1976 olympic swimming trials

Before the final, out came Vogel wearing a stocking cap. When he took it off, his head was bald. The Fort Wayne swimmer speculated that shaving his head might have psyched out the German. Vogel won the gold medal in Joe Bottom and Hall were second and third. Pyttell was fourth. On the closing day of swimming, Montgomery lowered his own world record in the meter freestyle to In the final, he broke that with a time of At the time, he said, he did not consider He just wanted to win. Counsilman approached him and said the landmark achievement would mean more to him later than it did in the moment.

Naber, Montgomery and Vogel all swam on the medley relay team that broke the world record by nearly six seconds. Hall, 64, a retired Phoenix eye surgeon, assists in swim camps. He is the father of Gary Hall Jr. Montgomery, 61, a native of Madison, Wis. Vogel, 59, a father of five, has coached for 36 years and is now at Coastal Maine Aquatics.

The American men could have won more medals. Two staples of the Olympic program, individual medley and freestyle relay, were not contested at Montreal. Such dominance by American men and East German women — the women later revealed to be enhanced by state-sponsored doping — has been blamed for the decision by FINA, the aquatics governing body, to limit a nation's Olympic entries to two per event.

Never again will three flags from the same nation be raised at a swimming medal ceremony. It is perhaps a moot point. She was openly critical of the East German women, basically accusing all of them of using performance enhancing drugs PEDs. Twenty years later, after German unification, release of East German documents would confirm her suspicions. The Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; 26 events in swimming were contested.

There was a total of participants from 51 countries competing. American [Jim Montgomery] had broken the world record in this event in August in Kansas City, finishing in But he bettered that in the semi-finals in Montreal with He went out fast in the finishing, hitting the wall in But he did not slow, winning the gold medal in Babashoff trailed behind in One man who might have challenged Montgomery in Montreal was not there.

That was Jonty Skinner of South Africa, who could not compete because his nation was banned by the IOC because of their apartheid policies. A few weeks after Montreal, Skinner lowered Montgomery's world record to The men's metre freestyle event at the Olympic Games took place between July 24 and Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke.

Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

The world record had not moved since [Mark Spitz] set it to win this race in Munich. Naber took over the lead, though narrowly, at and metres, but Furniss came back strongly to win gold in John Naber would eventually four gold medals in Montreal, in addition to his silver in this race.

The men's metre freestyle event at the Olympic Games took place July Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool. He had problems with his shoulders and a case of anemia and never again reached the form of He had set four world records in the event in , but his mark was bettered at the US Trials in June by [Brian Goodell], where he had out-dueled Shaw.

The final in Montreal was more of the same, as the two matched stroke-for-stroke for metres, going out at world record pace. On the penultimate lap, Goodell finally opened some water, leading Shaw by a stroke at the final turn. Shaw hung on for the next 25 metres, but then Goodell opened up further to win by half-a-bodylength in a world record This was Goodell's second gold medal in Montreal, having won the 1, metres two days before.

Soviet [Volodymyr Raskatov] placed third, well back in Raskatov was the European record holder coming into the Games, but as David Wallechinsky has noted in his book The Complete Book of the Olympic Games , his European record would not have even qualified him for the final of the US Olympic Trials in The men's metre freestyle event for the Summer Olympics was held in Montreal.

The event took place on Tuesday, 22 July. The three favorites were Australian [Steve Holland], who had set a world record in the event in Sydney in February ; [Bobby Hackett], runner-up of the US Trials a few weeks before Montreal; and [Brian Goodell], who would later win the freestyle gold and had set the world record of All had different plans.

Hackett was known for setting a suicidal pace and trying to hold on. Holland started slowly and would usually push the middle metres, and then finish with what he had.

Goodell would follow the leaders, relying in his faster speed to finish and try to win. Hackett took the lead on the first lap with Holland in his wake, expecting Hackett to go out fast and collapse from the effort.

But what he didn't know was that Hackett had changed his strategy and was setting a moderate pace, one he could maintain all day. At metres, Hackett led in Holland only realized his mistake at metres and took the lead, but it was far too late for him to drop his American rivals. Goodell caught Hackett at 1, metres, who still trailed Holland by a bit. But Goodell took the lead at 1, metres and finished strongly to win the gold comfortably. Goodell finished in the world record time of The event took place on 19 and 20 July.

The Americans had swept the metre freestyle medals two days before this final and were overwhelming favorites. The world record coming in was But that did not survive the first round. The Soviets would finish second in a time of The event took place on Wednesday, 21 July. Swimming World called this the race between the old legend, [Roland Matthes], and the developing legend, [John Naber].

Matthes till held the world record, set in the Munich medley relay, but in Naber had defeated him, ending his 7-year unbeaten streak in the backstroke. However, Matthes had won the world title in this event in both and The two legends qualified in round one, Naber posting Then in the semi-finals, Naber posted The final saw Matthes make two false starts, but on the legit start Naber went out the fastest, leading to the wall in The pace seemed unsustainable but sustain it Naber did, finishing in Behind him, Matthes was unable to keep up with another American, [Peter Rocca], who placed second, the bronze going to the East German.

A few days later, Matthews would scratch from the backstroke, which Naber would also win, with Rocca adding another silver medal. The men's metre backstroke event for the Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Canada. The event took place on 18 and 19 July. But in addition to the gold medal, the two-minute barrier, never bettered for the back, also hung out there as a goal. She won the race knowing she could do better in the Olympic race, though she was aware she was going to face the East German team again.

She said she noticed the physical changes in many of the women she'd raced back in and , and recounts hearing deep voices in the women's locker room that belonged to the East German women.

The experience of watching the East Germans win every event was brutal, Graham-Keever said, but she added that the team, men and women, were very close because of the hardship. Graham-Keever finished 10th in the back and thought she could have swum faster but said she knows she gave it her all.