I was born in 1933 - Has swimming changed since then. Here is a historical remdition of swimming from the past. It also includes Jon Hendricks from Australia winning the 100 meters in 1956.
www.youtube.com/watch
52 Helsinki looked a bit "weak", from the swimming right down to the plywood blocks with black spray paint numbers. It looks very serious from 56 on.
The backstroke from the 30's looks like it was from a retirement pool in Del Boca Vista Fla.
Neat footage, George. How come swimmers used to dive so flat back in the '50s? The starts almost look like belly smacks.
Spitz' stroke sure looks nice in the 1972 200 free footage!
In the 1952 swim Clarke Scholes won the 100, I raced him a few times and always beat him, his swim may not look very good but he was a good swimmer and a tough competitor.
Clarke Scholes swam for the same college as I did: Michigan State. He's our only Olympic gold medalist, I believe.
I am 24, so my early swimming "heroes" where Matt Biondi, Pablo Morales, Summer Sanders, Janet Evans, too name a few. I do recall the Barcelona games (was 8 at the time), though the Atlanta games where the first that I remember well.
I am a bit of a history nut, so to me it is fascinating to think about the early eras of swimming and how it has evolved. It's also neat to see some of the more historical swimming "natatoriums" from the early half of the century. There was one in LA that was actually built below the basketball court - they don't think of doing cool things like that anymore!
Clarke Scholes swam for the same college as I did: Michigan State. He's our only Olympic gold medalist, I believe.
Kirk:
You are correct if you were referring to an Olympic gold medal in an individual event. Clark Scholes is the only individual gold medalist from Michigan State for his swim in the 1952 Olympics in the 100 meter Free . If you count relays, then Ken Walsh would be the other swimmer from Michigan State who received two gold medals for his swims in the 400 Free and 400 Medley Relays from the 1968 Olympics from Mexico City. At that same Olympics, Ken swam to a silver medal in the same event as Clark Scholes, the 100 meter Free. The gold medal went to Mike Wenden from Australia.
Gary Dilley was the only other Michigan State swimmer that came close to winning a gold medal in the Olympics. In 1964, in Tokyo he swam to a silver medal in the 200 meter Back to USA teammate Jed Graef. Gary lost by .20 to Jed Graef. Both swimmers broke the old World Record at 2:10.9 with Jed going 2:10.3 and Gary went 2:10.5.
I have tried to find the 100 m record for the 100 backstroke in 1932 - 1933. I think you will find that it is about 1:10. I know the record for the 100 breaststroke was about 1:24.
The 400m free was 4:56.
George:
Thanks for sharing these videos. I happen to look up the World Record in the 100 meter backstroke in the 1932 - 1933 time frame. The record was by George Kojac at 1:08.2 in winning the gold medal at the 1928 Olympics. That time was the only men's swimming time not broken during the 1932 Olympics. That record stood until Al Vandewege broke it in 1934 at 1:07.4 and that record stood until Adolph Kiefer went 1:07.0 in 1935. In 1936, Adolph Kiefer brought that time down to an impressive 1:04.8 and did that time at the Brennan Pools in Detroit. That time was a World Record until 1948.
The 100 meter breaststroke World Record during this time period was 1:14.0 by Walter Spence set in 1927 and that record stood until Jacques Cartonnet broke it in 1932 with a time of 1:13.6 and he eventually lowered the record to 1:12.4 in 1933. In 1935, John Higgins who used to coach at Navy went 1:10.8 and in 1936 went 1:10.0 and I believe in this time period is where the stroke started to change in the article that you linked about Jack Nelson and the changes that eventually led to the formation of the butterfly stroke.
In fact that is a famous story about Walter Spence and how he lost his first individual medley race and he believed Henry Myers used an illegal over arm recovery in that famous 150 medley race. The officials were convinced that it was not illegal and this set a precedent for the future use of the stroke. Then everyone started swimming like this and orthodox breaststroke with underwater arm recovery with frog kick almost became extinct as a racing stroke. I believe the 1936 Olympics may have been the last time orthodox breaststroke, as it was called back then, was used in racing until the 1956 Olympics. And that 1956 Olympics was the only one where there was underwater swimming in breaststroke and FINA banned this style in 1957, so 1960 would be the first Olympic year where swimmers were racing orthodox breaststroke and masters swimmer Bill Mulliken won the gold medal in the 200 Breaststroke.
In 1933, the World Record for the 400 Free was 4:46.4 by Shozo Makino of Japan. The American Record was by Buster Crabbe (Flash Gordon) in a time of 4:48.4 from his gold medal performance in the 1932 Olympics. In 1934, Jack Medica smashed the 4:46.4 World Record with a time of 4:38.7 and this record stood for 7 years until 1941. Jack won the gold medal at the 1936 Olympics with a much slower time of 4:44.5 and he and Roy Saari are the only swimmers in NCAA Division I history to go undefeated in swimming events in NCAA Championships.
What about Magic Johnson? Wasn't he part of the original "Dream Team"?
Actually you are correct however I believe Kirk was referring to swimming and how Clark Scholes was the only individual event gold medalist. Since this is a swimming website I believe that is what he was referring to. There have been many other gold medalists in other sports at Michigan State besides Magic Johnson and I have provided a link of information about them.
special.news.msu.edu/.../MSUsOlympianHeritage.pdf
In the 1956 Olymics if you noticed the turn indicator "T" on the bottom of lane six is not in the right place. The markers or the "T" on the bottom of the pool were rubber lead weighted mats and I ran into trouble with my 100 in the heats. The mat was too close to the wall and in my heat I ran into the wall head on at the 50.
When they built the pool they forgot to put the markings on the bottom of the pool.
Yes most divers did a flat dive, but I dove in on the angle and would always come up leading. In the 1952 swim Clarke Scholes won the 100, I raced him a few times and always beat him, his swim may not look very good but he was a good swimmer and a tough competitor.
How about the waves in the pool in 1933.
