The US Olympic Trials came to a close this evening, and the last event of the meet was the men's 1500 freestyle. Everyone expected a great battle between Erik Vendt and Larsen Jensen. Then came the parade of finalists.
Every time the parade of finalists is walking around the pool to the starting blocks, there is wild, upbeat music blasting over the loudspeakers. Most of what we've heard during the meet was modern techno/house music.
So what did they play for the men's 1500?
"Radar Love" by Golden Earring!
Although many people didn't get the significance, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was SO psyched!!!
For those of you who haven't read the book "Four Champions, One Gold Medal" go out and get a copy of the book right away!! "Radar Love" was the song Brian Goodell had going through his head during his intense training sessions and many of his races. It was his favorite psyche song.
As the swimmers walked out to "Radar Love" I thought about Brian Goodell, who I'd just met for the first time a couple days ago. There we were in Southern California, not far from Mission Viejo. There was a huge section of Mission Viejo fans in the stands, and two Mission Viejo swimmers in the final, including 800 meter American Record holder Larsen Jensen.
As the race was coming to a close, Larsen Jensen was in command and was just about to break the American record. I looked over to my right, and there was Brian Goodell, two boxes over, behind lane three, standing at the front of the box, whistling as loud as he could. Jensen broke the American record by one tenth of a second with a time of 14:56.71.
It was truly an extraordinary moment!!
By the way, Brian is doing some Masters swimming these days, and told me he plans to swim Masters Nationals at Mission Viejo next summer.
Later, I went over to Brian and told him how excited I was to hear Radar Love. He had a little sparkle in his eyes. Apparently, he had made a special request to the DJ.
For me, it was a defining moment in American swimming, and I couldn't think of a better way to wrap up these Trials.
WOW!
~Bill
Former Member
"No more speed, I'm almost there
Gotta keep cool now, gotta take care
Last car to pass, here I go
And the line of cars drove down real slow"
Thanks for the post Bill. You captured the moment and delivered it as a gift to us all.
I believe that there will be a taped delay showing from one of the major channels this Sunday morning, 10-noon, of the Trials.
Too bad they can't stick to the swimming portion; they'll probably throw in a lot of additional nonsense to compliment too many commercials.
:rolleyes:
Jim
Former Member
I think thanks are in order for all of his posts during the trials. Even though I wasn't there and the networks didn't carry as much of the trials as I would have liked, Bill's posts made them more real and more exciting. Thank You Bill.
Originally posted by Swimmer Bill
For those of you who haven't read the book "Four Champions, One Gold Medal" go out and get a copy of the book right away!!
I'm bringing this one to the top again to plug the book. I'm reading it now and it's great. I encourage everyone to read it. I guarantee you'll feel like a slacker after you read about some of the workout these guys did in the mid '70s!
