Suspensions, Boycotts and An Olympic Anniversary Part Of New Episode of The Week That Was

Photo by Griffin Scott

PHOENIX, Arizona, October 13. WITH October being a fairly quiet month competition-wise, our headlines come from things that are happening outside the pool. Let’s get things started with a decision by the Japanese swimming federation concerning Naoya Tomita.

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At number five is the announcement that Tomita will serve a suspension of more than a year for stealing a camera from the deck of the Asian Games last month. This is in addition to Tomita being fined $1,000 by the courts. The suspension means Tomita can’t compete in Japan until March 31, 2016, which is two weeks before the Olympic Trials. Whether or not Tomita decides to continue in the sport as one of the country’s top breaststrokers remains to be seen. It would seem that the Japanese federation takes the issue very seriously, since they are handing Tomita a very long suspension that is much longer than USA Swimming gave Michael Phelps for his DUI arrest.

Further south in Australia for our number four headline, we are learning that the swimming federation there is unable to pay the top athletes the performance bonuses promised to them this year for winning medals at the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific championships. According to various reports, the organization is about $300,000 Australian dollars short of paying out the bonuses, though administration is trying to dilute it by mentioning that the money is expected to come with the signing of a major sponsor. The loss of several sponsors in the wake of the fiasco surrounding the Stilnox issue involving the 400 free relay swimmers just before the 2012 Olympics appears to be affecting not only the administration but the athletes who are the face of that administration.

Moving on to number three, and we go back to Japan for good news: the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. The event was a chance for Japan to make good after the events of World War II, and all indications were the event was a success. How else to explain why Japan got the Olympics again for 2020? In the pool, a few stars were born. Dawn Fraser made history by winning the 100 freestyle for the third time, something no one else had done, and something no one else would do for 32 years. Don Schollander became the first swimmer to win four gold medals, but circumstances kept him from winning two more. The 1964 Games did not have a 200 freestyle, which had been his best event at the time. He was also bumped off the 400 medley relay despite winning the 100 free because Steve Clark broke the world record in the 100 free leading off the 400 free relay. The meet was also highlighted by the American men winning all but three events, the Germans competing under one flag for the last time under the Iron Curtain and the arrival of Donna De Varona onto the sports scene. After winning the 400 IM, she would parlay that success into broadcasting, becoming one of the first female sports broadcasters in the United States. Fraser flew to Tokyo last week to take part in the festivities of the celebration. Probably a bittersweet return for Fraser. After her successful swims 50 years ago, she said she wanted to continue on to 1968 for the chance to win a fourth gold in the 100 free. But she was caught stealing a flag from the emperor’s palace and banned from swimming for 10 years by Australian swimming. They cut that ban short in 1967, but it was too late for Fraser to get back into shape for another Olympic run. All in all, it was one of the first Olympics to show races as close to live as possible, so people got to see races almost on the same day. How times have changed.

At number two on the show today is the announcement that Andrew Seliskar, viewed as the top high school male recruit this season, will be a Golden Bear next fall. Seliskar chose Cal over what we understand to be several top options, and the Bears will get one of the most versatile young swimmers that the United States has. His best events are the 200 and 400 IM as well as the 200 fly, and he would be an NCAA finalist in all three if he were a college student now. He’s also very talented in breaststroke and freestyle, and I bet he could be a contender in the backstroke events after some work with Cal’s amazing backstroke group. Seliskar trains with John Flanagan at the highly successful Nation’s Capital Swim Club and will be a major threat to the high school national record books at the Virginia state championships early next year.

We’ve reached the number one headline of the week, and it’s the announcement that the United Arab Emirates is in line to host an open water race, four years after the country was the site of the untimely death of Fran Crippen. FINA is considering a Grand Prix 10K race in the UAE, and the American athletes are taking a stand by saying they plan to boycott the race if the UAE is picked as host. Crippen died of an apparent heart attack and heat exhaustion as water temperatures reached into the mid- to upper 80s. His death prompted investigations and rule changes, which have made the sport safer to some degree. Alex Meyer has been leading the push for safer open water swimming venues, and wrote a letter to USA Swimming expressing his dissatisfaction over the UAE even being considered to host a race. We’ll keep you posted on developments that come from this story.

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Duncan

9 years ago

Just a comment as to the “arrival” of De Varona onto sports scene at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

As a 13 year old in 1960 she was on the US Olympic team, swimming a leg in prelims of the 4 x 100 Free relay, though she did not receive a Gold medal after the US team won, due to the rules at the time which only awarded medals to those swimming in the finals.

Also in July of 1960 she broke the world record in the 400 Individual Medley, but again her “arrival” was rebuffed by Olympic rules, in that her specialty event was not added to the Olympic schedule until 1964.

I haven’t seen anything on Donna recently. I’m probably just not paying close enough attention, but do you think you guys could entice her to come on to the Morning Swim Show and share some memories and describe what she’s been doing in recent years on behalf of Women athletes? Maybe her insights on the continuing overall effects of Title IX on our society since she completed her documentary on the subject in 2007( apparently done for 35th anniversary of Title IX)? “Safe sport” changes? etc. Donna’s significance is enough to keep Jeff/Brent/Jason/Tiffany and the rest of the MSS staff busy for more than just one slot, if she’s open to share her thoughts, insights and experience.