[PHOTO BY AL SCHOENFIELD]
contested. In addition to winning the 200 and 400 freestyles in world record time, she took bronze in the 100 and silver in the 800. Add in her gold medal and world record in the 200 IM, and you have the makings of an achievement that could be argued as equal to Spitz’s accomplishment. Spitz only swam four individual events. Had he contested the 400 free, an event in which he used to hold the world record, Spitz may have set the standard at eight gold medals and eight world records!
Eric the Eel wows the world (2000)
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Mark Spitz and Shane Gould TOP OLYMPIC MOMENTS — continued from 9
should look like little skirts made the women’s side of the sport look dainty until the 1960s. For the most part, women have been able to swim the same events as their male counterparts. Surprisingly, they debuted the 50 free Olympic race in 1988, the same year the men finally were able to swim it. So why did it take 88 years from the time the men’s 800 free relay was swum in Olympic competition (1908) for the women to get an 800 free relay of their own? Imagine the great races we missed. Would the American women have taken down the East Germans in another relay at the 1976 Games? Would Franziska van Almsick finally have won that elusive Olympic gold medal by leading the Germans to gold in 1992? Would Janet Evans’ star have shone brighter with a swim on the USA 800 free relay in 1988? When the first swimmers dove into the water in Atlanta, van Almsick took a body-length lead over American Trina Jackson. Cristina Teuscher snatched the lead from the Germans, with Sheila Taormina and Jenny Thompson never relinquishing it. With the victory, Thompson won her third relay gold of the meet, the first female to do so and a feat matched only by Mark Spitz in 1972 and Jim Montgomery in 1976. She would go on to repeat that accomplishment in 2000.
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[PHOTO BY REUTERS]
PICTURED
Just minutes after Eric Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea touched the wall to finish his heat in the men’s 100 freestyle, swimming fans around the world were introduced to a new name that would garner as much press as Australia’s hometown hero Ian Thorpe and the event’s eventual world record holder, Pieter van den Hoogenband. FINA, swimming’s international governing body, invited several developing nations to send representatives to participate in some sports, and the three swimmers in the first heat of the 100 freestyle were at the Games as part of that wildcard invitation. Perhaps it was a case of the jitters—or not being informed of the rules— but two of the swimmers in the heat false-started and were disqualified. That left Moussambani alone on the blocks, ready to make history. Dubbed “Eric the Eel” by the media, Moussambani wasn’t wearing the highly touted competition suits of the time, nor did he have the cleanest dive or the perfect stroke. But his swim was getting the crowd on its feet, cheering loudly for a man who had no shot at Olympic gold. The only person for whom the Aussie crowd cheered louder was Thorpe. Eric the Eel reached the 50-meter mark 40 seconds after the race started. For a man who lived in a country
Mark Spitz and Shane Gould steal the show (1972)
While Mark Spitz was churning his way through history, winning seven gold medals and setting seven world records, Australia’s Shane Gould was quietly making her mark in swimming history. Not only did she set three world records of her own, but she also was the first person—and so far, the only person—to win a medal in every freestyle race
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Olympic Preview
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Eric the Eel