Swimming World Throwback Thursday Videos: Zubero and Burgess Claim 1992 Olympic Medals

PHOENIX, Arizona, May 15. THE recent news that Martin Zubero and Greg Burgess would be coaching together at the Episcopal School of Jacksonville got us nostalgic about their Olympic medal-winning performances at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

We’re featuring both swims from Zubero and Burgess this week for our Throwback Thursday video. For Zubero, it was an exciting win in the 200 back, buoyed by the cheers of a Spanish crowd. Though born in the United States, Zubero retained Spanish sports citizenship and had thousands pulling him through the 200 back final.

Vladimir Selkov held the lead for most of the race, with Zubero getting past him in the final 15 meters. Though not as fast as the world record of 1:56.57 he set the previous year, Zubero’s 1:58.47 was an Olympic record that would last until the 2000 Games.

In the video below, where Zubero is in lane four, the commentary is in Spanish and gets more excited in the final 25 meters as Zubero’s chances of winning gold improve dramatically.

Burgess was also in gold medal position in the 200 IM final, battling with Atilla Czene (who would win the event in 1996) in the lane next to him for the entire race. The two appeared to be the only ones in contention for gold, but world record holder Tamas Darnyi came out of nowhere with a blazing freestyle leg to sweep the IM races for the second straight Olympics.

Burgess swam in lane three in the final, third from the bottom of the screen in this video.

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