Swimming World Presents “Calling All Troublemakers – Sprinters Part 2: The Tom Jager and Matt Biondi Show”

Calling All Troublemakers – Sprinters Part 2: The Tom and Matt Show

By Bruce Wigo

As explained in last month’s issue, sprinters are considered a different breed of swimmer. They’re not just free spirits, but they seem to be rule breakers and troublemakers of the sport. In July, Swimming World featured two of swimming’s notorious female rebels, Eleanor Holm and Dawn Fraser. This month’s article takes a look at two male disruptors who paved the way for professional swimming, Tom Jager and Matt Biondi.

In the second half of the 20th century, there was an undeclared war between the conservative administrators of the sport who resisted change versus the athletes and coaches who wanted swimming to become a more high-profile sport.

It came to a small head at the 1972 Munich Games, where the sensational Mark Spitz won seven gold medals. Spitz was the biggest star in swimming since Johnny Weissmuller. While the stars in the professional sports world competed into their 30s, “amateur” swimmers were expected to retire after graduating from college in their early 20s or continue at their own financial risk.

Spitz chose to retire at the age of 22. Looking back now, in the wake of Michael Phelps, it’s easy to imagine the career Spitz might have had and the impact he most certainly would have had on the sport had he been allowed to accept endorsements and compete in two or three more Olympic Games. Back then, his margin of victory in his individual events was enormous by today’s standards.

But it was not until after the 1988 Olympic Games that the word, “amateur,” was finally removed from the Olympic rulebook. It was a change made primarily to allow professional basketball players to participate in Olympic competition and one that was not enthusiastically received by many of the traditional Olympic sports, including USA Swimming.

That organization would need a little push into the 20th century. That push came from Tom Jager and Matt Biondi.

Jager was known as a free spirit, a long-haired rebel with a receding hairline who swam collegiately for Ron Ballatore at UCLA. Biondi, thought to be more conservative, went to Cal. Although he swam for Nort Thorton, he was recruited primarily as a water polo player by Pete Cutino. But while doing both sports, he blossomed more as a swimmer, and at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, Biondi won eight medals, including five gold.

At the same two Games, Jager won five medals, including four gold. From 1984 through 1988, Tom and Matt developed a heated rivalry in the pool over 50 yards and meters. They broke the world record six times, and they held nine of the 10 fastest times in history. At the 1988 Olympics, where 50 meters was contested for the first time, Biondi out-touched Jager, the pre-Games favorite, to win the gold medal.

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Swimming World Magazine August 2020 Issue

FEATURES

014 OPPORTUNITY LOST
by Dan D’Addona
High school swimming has multiple seasons with roughly 130 state/sectional/divisional high school championship meets held as early as October or as late as May of the following year. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in mid-March, some high schools had already completed their championships, others saw their season canceled…while still others were interrupted during the middle of their meet! Here are a few examples of how the coronavirus affected high school swimming.

016 A GOOD INDICATOR OF FUTURE SUCCESS
by Andy Ross
Since Swimming World first honored its Male and Female High School Swimmers of the Year in 1997, 60 percent of those athletes have gone on to compete in the Olympics from 2000 through 2016.

019 TOP HIGH SCHOOL RECRUITS
by Chandler Brandes
Swimming World takes a look at the swimmers it considers to be the 10 best high school recruits—both male and female—from the Class of 2020 and where they’ll be attending college in the fall.

022 THE RECORD BREAKERS
by David Rieder
Nine high school swimmers from eight different states combined for 11 public or independent school records and eight overall national high school records—including three times in one event!

026 A GROSS INJUSTICE
by John Lohn
In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, 16-year-old Rick DeMont had won the 400 meter freestyle only to have his gold medal taken away several days later in one of the biggest injustices in Olympic history.

029 ISHOF: THE TOM AND MATT SHOW
by Bruce Wigo
As explained in last month’s issue,sprinters are considered a different breed of swimmer. They’re not just free spirits, but they seem to be rule breakers and troublemakers of the sport. In July, Swimming World featured two of swimming’s notorious female rebels, Eleanor Holm and Dawn Fraser. This month’s article takes a look at two male disruptors who paved the way for professional swimming, Tom Jager and Matt Biondi.

COACHING

012 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPTIMAL MODEL FOR TECHNIQUE: PART VIII—BODY BASE OF SUPPORT FOR BREASTSTROKE
by Rod Havriluk
The torso is the swimmer’s base of support (BOS). During a stroke cycle of a typical breaststroker, excess vertical motion of the shoulder distorts the BOS, which compromises the ability to maximize propulsion and, as a result, limits swimming velocity. This article offers suggestions for how to stabilize the BOS to generate more propulsion to swim faster.

033 SUMMER LEAGUE: HAVING FUN AND GETTING THE WORK DONE
by Michael J. Stott
No matter what tomorrow or next year brings, one can hope that the benefits of summer league as we know them will persist.

035 SPECIAL SETS: TRAINING FROM TRIALS TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES
by Michael J. Stott
Through the voice of Michigan associate coach Josh White, this month’s “Special Sets” traces the training Connor Jaeger did in the period between the U.S. Olympic Trials to the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016.

041 Q&A WITH COACH NEIL HARPER
by Michael J. Stott

042 HOW THEY TRAIN ANNA HOPKIN
by Michael J. Stott

TRAINING

010 DRYSIDE TRAINING: EXERCISES FOR EXPLOSIVE STARTS & TURNS
by J.R. Rosania

JUNIOR SWIMMER

039 GOLDMINDS: HOW TO BECOME AN “A” SWIMMER
by Wayne Goldsmith
Ultimately, success comes to those amazing people who make the decision to be successful and who then live that decision in practice and performance—in and out of the pool—until they realize their potential.

045 UP & COMERS: ABBY REICH
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COLUMNS

008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT

032 DID YOU KNOW? PETER JACKSON: “THE BLACK PRINCE”

046 GUTTERTALK

048 PARTING SHOT

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