Swimming Blogs - Chris DeSantis

I'm finally getting back to the second part of my 1980 Olympic rundown. If you recall from my last post, the US boycotted the games and didn't participate, leaving athletes behind that lost their one chance at the game as well as likely gold medalists. This week I'll be running down the men's side of the Olympic trials and how they compare to the actual Olympic results. The 1976 team was the peak of American men's swimming, a performance so dominant that some cite it as the reason FINA would eventually disallow countries from entering more than two swimmers per event in the Olympics. At this point I should correct a mistake from my previous post where I ignored the fact that the each team in 1980 actually selected three swimmers per event and would have sent that many had they been allowed to. So my apologies to women's team members Joan Pennington, Susan Rapp, Stephanie Elkins, Karen LaBerge, Marybeth Linzmeier, Susie Thayer and Lisa Buese. Only Rapp and Linzmeier would get another shot at the Olympic games.

If the 1976 men's teams performance motivated FINA's reduction to two swimmers per country, then perhaps missed the American men's return to earth in 1980. Whereas in 1976 the US men would sweep a majority of the Olympic program, they would have lacked the star power and depth to do so in 1980. Still, they were probably still the world's fastest men's team.

Among their stars was one Ambrose "Rowdy" Gaines, the world's best sprinter. His preliminary time from the 1976 trials (49.61) would have beaten Moscow champion Jørge Woithe (50.40) handily. His 200 freestyle (1:50.02) was also not far off from the Olympic winning time (1:49.81). Steve Lundquist was the world's best sprint breaststroker. The sprint butterfly contingent of William Paulus, Matthew Gribble and Mike Bottom could possibly have swept the event, as Bottom's third place time of 54.97 was only .05 slower than Olympic champion Par Arvidsson. Craig Beardsley set a world record in the 200 Fly (1:58.21) at trials, while Bill Barret scored the world record in the 200 IM (2:03.24). Jesse Vassalo also swam significantly faster in the 400 IM than the gold medal winning time.

The most significant drop off on the 1980 team came in distance. It was a dramatic shift that foreshadowed America's departure from the male distance events over the next few decades. In 1976 three american male swimmers could challenge the world record in the 1500- Bobby Hackett, Brian Goodell, and Tim Shaw. By 1980, Goodell and Bobby Hackett were still competing but far from competitive. Goodell was more than 30 seconds slower than his old world record time and Hackett was 45 seconds slower. Trials winner Mike Bruner (15:19) would have been far behind Olympic Champion Vladimir Salnikov (14:58) and would not have medaled with a repeat of that time.

Far from the limelight were a number of swimmers like their female compatriots toiled in near obscurity and never qualified for another games. Kris Kirchner, Bill Forrester, Brian Roney, Bill Barrett, Glenn Mills, John Simons, Mike Bottom, and Stephen Barnicoat would never get another chance at an individual Olympic medal.

Again, its a shame that these athletes were not allowed to compete. Its an issue that is socially relevant with countries considering varying levels of boycotts for the Beijing games. Especially in light of recent events in Taiwan, the call for the rest of the world to hold China accountable has grown louder. Whether you believe in politicizing the games or not, if you're involved in sport you feel compassion for athletes that have been or will be affected by political and humanitarian differences.