Petra Schneider’s 4:36.10 In 400 IM In 1982 Was Untouchable

Photo Courtesy: Rob Bogaerts / Anefo

Coverage of the World Championships is sponsored by Wylas Timing

Each week until the start of the swimming competition at the world championships, Swimming World will look back at a previous performance at the world championships that still carries significance.

By Jeff Commings, Swimming World Senior Writer

The 1982 FINA world championships carried a lot of importance in the swimming community. It was the first time the best in the world had gathered in one pool since the 1978 world championships, and would turn out to be the last place where the top swimmers raced each other until the 1986 world championships.

The 1980 Olympics had been boycotted by the United States and a few of its allies. This meant the Soviet Union, East Germany and others who reigned behind the Iron Curtain were the stars of the Moscow Games, leaving the Americans and a few other nations without an opportunity to show their skills on the world stage. (The reverse of this would happen in 1984 when the Soviet Union led the Eastern Bloc through a boycott of the Los Angeles Games.)

When the 1982 world championships convened in Guayguil, Ecuador, it was perceived to be a showdown between East Germany and the United States for supremacy. The Americans had a fresh crop of talent that was hungry to crush the Eastern Bloc’s rumored steroid-addled athletes. Among them were future legends Tracy Caulkins and Rowdy Gaines. But none of them won individual gold medals, faltering in Ecuador just one week after qualifying for the team at the U.S. nationals. As Swimming World Magazine editorialized in the October 1982 edition that covered the meet, United States Swimming (as the national federation was known at the time) erred by holding its trials just before the world championships, giving athletes little time to readjust and acclimate to Ecuador before racing.

From the October 1982 issue:

All that remains now is to apply what was learned in time to reverse our fortunes in 1984. As Steve Lundquist said after the first night’s events at the World Championships, “Don’t get mad – get even.”

The Americans were summarily embarrassed by teams that approached the world championships more prepared and ready to race. The East Germans, who continued to dope its athletes despite suspicions being aroused since the 1976 Olympics, won 12 gold medals to eight for the Americans. The East Germans and the Americans each won 25 total swimming medals, but at the time, it was the gold medal count that stung. Many of the events given to the East Germans or the Soviets could have been won by Americans, many of whom hadn’t swum this slow in years. Some of the Americans swam times at the world trials that would have won gold medals.

One of the most humiliating races for the Americans was the women’s 400 IM on August 1, 1982. Caulkins was supposed to be the next IM queen, and had been the one to beat in 1980 before the boycott. Two years later, the East Germans put Caulkins and the rest of the field to shame with a 1-2 finish.

In the gold medal position was a 19-year-old who had won the 400 IM at the Moscow Olympics by a stunning 10 seconds. Petra Schneider had first broken Caulkins’ world record in May 1980 with a 4:39.96, starting an unbeaten streak in the event. Two years later in Guayguil, Schneider was still untouchable.

Though her winning margin was only seven seconds over teammate Kathleen Nord, Schneider’s world record would transcend those world championships, becoming a standard which many in the aftermath of the East German doping scandal would fail to reach.

Schneider gave no indication that a world record was possible. She was behind the pace through the first 300 meters, splitting the butterfly leg almost a full second slower in Ecuador than she did at the Moscow Olympics when she went a 4:36.29. The rest of the field was so far behind from the start that Schneider might not have had the needed motivation to push the pace.

But that freestyle leg was a shocker. Schneider blazed through the final 100 meters in 1:02.92, which would still be a respectable split in 2015. It helped her dip under her world record and reset it with a 4:36.10.

The race “went absolutely perfect for me,” Schneider said after the swim. “I expected Tracy to be a much tougher competitor and much closer, and I was surprised that Kathleen beat her. I wanted to break the world record, but I think that this time is my limit for now. I could not have gone any faster.”

Schneider never went faster in the 400 IM. She continued to swim through 1984, but the Soviet-led boycott meant no more Olympics for her. Her name would still be a part of the swimming conversation for many years. Schneider’s world record would not be touched until 1997, when China’s Chen Yan swam a stunning 4:34.79 at the Chinese nationals.

Once the media caught wind of the East German doping regime in the mid-1990s, Schneider was one of the few who stepped forward and admitted to being doped during her career. She also called for her legendary 4:36.10 to be eradicated as the German national record, though it remains the fastest time ever swum by a German.

Perhaps the German swimming federation was right in keeping the record intact. It stands as a reminder of a dark period in the country’s history. And though no German has broken 4:40 in many years, it also lives as a motivator for the current generation.

Previous world championship retrospectives

Ryan Lochte-Michael Phelps 200 IM from 2011

Le Jingyi and the Chinese women at the 1994 world championships

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Dick Beaver

8 years ago

Well done……if she wasn’t among the dopers from East Germany in the 70’s and 80’s???

Aaron Wands

8 years ago

She was a cheater. Roids.

Author

Jeff Commings

8 years ago

Hi, Dick and Aaron. I just want to note that writing about the swim is not necessarily praising it, but rather highlighting a momentous event from a previous world championships, similar to what I wrote about Le Jingyi two weeks ago. That world record stood for 15 years, which for better or worse warranted this article.

Aaron Wands

8 years ago

Reply to Jeff Commings

Hi Jeff,

I don’t believe I ever stated that you were praising the swim. Just that it’s important to note that she cheated heavily to get it.

For the record, it’s an amazing swim just like Lance Armstrong’s TDF victories were also amazing.

Jim C

8 years ago

Jeff – good article. One small beef- you mentioned that Tracy, Rowdy, and Mary T didn’t win individual gold. Mary T actually won the 100 fly.

Author

Jeff Commings

8 years ago

Reply to Jim C

Thanks, Jim. I think my eyes glazed over that when I saw she got silver in the 200 fly.

Aleksandr Sigalus

8 years ago

It was not her fault, she did not know about steroids, it was given to her by coaches and doctors. There was a whole state run scheme designed to be supreme in sports.

Robert Genter

8 years ago

She wasn’t a cheater. She was cheated by her governing body. I understand there were many lawsuits against those people. Don’t blame the athlete. They did a great job, but those circumstances were not their doing.

Kathy Heddy Drum

8 years ago

So the record should not stand. We know it was not their fault but the fact is, she was on steroids . Sorry , but I was there

Jim C

8 years ago

Reply to Kathy Heddy Drum

Kathy – you were always one of my favorite swimmers in the 70s. I think it’s incredible that you won the 200IM at the 75 worlds and beat the steroids on your own merit. Brilliant career, and I agree that you were cheated out of even more glory in those years.

Alex Schlipman

8 years ago

Don’t forget ALL East Germans back then we’re doping..

Lane Four

8 years ago

Mrs. Heddy-Drum is absolutely correct in her assessment. She was there. For the record and for those who are unaware of swimming history, Mrs. Drum was on the first USA team to experience the East Germans on full PEDs at the 1st World Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In a fair contest, Mrs. Drum would have left the meet with two gold medals. Instead, she left with one silver (400 Free Relay) and a bronze (200 I.M.) At the 2nd World Championships in Cali, Colombia, she left the competition with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Again, minus the East Germans, she would have returned to the United States with 3 gold medals (200 I.M., 400 I.M., 4×100 Free Relay), and 2 bronze medals (100 Freestyle/400 Freestyle). Along with those honors would have been the title holder of world record holder for the 200 and 400 I.M.s. Mrs. Drum is not the only athlete to have experienced first hand the East German doping travesty, but as she stated, “We know it was not their fault but the fact is, she (Petra Schneider) was on steroids. Sorry, but I was there.” Indeed, she truly WAS there.

Hesham Sabry Elbakry

8 years ago

Omar H. Elbakry