Rick DeMont

swiminfo.com, the online arm of Swimming World magazine, has an interview with Rick DeMont on their Morning Swim Show tv slot.

Rick was the first man to break 4 minutes for 400m Freestyle (think Roger Bannister in Track & Field) and finished first in the 400m Freestyle at the 1972 Olympics. However, finishing first wasn't good enough and he didn't win the gold medal - check out the interview to understand why. It needs broadband, so don't try it on dial-up!

Consider also that the swim meet was interspersed by Mark Spitz winning seven golds in seven world records and 17 people were killed by terrorists or anti-terrorists. The Games was brought to a halt and re-scheduled; I know because I was there.

The interview illustrates how a screwed up beaurocracy can potentially ruin an athlete's career but also beautifully displays Rick's personal qualities of work ethic, attitude to racing, challenges and his humble opinion of his own abilities (in my opinion, probably technically the best freestyle we have EVER seen).

He talks about switching from 4-beat crossover to 6-beat freestyle, negative splitting and all the good things about swimming fastest, but is most emotional (understandably) when talking, 35 years after the fact, about the monumental screw-up by the United States Olympic Committee which resulted in him being branded a cheat and, at 16 years of age, having his Olympic Gold Medal taken away.

He quotes a terrific piece of psychology gleaned from possibly the worst film ever made, Dumb and Dumber; when given a 'One in a million chance' of suceeding with a girl, Jim Carey's character responds with, 'So, you're saying I've got a chance?'

As part of the history of our sport Rick's story is a watershed in doping control and values, and possibly the most unfair decision in swimming, EVER.