1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

Former Member — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:20:17 GMT

Mark Spitz interview from this past July 2012: That interview is timeless. I like the part where Mr. Spitz speaks about the need to change from amateur to professional status. He mentions his scholarship covered his cost then relates it to the current situation where athletes need that professional status to cover costs. We probably need a little more of that here in the US! Laureus TV did great work there, I'm a huge fan now.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

Frank Thompson — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 05:25:38 GMT

I'm sorry I missed it! I wonder if it will be on again?? As Karen said the rebroadcast is tomorrow and for those on the EST its scheduled from 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM on ESPN Classic so set your timers to record this. Its also on later in the day so check these listings. espn.go.com/.../index espn.go.com/.../index

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

Sojerz — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 04:27:16 GMT

Today is the 40th Anniversary of Mark Spitz winning his 7 gold medals at the 1972 Olympics. A story is posted here www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../31884.asp To celebrate this accomplishment ESPN Classic TV station is showing all of the USA Gold medal winning swimmers today including all of Mark Spitz's races. Its on right now and will be on tonight. Its on for about 3 hours. Whats interesting is to see the suits, no goggles, and basically no underwater swimming on either the starts or the turns. I missed most of it too. It will be rebroadcast on 9/11 in the morning. 4-7 am in CA, I think. Hard to believe 40 years has passed. I am having a little champagne to celebrate! Thanks Frank (Skip) Thompson for starting this thread and posting the synopsis too (haven't heard many of those names in a long time) and thanks Karen for the heads-up on the rebroadcast tomorrow morning -- Congrats on your fanatastic swim. Hope to find it and record on the DVR. I'm really looking forward to watching this. As i read throguh Skip's synopsis, i couldn't help but think about how slow and inconsistent swimming news was communicated. I suppose for swimmers at the elite level and attending national meets, what was going on was evident. But, for the rest of us middle-of-the-pack swimmers, there was only one publication at least on the east coast (i forget the name) that came out about bi-monthly or quatrterly with some meet results;it was the only communciation of what was going on. Kevin and Eric Tillman's Dad (from around Rye, NY and both very good swimmers) may have been invoved with publishing it (i'm not for sure). Seems to me it was hand-typed and/or mimeo'd, staple-bound, and mailed. What a difference 40 years has made in what we can see and learn and how fast that happens.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

gobears — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 10:12:09 GMT

For those of you who don't know, Karen Moe Humphreys swam in those Games and won a gold medal in the 200 Fly. We are honored to have her as a member of USMS. You can see her Olympic and her Masters achievements on her USMS profile page. She was also just inducted (last night) into the ASCA Hall of Fame for her coaching excellence at Cal! I think you're due a couple of glasses of champagne, Karen!

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

Former Member — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:07:26 GMT

Haha, like I can remember....but I'm pretty sure open, with very red eyes after practice. Unbelievable to think of doing that now. They probably used more chlorine then, too. I was an age-grouper with no goggles one summer I swam with eyes open. I remember seeing haloes around lights for most of the summer. That could not have been good for my eyes.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

philoswimmer — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 10:07:08 GMT

Haha, like I can remember....but I'm pretty sure open, with very red eyes after practice. Unbelievable to think of doing that now. They probably used more chlorine then, too. In the 70s we all swam without goggles, eyes open. I remember my eyes would burn afterward, and when I would look at lights, they would appear to have a halo around them. I also remember we would fill our goggles with tap water and put our eyes in them to try to wash out the chlorine. It stung, but it did seem to help (perhaps just by making our eyes tear?) Ah, memories.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

TomK3 — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 06:03:48 GMT

I knew Karen in school at UCLA (same major, and both lifeguards* on campus). She also swam in the 76 games in Montreal. As I recall, she had taken most of the next three years off after 72, then started training in earnest. She was just touched out for bronze in the 200 fly. Skip * Needless to say, Karen was "just a little bit faster" than the rest of us lifeguards. We had to swim a 400m for time periodically, maybe once a quarter. I don't remember what the time standard was (fast enough that some lifeguards had to really push to make it), but Karen seemed to just swim it easy and still finished well ahead of the rest of us. :D Go Bruins! I wrote my thesis at the Rec Center pool in 70/71 and fooled around with the Rec swim club. I had a GF who had almost made the olympic trials in the fly and we tried some couples competition (remember?) but she was out of my league.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

TomK3 — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 05:41:33 GMT

Did you keep your eyes open or closed underwater? Haha, like I can remember....but I'm pretty sure open, with very red eyes after practice. Unbelievable to think of doing that now. They probably used more chlorine then, too.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

Former Member — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:04:47 GMT

I missed most of it too. It will be rebroadcast on 9/11 in the morning. 4-7 am in CA, I think. Hard to believe 40 years has passed. I am having a little champagne to celebrate! For those of you who don't know, Karen Moe Humphreys swam in those Games and won a gold medal in the 200 Fly. We are honored to have her as a member of USMS. You can see her Olympic and her Masters achievements on her USMS profile page.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

smontanaro — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:55:06 GMT

For those of you who don't know, Karen Moe Humphreys swam in those Games and won a gold medal in the 200 Fly. We are honored to have her as a member of USMS. You can see her Olympic and her Masters achievements on her USMS profile page. I knew Karen in school at UCLA (same major, and both lifeguards* on campus). She also swam in the 76 games in Montreal. As I recall, she had taken most of the next three years off after 72, then started training in earnest. She was just touched out for bronze in the 200 fly. Skip * Needless to say, Karen was "just a little bit faster" than the rest of us lifeguards. We had to swim a 400m for time periodically, maybe once a quarter. I don't remember what the time standard was (fast enough that some lifeguards had to really push to make it), but Karen seemed to just swim it easy and still finished well ahead of the rest of us. :D

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

knelson — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 10:57:54 GMT

One of the races they did not show was the Men's 400 IM in which Gunnar Larson and Tim McKee tied to the one hundredth of a second and had to dismantle the timing system and awarded the gold medal to Larson because his time was 2 thousands of a second faster. I've heard this story before and I never understood why the timing system needed to be "dismantled" to get the result to the thousandth. In any event, here's a good writeup about that event: olympics.swimnewslibrary.com/.../ Swimming has now progressed to the point where the top two women this summer in London (Ye Shiwen and Liz Beisel) were faster than McKee and Larsson.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

no200fly — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:16:36 GMT

Up to that point, Jerry was hot in the 100 Free. He split 50.78 going 3rd in the 400 Free Relay and really put the USA ahead by a very comfortable margin. Spitz swam anchor and swam a 50.91 and going into this last individual event Jerry had gone faster than Spitz in both the heats and semi finals. This was going to be his toughest race and situation was similar to when Phelps had to swim Cavic in the 100 Fly. Spitz took off and was always in the lead unlike other times where he came back on the field. One of the races they did not show was the Men's 400 IM in which Gunnar Larson and Tim McKee tied to the one hundredth of a second and had to dismantle the timing system and awarded the gold medal to Larson because his time was 2 thousands of a second faster. Since then they found this to be inaccurate and have never done this again, and have always awarded two gold medal. Since then 2 races have ended like this and those are the 1984 Women's 100 Free and the 2000 Men's 50 Free. I swam with Jerry that summer. When he went to the trials, I think he was ranked 1st in the world in the 200 free. That was his first event at the trials and he didn't make the finals. Coach Mac later said that after the race Jerry blamed only himself and committed to make the team in subsequent events. The next day, he got his first spot in the 100 fly. I remember the Larson/McKee race decision. At the time, we were told that the 'winner' could be determined by technology.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

Former Member — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:49:54 GMT

We did not use goggles on my HS team....Tom Did you keep your eyes open or closed underwater?

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

Former Member — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:48:41 GMT

Mark Spitz interview from this past July 2012: Mark Spitz on Phelps, Lochte and why the Spirit of the Games is more important than Medals - YouTube

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

TomK3 — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 10:07:15 GMT

And no caps. Those were the real stuffs. I think the underwater kick should be a separate race itself and now allowed in full-stroke races. We did not use goggles on my HS team....Tom

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

Frank Thompson — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 04:12:07 GMT

Thanks Frank. Brings back memories - no caps, goggles. Did you notice Heidenreich before the 100 free, jumping into the diving well and doing a mini sprint, between the time he was announced and the start? Yes I did notice Jerry Heidenreich swimming in the diving welll before the 100 Free? Up to that point, Jerry was hot in the 100 Free. He split 50.78 going 3rd in the 400 Free Relay and really put the USA ahead by a very comfortable margin. Spitz swam anchor and swam a 50.91 and going into this last individual event Jerry had gone faster than Spitz in both the heats and semi finals. This was going to be his toughest race and situation was similar to when Phelps had to swim Cavic in the 100 Fly. Spitz took off and was always in the lead unlike other times where he came back on the field. They showed 16 events and they were all the gold medal swims by the USA. Seven of those were Spitz's races and they showed the two other gold medal events of John Hencken's 200 *** and Mike Burton's 1500 Free. In the 200 ***, the thing that stuck out was the swimmers were not permitted to put their heads underwater and it looked so different than the way we swim today. USMS World Record holder from the Omaha Nationals (Rick Colella) was in 2nd place at the 150 mark and just missed the medal stand in 4th. In the 1500 Free, the big news was that Rick DeMont was not permitted to swim and during the event the commentators talked about this and had an interview with Ken Treadway about the protest by the USA. They showed practically the whole race except from 800 to 1000 and Burton was behind at the 1100 mark and passed Graham Windeatt in the next 400 meters and won by 6 seconds. On the Women's side they showed the complete events of Melisa Belote's sweep of the 100 Back and 200 Back and it took 40 years for another USA women to sweep those events this year. What's interesting is there have been 4 men that have done that since 1972. They showed all of Sandy Neilson Bell's 3 gold medal performances in the 100 Free and the 2 relays. Belote also won 3 gold medals with the 400 Medley Relay and Cathy Carr West won the 100 *** and was in the 400 Medley for 2 golds. They showed the Women's 200 Fly sweep of Karen Moe Humphreys, Lynn Colella, and Ellie Daniel and with the Men's sweep of the 200 Fly that is only the second time in USA Olympic history that has been accomplished and the only other time was in 1968 in both the Women's and Men's 200 IM. The last individual event for the women they showed was Keena Rothhammer winning the 800 Free and beating the favored Shane Gould. It was pointed out that USA Women won two out of 4 races against Gould and at the beginning of the 1972 Olympics, Shane was favored to win 5 gold medals (100 Free, 200 Free, 400 Free, 800 Free, and 200 IM) but won 3 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze. One of the races they did not show was the Men's 400 IM in which Gunnar Larson and Tim McKee tied to the one hundredth of a second and had to dismantle the timing system and awarded the gold medal to Larson because his time was 2 thousands of a second faster. Since then they found this to be inaccurate and have never done this again, and have always awarded two gold medal. Since then 2 races have ended like this and those are the 1984 Women's 100 Free and the 2000 Men's 50 Free. It would have been nice to see some of Shane Gould and Roland Matthes winning races because they were the other dominate swimmers that were not from the USA but other than that it was great to go back in time 40 years ago and see these swimmers and see how swimming has progressed up to today.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

no200fly — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 11:27:51 GMT

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

kmoehumphreys — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 11:13:47 GMT

I missed most of it too. It will be rebroadcast on 9/11 in the morning. 4-7 am in CA, I think. Hard to believe 40 years has passed. I am having a little champagne to celebrate!

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

orca1946 — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 11:04:16 GMT

I'm sorry I missed it! I wonder if it will be on again??

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

Former Member — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 09:19:02 GMT

Whats interesting is to see the suits, no goggles, and basically no underwater swimming on either the starts or the turns. And no caps. Those were the real stuffs. I think the underwater kick should be a separate race itself and now allowed in full-stroke races.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

Frank Thompson — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 09:00:18 GMT

Yes. That is his father.

RE: 1972 Olympics - Mark Spitz

Karl_S — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 08:15:56 GMT

It was fun to watch the You Tube video at the Swimming World link. Thanks for posting! I noticed that in the medely relay, there was a Hungarian swimmer named László Cseh. Is he any relation to the 2008 & 2012 Olympian?