Olympian Masters ?

I know of several alternates to the Olympic Team in 1968; two of us are still swimming, but don't know about Dashelle Stein or Carter Schillig. Both were transplants into Texas and Carter swam under SMU prior to Mexico City. Bill Barrett, I believe, still swims, but it's hard to keep track after 39 years. Plus I now live in the Caribbean and do not associate with any Masters swimmers other than this forum. But great friendships were made with all of these people including Doug Russell and Don Schollander; wonderful people. And it's wondeful that so many still swim and that so many more are swimming! donna

Is this list complete though? I am sure there could be a couple of swimmers out here that have been overlooked. I'd love to know who I might be sharing aqua with. Any non US Olympians among our crowd? Do they get a list?

some how double posted.

Hmmm... "Paul Smith".... Elvis... Amelia Earhart... Jimmy Hoffa... I'm happy to be a changed name anonymous imposter -- although "imposter" is a pretty strong word to be tossing out there. Don't see Mark Spitz here jumping up and down and complaining ...

Imposter is too strong. Would you prefer charlatan, fraud or faker? Mark Spitz is not a registered member of this forum, so I don’t expect to see him jumping up and down here. However, in conversations I’ve had with him on a similar topic, he has a rather purest attitude about elite swimmers and he would likely use terms stronger than imposter for anyone falsely claiming to be an Olympian.

I will give everyone an example of an impostor, charlatan, fraud, and faker of what ever word you want to use. About 20 years ago I coached someone who said he was an alternate on the 1936 Olympic team. When I wrote that in an article on the team in our newsletter, another swimmer who was not on an Olympic Team but was a World Record holder in the 100 Free in 1942 disputed the claim because he would remember this. I went to the International Swimming Hall of Fame Library and went thru every AAU Swimming and Diving Guide during that time period that they use to publish every year until 1980 for Swimming and did not find his name. I went thru all of the magazine and newspaper articles about the Olympic Trials and Selection Meets and did not find his name. I even went thru all of the Indoor and Outdoor AAU Swimming Championships and still came up empty. I asked Preson Levi, who at that time was the Head of the Library if there was anywhere else I could find anything and he said no. I came away with the conclusion that this swimmer had a memory loss or he was an (use any of the words you like). He only swam 1 year and he moved away. I don't even know if he is living still. To be honest, he did not swim like he was almost on the Olympic Team by the way of his technique even with age considered. When I discovered the USA Swimming listings, again I did not see his name on the Trials Selection Meet. I have heard of others claiming to be alternates of some Olympic Team but never seeing there name in any of the past results as proof or evidence of this achievment disputes the claim.

Carl: That is the one and only and same swimmer, Mark Spitz. I know someone on the UCLA team and they said he showed up at practice and swimmers were swimming this and he really didn't really want to do it. He did it as part of a practice session and that is the result of that. I don't think he was serious about this and did it as a fitness swim. I give him credit for doing it and turning it in. I do remember in 1989 of Mark Spitz trying to get in shape and make a comeback. I do not believe that he never ever swam competitively in either a Sanctioned USA or USS swimming meet as it was called or a USMS Masters meet at the time. He was 39 at the time and the USMS Record for the 100 Meter Fly for the 35-39 age group was held by Freddy Schlicher at :58.5 and I was wondering if Mark could get close or break that record. In the 2 year period, he got his time down to :58.03, which would be a great USMS time and World Record in Masters swimming. However, he was a far cry from the :55.59 Olympic Trial qualifing time and the :54.27 time he did that won the gold medal for the 100 Meter Fly in 1972. This was still pretty amazing because he took 17 years off of swimming competition. Bottom line from all of this is that if he wants to I sure he would be an excellent masters competitior but he probably does not want to be and that is ok to. By the way I saw that you swam for Ohio State University and went to see if you knew a friend of mine that I swam with in High School. I went to this site here www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/.../osumswimrecords.pdf and could not find you. I am not saying you are an impostor but maybe they don't have you down as a letter winner. I see some Masters swimmers that I know and compete against in USMS like George Schmidt and Lonnie Harrison. I also see USMS Executive Director Todd Smith there.

I'm sure it is. He is a Masters swimmer. Rob just meant that he's not a user of these Discussion Forums. And 3990 yards isn't too bad for a 54-year-old sprinter, is it? :) Anna Lea Mark was 53 when he went his 3990 in 2004. In 2005 at age 54 he went 4020. Getting better with age:applaud::applaud:

Imposter is too strong. Would you prefer charlatan, fraud or faker? Mark Spitz is not a registered member of this forum, so I don’t expect to see him jumping up and down here. However, in conversations I’ve had with him on a similar topic, he has a rather purest attitude about elite swimmers and he would likely use terms stronger than imposter for anyone falsely claiming to be an Olympian. I thought "imposter" was a bit strong to apply to the particular person that I thought Gail and Frank were alluding to. If they were not, then I would prefer scurrilous in front of any of those words if all that detective work yielded results. Missed my point about Spitz though. I was alluding to something else.

You will get a kick out of this because someone would think that you were an impostor because you went by a different name when you swam for Cal-San Barbara. Hmmm... "Paul Smith".... Elvis... Amelia Earhart... Jimmy Hoffa...