Parry O'Brien 1932-2007 Track & Field Olympian; Masters Swimmer

I was on the deck when the life guard staff pulled Parry out of the pool. They were quick in their response starting CPR right away. When the EMT's arrived they went to work on Parry for over 25 minutes and eventually transferred him to the emergency vehicle and to the hospital. We eventually went on with the meet. But I know for me it was with a heavy heart. I will always remember his big barrel chested presence at swim meets. It was always a pleasure to be in his presence knowing the athletic achievements he attained. No one likes to see anyone suffer, so a fatal heart attack is maybe a good way to go. But it still makes me sad. My best thoughts go to his wife and family.

Prayers and sympathy to his family...

Was an AED available at the pool? Perhaps we need to consider having medical personnel at these events.

Was an AED available at the pool? Yes, there was an AED available, and it was used. In addition to having AEDs at pools, there needs to be people trained to recognize emergencies, perform CPR AND use the AED. If you haven't taken CPR training, now is a good time to do. Contact your local Red Cross or American Heart Association to get training. It's only 1/2 day of your time.

Parry a great athlete, we had talks at the 1956 Olympic games. Sorry to hear of his passing.

I met him some years ago in Dallas at the airport. When he told me who he was I said, "Your the guy that's been in every Olympic Games since they started in Greece?" He laughed harder then most people I have ever seen laugh. I only met him once, but in our brief talk, I could tell he was a true champion. God bless his Soul and His family!

My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. Swimatlanta lost a dear teammate, Bob Miller, this fall to a massive heart attack during practice despite CPR being administered immediately and VERY fast EMS response - the firehouse is accross the street from the pool. There was not an AED at the pool. We are currently doing a fundraiser to purchase one. The cardiologist said that if Bob had not been swimming, he would have died at a much earlier age due to the massive blockage that he had. I hope Parry's friends and family will find comfort knowing he died doing what he loved and probably a lot later than he would have if he had not been swimming.

Parry was a great human, he touched all of us with his class. His wife was always there at every swim meet supporting Parry. When I first met him at a swim meet, I mentioned when I was in high school I tried the shot put, and it was the style of Parry O'brien I learned from books. He smiled and made me feel at ease. Parry taught me a valuable lesson many years ago. Parry loved the 50 butterfly, he nearly washed his competitors over the lane lines when he dived in. I knew he was getting ready to do his 50 fly, he was pouring over several pages of a legal sized yellow pad. I asked him what he was doing, and he showed me several pages filled with all the things he wanted to do during the 50 fly. Just imagine perhaps 75 things he listed just for 50 yards of butterfly! I was amazed, here was a secret of how an Olympic Champion prepares. I tried it for my breaststroke races, starting with about 10 things and gradually working up to nearly 50 items. I challenge everyone to emulate Parry, try coming up with 25 items you want to do during one race. It's not easy. Parry will always be in my heart.

As others have said, our thoughts and prayers are with Parry's friends and family. Parry's copious preparation sounds like an amplified version of things that I have tried and found success with. In college I would take one sheet of paper and write down my goals for an upcoming meet. I would start off with normal sentences, then add bullet points of important strategies for each event, and then at the bottom of the page I would add sort of a statistical appendix of how I planned to split each race. Now I type up a race report prior to important competitions. (Still need to do this for Nationals...) The report is in the same format as what I will blog after the event. The idea is to have to change as little text as possible after the actual races. I should mention that while standing behind the blocks before a race, I think about no more than four things. So right before a 400 IM, I have only one key thought for each stroke. That helps to calm me down and focus on the most important things I need to do. I can't imagine thinking about 75 things at once. I think Mike Barrowman was quoted as saying that he had to be thinking about over 100 things at a time to properly execute his wave stroke. I didn't believe him at the time, but now I'm wondering if he was telling the truth. The difference between Olympic champions and the rest of us, indeed.