Swimming World Presents “Remembering the 1st World Championships: Belgrade 1973”

Belgrade 1973 First World Championships Swimming World

Remembering the 1st World Championships: Belgrade 1973

As excitement builds for the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, Korea, Swimming World reflects on the origins of this truly great event.

Prior to 1973, there was only one chance to compete against the best in the world, and that happened every quadrennium. Back then, the Olympic Games were the world championships. There were no FINA Cups or Series for our stars to shine between Olympic Games, and training focused on a four-year cycle.

The man primarily responsible for changing that was Dr. Harold “Hal” Henning, a dentist from Chicago who was the USA’s FINA Bureau member. As head of the AAU’s Swimming Committee in the early 1960s, Dr. Henning had championed the idea of establishing a swimming hall of fame. As a FINA Bureau member, he helped build a consensus for FINA to recognize the Hall as FINA’s Hall of Fame.

After that, he started talking up the idea of a FINA World Championships to be held between the Olympic Games. Over the next few years, he worked tirelessly to build a consensus among the Federations, but doing so in those days was very difficult, especially for an American. It was in the midst of the Cold War, and the challenges facing FINA were threatening to destroy the organization’s credibility.

Trying times need great leaders, and at the 1972 Munich Games, Dr. Henning succeeded Mexico’s Javier Ostos Mora as FINA president. It was under Ostos Mora that the FINA Bureau agreed to hold a World Championships, and Belgrade, Yugoslavia was the chosen site.

But then came what happened at Munich during the second week of the XX Olympiad, and the world had to deal with the aftermath of the Palestinian massacre of Israeli athletes…

To read the full story of what happened leading into the first FINA World Championships in Belgrade, 1973,
check out the June 2019 issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now!

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FEATURES

016 GLOBAL WARMING
by David Rieder, Dan D’Addona, Taylor Brien, Andy Ross, Erin Keaveny and Michael Randazzo
Expect the competition to heat up, July 12-28, as the world’s best aquatic athletes from all over the world converge on Kwangju, South Korea for the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships.

PREVIEW: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

016 WOMEN’S SWIMMING

019 MEN’S SWIMMING

024 OPEN WATER SWIMMING

025 DIVING

025 WATER POLO

027 ARTISTIC SWIMMING

028 SWEDISH SUPERSTAR
by David Rieder
Sarah Sjostrom’s swimming career has gone from teenage record-breaking dynamo to Olympic disappointment in 2012 to one of the world’s transcendent female swimmers. In Sweden, the 25-year-old is not ONE of her country’s swimming legends. She is THE legend.

031 REMEMBERING THE 1st WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – BELGRADE ’73
by Bruce Wigo
Swimming World takes a look back at the 1st FINA World Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1973—what was behind the start of a world championship meet and the intrigue behind adding synchronized swimming to the program…and the numerous controversies that led up to the meet as well as the ones that followed.

034 NUTRITION: AROUND THE TABLE WITH MICHIGAN LAKESHORE AQUATICS
by Dan D’Addona and Dawn Weatherwax

COACHING

010 LESSONS WITH THE LEGENDS: DON REDDISH
by Michael J. Stott

014 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPTIMAL MODEL FOR TECHNIQUE: PART 7—BODY BASE OF SUPPORT FOR FREESTYLE
by Rod Havriluk
Since hand force is directly related to swimming velocity, controlling the arm motion on the push phase during freestyle has great potential for almost every swimmer. Unfortunately, it is a substantial challenge to independently push the hand backward while the torso rotates upward.

036 PLAN B: COLLEGE CLUB TEAM OPTION (Part 1)
by Michael J. Stott
College Club Swimming has been offering more and more athletes the opportunity to continue participating in the sport they love. In this two-part series, Swimming World explores some personal perspectives from swimmers pursuing their aquatic passion while enjoying a college experience unencumbered by the demands of a varsity athlete.

041 SPECIAL SETS: BREASTSTROKE REVISITED
by Michael J. Stott
John Smithson, co-head coach at Quest Swimming in Richmond, Va., has coached multiple Olympic Trials qualifiers, state record holders and state champions. Last March, two of his 14-year-old swimmers took home wins in the 100 yard breaststroke at the Virginia State Short Course Championships. Here he talks about some of the breaststroke sets that have contributed to his team’s success.

043 Q&A WITH COACH KEVIN ZACHER
by Michael J. Stott

044 HOW THEY TRAIN ASHLEY STROUSE
by Michael J. Stott

TRAINING

013 DRYSIDE TRAINING: EXERCISE EQUIPMENT SERIES—MEDICINE BALL AND CABLE EXERCISES
by J.R. Rosania

JUNIOR SWIMMER

039 GOLDMINDS: THE 5 SUPERPOWERS OF PERFORMANCE
by Wayne Goldsmith
Passion, persistence, practice, patience and peace are all within your grasp!

046 UP & COMERS: KAYLA HAN
by Taylor Brien

COLUMNS

008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT

009 BEYOND THE YARDS

033 DID YOU KNOW? USA-USSR DUAL MEETS

047 GUTTER TALK

048 PARTING SHOT

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Leonardo della Maga

4 years ago

Remembering Novella Calligaris.

Judd Jones