Olympian Masters ?

Thanks Rob I found those results yesterday. I know he received money for both races and I knew Abou Heif won the race in 1955 and Tom came second.

David: It does not work that way. You must qualify to swim the Olympic Trials. Once you qualify, then you swim them and must place in the final heat to have a chance to make the Olympic team. In 1968, you had to place in the top 3 to make the team and be somewhere between 4th an 6th to become an alternate. If other swimmers placed ahead of you and made it in other events, you would move up a slot. In the last 2 days, information and evidence has been provided that says that the swimmer did not make the Olympic team. These are the reasons. 1. No proof of making the 1968 qualifing time standards for the 100 meter Back. 2. No record of any swim in the 100 meter Back in the results of the 1968 Olympic Trials. 3. No record of the swimmer on any Olympic roster by the USOC, USOA, AAU, USA Swimming, Swimming World Magazine, and the ISHOF. 4. No record in the Swimming results of the 1968 Olympics. With these 4 points, its worthless to get any affidavit from a teammate or coach, because it has already been pointed out and impossible to dispute the 4 points I made. Perhaps Jane Swagerty Hill, Kaye Hall, Kendis Moore, Pokey Watson, and Susie Atwood can be contacted to see if they can dispute this next year at the reunion. Gail will probably talk to those people if they are there at the 2008 Olympics and see if they remember this swimmer. But with the evidence provided here, its very hard to dispute and make a claim that the swimmer was a member of the 1968 Olympic team as an alternate. Perhaps Don Easterling and Doug Russell can be contacted about this because they know the swimmer and would be able to give us feedback on this situation. She might have been a spectator at the Olympics but not as a member of the 1968 Olympic team.

Facinating stuff. Nice historical work, and well presented.

Donna, I think you need to look at this from "the other side," too. I never saw what Gail Roper posted and if she suggested you were a liar then that was wrong. But I also don't believe the people researching this are trying to be malicious. They are just trying to corroborate the story you're telling them. Yeah, it's unfortunate the data trail has led to some dead ends, but I really don't see this as a witch hunt. I'm sure if Bill or Gail could find the data they were looking for they'd have no problem crediting you with these achievements.

Why not just get an affidavit from a teammate or coach stating she was an alternate and was present at the 1968 Olympics?

I don't see my brother Tom's name on the list and he swam the Channel twice in Races accross the Channel. I know he did it and he got prize money.George, The results of the Butlin channel races are included in Wind, Waves, and Sunburn: A Brief History of Marathon Swimming by Conrad A. Wennerberg. I saw that Tom swam in ‘55 and ’56 (I think those were the years), and he got 2nd in ’55 and a DNF (along with the entire field, after 11 hours in some pretty nasty seas) in ’56. Since these aren’t in the CSA book, I assume politics or some other forces came into play.

I found Geochuck!!! Swimming World, October 1968, Page 45. See attached file.

David: It does not work that way. You must qualify to swim the Olympic Trials. Once you qualify, then you swim them and must place in the final heat to have a chance to make the Olympic team. In 1968, you had to place in the top 3 to make the team and be somewhere between 4th an 6th to become an alternate. If other swimmers placed ahead of you and made it in other events, you would move up a slot. In the last 2 days, information and evidence has been provided that says that the swimmer did not make the Olympic team. These are the reasons. 1. No proof of making the 1968 qualifing time standards for the 100 meter Back. 2. No record of any swim in the 100 meter Back in the results of the 1968 Olympic Trials. 3. No record of the swimmer on any Olympic roster by the USOC, USOA, AAU, USA Swimming, Swimming World Magazine, and the ISHOF. 4. No record in the Swimming results of the 1968 Olympics. With these 4 points, its worthless to get any affidavit from a teammate or coach, because it has already been pointed out and impossible to dispute the 4 points I made. Perhaps Jane Swagerty Hill, Kaye Hall, Kendis Moore, Pokey Watson, and Susie Atwood can be contacted to see if they can dispute this next year at the reunion. Gail will probably talk to those people if they are there at the 2008 Olympics and see if they remember this swimmer. But with the evidence provided here, its very hard to dispute and make a claim that the swimmer was a member of the 1968 Olympic team as an alternate. Perhaps Don Easterling and Doug Russell can be contacted about this because they know the swimmer and would be able to give us feedback on this situation. She might have been a spectator at the Olympics but not as a member of the 1968 Olympic team. All I can say is, if this is true, I think those of us who gave her the benefit of the doubt are owed an apology. As are others, obviously. I'm sure the coaches, 1968 olympians or Don Easterling must be able to verify the information.

I found Geochuck again!!! Swimming World, October 1969, Page 36. Unfortunately, the file size for this one is too large to post on the forums. George, I will send it to you via e-mail. I did just discover that the new Adobe Acrobat Reader, version 8.1.1, allows you to copy and paste text from a PDF file. So, I have copied part of the article below. I can't wait to hear your stories about this one, George. It's about a race organizer gone bad. By Joe Grossman, Secretary, World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation Swimming World, October 1969, Page 36 For the first time since its founding in 1963, the World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation has acted to rid its sport of a race promoter. The Federation withdrew its sanction from the August 10, race held at Lac Simon, Que., and following the reaction of the promoter to its decision, announced it would never sanction a race in which the promoter, Lorenzo Proteau of Montreal, took part. In July, Proteau informed the Federation he was lowering his prize purses this year. He planned to offer a total of $4,000 and a first prize of $800, despite the fact that both the World Federation and the Quebec Marathon Swimming Federation, an organization of Quebec race organizers of which Proteau is a vice-president, set as a minimum for sanction a total of $5,000, including a first prize of $1,000. At its annual meeting in Hamilton, Ont., the World Federation membership voted to inform Proteau by telegram that unless his prizes were raised to the sanction minimum, member swimmers would not participate in the Lac Simon race. The following day, Proteau informed Federation officials by telephone that he would return his prizes to a $5,000 total with a $1,000 first prize, and as a result of this promise, 28 swimmers, 27 being Federation members, went to Lac Simon. However, 48 hours before the race, Proteau announced he was not going to raise the prizes and several meetings between the promoter and the swimmers were unavailing. On August 10, only 10 of the 28 swimmers present at Lac Simon entered the water. Proteau had area police attempt to prevent the 18 who withdrew from leaving the area until they paid Proteau for the lodging and meals he provided. Despite harrassment and attempts to confiscate their personal belongings, all 18 of the withdrawn marathoners managed to reach Toronto by the next day. George Park of Hamilton, Ont., Federation President said "Mr. Proteau deliberately misrepresented his intentions regarding prizes in order to get a top field of marathon swimmers at Lac Simon, and he did not inform them of his true intentions until after he had provided them with lodging and meals. If there is any fraudulent conduct connected with this matter, it is surely not on the part of the swimmers, who went to Lac Simon in good faith after receiving Mr. Proteau's promise to raise his prizes to the accepted minimum." It had been unanimously decided at the July Federation meeting that all swimmers who participated in the Lac Simon race if the prizes were below the accepted minimum would be removed from the competition for the World Championship titles for 1969. Nine of the 10 who entered the Lac Simon race finished the course, including defending world Champion Abdel Latif Abou-Hef of the U.A.R. These 10 have been removed from the point standings, although none of the 10 was in contention for the men's title.

I'm sure the coaches or 1968 olympians must be able to verify the information. Sherm Chavoor died in 1992.