (2 relays), bronze (100m freestyle); 1978 gold (2 relays), silver (100m freestyle); NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: 8 (100yd, 200yd freestyle; 5 relays); AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS: 11 (100yd, 200yd, 100m, 200m freestyle; 4 relays); WORLD RECORDS: 11 (100m freestyle; 7 relays).
Jim Montgomery was the first man to swim 100 meters freestyle under 50 seconds (49.99). Breaking this barrier was equivalent to Roger Bannister’s four minute mile in track. That Montgomery did it while winning an Olympic gold medal (July 25, 1976) at Montreal is a double dose of immortality. He won two more golds and a bronze in those Olympics, but his record as king of the World Championships is still more phenomenal. He won a record five golds in the first World Championships at Belgrade in 1973 and repeated with four golds, a silver and a bronze in Cali 1975 and Berlin 1978.
Jim was a sprinter but he also won and set American records at 200 meters and even took the 2.4 mile Waikiki Roughwater Ocean swim nine years after his retirement from college and U.S.S. swimming.
Montgomery’s principal coaches were Jack Pettinger in Madison and Doc Counsilman at Indianan. He was a mental swimmer and believed concentration and goal setting make the difference. He got a bad case of infectious mononucleosis in 1973 which rested him up for the world Championships and made him decide he was a sprinter. He coached the Lone Star Masters which wont he Masters Nationals in his first year of coaching. An honor business school graduate, Jim Montgomery is marketing what he knows best, aquatics and fitness at all ages throughout the world.
Passages: Lance Larson, 1980 ISHOF Honoree Controversially Denied Olympic Gold, Dies at 83
Lance Larson — Photo Courtesy: ISHOF
by DAVID RIEDER – SENIOR WRITER
23 January 2024, 06:29pm
Lance Larson, a former world-record holder in the 100 butterfly and 200 IM and the winner of two Olympic medals at the 1960 Games, passed away January 19 at age 83. Larson was a longtime resident of Southern California, attending USC before working as a dentist in Orange County later in life while continuing to compete in Masters swimming.
Larson was the first high school swimmer to break 50 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle before becoming the first man to ever break 1:00 in the 100-meter fly, setting the world record on two occasions in 1960 prior to competing at the Rome Olympics. But Larson is best known for what happened in Rome, when a controversial decision by the head judge on deck denied him Olympic gold in the 100 free.
The Olympic swimming program in 1960 consisted of only six individual men’s events plus two relays, with both of Larson’s world-record events omitted. That left the 100 free as his only chance for an individual medal, and Larson faced off with Australia’s John Devitt down the stretch of the race. Larson appeared to touch the wall first, but in a massive controversy, Devitt was declared the winner, leaving Larson with silver.
Larson did, however, earn gold as part of the U.S. men’s 400 medley relay, in which he swam butterfly and his team finished in a world-record mark of 4:05.4. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Swimmer in 1980.
A celebration of life for Larson will take place March 1 at 11 a.m. at the Garden Grove Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in Garden Grove, Calif. According to an obituary published in the Orange County Register, Larson’s family is asking for contributions in his memory to be made to the Trojan Victory Fund, which supports the USC men’s and women’s swimming and diving program.
Lance Larson, right, and John Devitt, middle, after a controversial judging decision handed the Australian gold in a 100 freestyle final at Rome 1960 in which Manuel Dos Santos, of Brazil, claimed bronze – Photo Courtesy: ISHOF film still
At the 1960 Games, the relatively-new automatic timing technology was not official in declaring winners and medalists, and neither were the hand-timers placed on deck. Instead, place judges were responsible for determining the order of finish, and two of the three first-place judges said Devitt had gotten to the wall first. However, two of the three second-place judges also ruled for Devitt, forcing the situation into flux.
Hand-timing results were 55.0, 55.1 and 55.1 for Larson and 55.2 from all three timers for Devitt. The automatic timing system said that Larson had gotten to the wall six hundredths ahead of Devitt, 55.10 to 55.16. But that’s when chief judge Hans Runströmer got involved. Runströmer, the chief judge, was not supposed to have any say in determining the order of placement, but he stepped in and ruled in favor of Devitt, even though it appeared that Runströmer did not have a clear view of the finish.
Both of the men were listed with times of 55.2, and while Larson was given the Olympic record, Devitt got the gold medal. An appeal by the American team, which included recorded video evidence and was supported by American FINA official Max Ritter, was unsuccessful, and further attempts to change the results over the years never resulted in Larson receiving gold. Devitt passed away in August at age 86.
The events of that 100 free Olympic final would force change in the sport, with influential voices calling reliable automatic timing in advance of the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. And just 12 years later, touchpads would be used to break a tie for Olympic gold, with Sweden’s Gunnar Larsson given the gold in the 400 IM over American Tim McKee by a margin of two thousandths, 4:31.981 to 4:31.983. After that, though, ties to the hundredth resulted in shared Olympic gold medals, and after Americans Larson and McKee were both denied the top prize, three future ties for Olympic gold would all involve at least one American.
2023 ISHOF Honoree Michael Phelps and wife Nicole Announce Birth of Fourth Son
Photo Courtesy: Annie Grevers
by DAN D’ADDONA — SWIMMING WORLD MANAGING EDITOR
23 January 2024, 01:50pm
Michael Phelps, Nicole Phelps Announce Birth of Fourth Son
The Phelps family is now a family of six. Olympic champion Michael Phelps and wife Nicole Phelps announced the birth of Nico Michael Phelps.
He was born on Jan. 16, 2024.
“(Nicole) and I wanna welcome Nico Michael Phelps to the world,” Phelps posted on Instagram. “We’re so blessed to be given a 4th child. We’re now a family of 6!”
Nico is the fourth child and they are all boys, leading to plenty of jokes about a Phelps relay.
Michael Phelps announced the upcoming birth at his induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Phelps won 28 Olympic medals during his spectacular career, 10 more than the second-most of all time. Of that total, Phelps won 23 gold medals, 14 more than the second-most in history. His career featured 33 medals from the World Championships and 21 medals from the Pan Pacific Championships, along with an incredible 39 world records.
As impressive as his accomplishments in the pool, Phelps has served as a role model to the next generation of athletes to walk the deck, and his public emphasis on the importance of mental health has highlighted the need to take care of oneself and seek support when necessary.
He and Nicole started the Michael Phelps Foundation and have done several other things to support swimmers in a variety of ways.
Now, their family has a relay.
Happy Birthday Kevin Murphy!!
Kevin Murphy (GBR)
Honor Open Water Swimmer (2009)
FOR THE RECORD: THREE TWO WAY CROSSINGS OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL: 1970, 1975, 1987; 34 ENGLISH CHANNEL CROSSINGS; NORTHERN IRELAND SCOTLAND: 1970, 1971, 1989 (11H 21MIN); LOCH NESS: 1976 (23 MILES); RICHMOND TO GRAVESEND – RIVER THAMES: 42 MILES; THE WASH: 1973 (17 MILES); LOCH LOMOND: 1967 (15H 4MIN); LAKE WINDERMERE TWO WAY:1969 (21MILES);EIGHTLAKE WINDERMERE CROSSINGS; LAKE TAHOE: (21+MILES); CATALINA CHANNEL: (22+MILES); CHICAGO SHORELINE: (30+MILES); AROUND MANHATTAN: (27 MILES); LAKE BALATON: (48 MILES); LAKE COMO: (30 KM); MAJORCA TO MINORCA: (25 MILES); MARATHON DU SAGUENAY: (42 KM); CAPRI TO NAPLES: (23 MILES); NILE MARATHON: (20 MILES); LAKE WINDERMERE INTERNATIONAL: (25 KM).
On an August day in 1968, wearing his cap and goggles, Kevin Murphy stood on the stony Folkstone’s Shakespeare beach ready for his first crossing as a swimmer of the English Channel. During the next 41 years, he successfully completed the Channel 34 times, making him, The King of the English Channel with the most crossings by a male. Kevin became one of the greatest solo swimmers of all times.
In 1970, 1975 and 1987, he completed two way swims of the Channel. In 1970, he challenged uncharted cold waters swimming from Northern Ireland to Scotland in 11 hours 21 minutes in water 10 degrees C, a record that stood for 18 years. And in 1989, he repeated the Irish Sea swim. He set an inaugural record for swimming the 56 miles around the Isle of Wright in 26 hours, 51 minutes. He spent 52 hours, 30 minutes in the English Channel trying for a triple crossing but ending just short of the goal with a double crossing. He is the only man to have completed three two way crossings of the English Channel. He swam frigid Lake Windermere seven times including a double crossing in 1969. Most of his swims have been over 21 miles and include Loch Lomond, Loch Ness and Bristol Channel in Britain, Lake Tahoe, Catalina Channel, Chicago Shore Line and around Manhattan in the USA, Lake Balaton, Hungary(48 miles), Capri to Naples, Lake Hergozzo and six times Lake Como in Italy, The Nile Marathon, Egypt, the Spanish Balearic Island and 22 other International swims. Many of his swims he swam multiple times. He has completed over 73 swims of 10 miles or more with most of the swims over 21 miles.
Save the Date! October 4 & 5, ISHOF’s 2024 Honoree Induction Weekend
January 23, 2023
Mark your calendars now! The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) has selected the dates for the 2024 Honoree Induction Ceremonies and the ISHOF Aquatic Awards presented by AquaCal Weekend.
The 59th Annual ISHOF Honoree Induction weekend will be held Friday, October 4, and Saturday, October 5, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Make your plans now to attend!
The Class of 2024 will be announced sometime in late winter. The ISHOF Awards and other award winners will be also honored during the Honoree weekend. Join our E-mail list or keep checking www.ishof.org or www.swimmingworld.com for more information for all the latest aquatic news!
The Induction weekend will begin Friday evening, October 4, 2023 and will celebrate the ISHOF Aquatic Aquatic Awards presented by AquaCal, which typically honors six stellar aquatic men /women from the following categories: competitive swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, recreational swimming and aquatic safety.
The other ISHOF specialty awards honored on Friday evening include: The Buck Dawson Authors Award, The Virginia Hunt Newman Award, The John K. Williams Jr. Adaptive Aquatics Award, The Judge G. Harold Martin Award, The ISHOF Service Award, and others.
On Saturday, October 5, 2024, ISHOF will host, the 59th Annual Honoree Induction Ceremony. The event will be hosted at the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, located one mile north of ISHOF on beautiful Fort Lauderdale Beach. The Class of 2024 will be announced sometime in the late winter, so keep checking back for any announcements.
The ISHOF Honoree Induction will also host its annual silent auction. If you have anything you might want to donate to this year’s silent auction, please contact Meg Keller-Marvin at meg@ishof.org or call her at:570.594.4367
*Ask about our Honoree weekend sponsorship opportunities, email amy@ishof.org for more information“.
Happy Birthday Karen Moe!!
Karen Moe (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1992)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1972 gold (200m butterfly), 1976 4th place (200m butterfly); WORLD RECORDS: 4 (200m butterfly); AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS: 3 (200yd butterfly, 1 relay); AMERICAN RECORDS (Short Course): 1 (100yd butterfly); AMERICAN RECORDS (Long Course): 3 (200yd butterfly); OLYMPIC TRIALS: 1976 1st (200m butterfly).
Although she was born in Del Monoe, the Philippines, Karen Moe and her family settled in Orinda, California. At age eight she started swimming and after joining the Orinda Aqua Bears Swim Team, she competed for the next eight years as an age group swimmer. It was not until 1968, at age fifteen, that she competed in her first World Championship.
During those years she had to overcome two spinal deformities, for which she was required to wear a corrective back brace at all times, except when in the water. In 1970 she set the world record in the 200-meter butterfly, taking the record from the legendary Ada Kok of Holland, and overcoming a bout with shoulder tendonitis attributed to the many yards swum in practice sessions. Soon after, she and her family moved to Santa Clara where she swam for Coach George Haines at the Santa Clara Swim Club. Said Haines, “Karen is the type of girl that’s a great competitor and she’s an intelligent racer. She’s one of the smartest swimmers I’ve ever dealt with, in or out of the water.” Under Haines, Karen set the world record an additional three times.
Her greatest individual achievement was at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games where Karen won the 200-meter butterfly in world record time–two minutes, 15.56 seconds. It was a clean sweep by the American girls with Lynn Colella (second) and Ellie Daniel (third). She also placed forth in the 100-meter backstroke.
She returned home to a heroine’s welcome and soon enrolled at UCLA in Kinesiology. She took a two year layoff, but the Bruin’s coach Colleen Graham convinced her to swim for the team. They were contenders for the women’s collegiate national championship, and Karen became the national collegiate champion in the 200-yard butterfly, training the collegiate season from October through March only.
It was after graduation in 1976 that she married fellow student Mike Thornton and again began training for a second Olympic Games, even though she was considered an “old lady” at age 23. She made the team to Montreal, was elected the team captain and placed fourth in the 200-meter fly in an Olympics that saw the girls from the German Democratic Republic win every event but two.
Karen then retired from swimming, but again not for long. She coached with husband Mike at the Beverly Hills YMCA for two years and in 1978 became the head women’s coach at the University of California, coaching forty-nine All-Americans and nine Olympians. She is a three-time conference Coach of the Year and 1987 NCAA Coach of the Year.
All totaled, she won eighteen U.S. National Championships, setting seven American records. She was a member of the first U.S. Sports Team to make the Goodwill Trip to the Peoples Republic of China following the Ping-Pong Exchange in 1973.
Happy Birthday EVGENI SADOVYI!!
EVGENI SADOVYI (EUN)
Honor Swimmer (1999)
FOR THE RECORD: 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 4×200 freestyle relay); TWO WORLD RECORDS: 400m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle relay; 1991 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (400m freestyle, 4x200m relay); 1993 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (2 relays), silver (200m freestyle).
In 1992, Evgeni Sadovyi of the United Team was chosen World Swimmer of the Year. Probably never before has there been a more unexpected winner of this award. He had been ranked third and ninth in the 400m and 200m freestyles in 1991, but in Barcelona he captured 3 Olympic gold medals – the most in men’s competition. He shattered the world record by 1.95 seconds in the 400m freestyle and achieved the world record-setting 800m free relay.
Born in 1973 in Volzsky, Russia, Sadovyi started swimming at age six. In an economically depressed region, his grandmother took him to swim, with the dream of making it to the Olympic Games. In 1981, his family moved to Volgograd where he continued swimming on the “TROUT” team of kids. His mother worked long-hard hours to support him both morally and financially. After a year of disappointment academically in a special sports training school, his mother enrolled him in the School of Olympic Reserve where he grew with success. Three years later in 1983, his coach Victor Avdienko began training him for international competition. Soon after, in the USSR vs. GDR Dual Meet, he won the 400m freestyle and 4 x 200m medley relay. The next year in 1988, he won the National 4 x 200m medley relay. It was here he was presented a copy of Vladimir Salnikov’s life story. It became the motivational key to Sadovyi’s drive for success.
In 1989 at the World Cup in Rostok, GDR, the small thin Sadovyi imagined himself as Arnold Schwarzenegger to swim against the big East German swimmers. Spectators giggled when they compared “skeleton-in-skin” Sadovyi to the hunk Yve Dassler. But he won the 400m freestyle and the giggling stopped. When he swam the 800m freestyle, he stopped at the 750m mark thinking the race over. After everyone else turned and kept swimming, he pushed off the wall and caught up to a spectacular second place finish. At the 1990 European Championships, he set a Junior Record in the 400m free. He competed in the 1991 last Sports Festival of the USSR and the 1991 European Championships in Greece winning the 400m free and 4 x 200m relay.
In early 1992, an operation to remove stones from his body almost kept him out of the Barcelona Olympics. But his perseverance qualified him for the team and won 3 gold medals at the Games 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle and the 4 x 200 freestyle relay. Upon his return home from Barcelona, he was greeted by President Boris Yeltsin and IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. He was awarded Russia’s Athlete of the Year, a special prize from the Olympic Committee and a gold watch from the President.
The Barcelona press called him “a water king” and “golden boy of Russia”, but he remained open-hearted with a shy but disciplined demeanor. Following the 1993 European Championships in England where Evgeni won gold medals on two relay teams and a silver in the 200m freestyle, disappointment began to set in and he decided to take a rest. By September of 1996, he decided to withdraw from training and put his efforts into assisting his coach Victor Avdienko, now Head Coach of the Russian Swimming Team at Swimming Club Volga.