SwimmingWorldMagazine.com Rewind: 40-Year Splashback – January 1967

By Jason Marsteller

PHOENIX, Arizona, January 7. OVER the upcoming year, SwimmingWorldMagazine.com Rewind will check back on previous editions of Swimming World Magazine in 10-year Splashback increments. Today, we travel back to January 1967 to see what then-Editor and Publisher Albert Schoenfeld had in store for our readers.

January 1967 Table of Contents
Tighten Up and Toughen Up, By Dick Kimball – 4, 37
An Easy Way To Teach Hard Dives – 5, 37
By Nick Rodionoff
College Conference Forecasts – 6, 7, 12
Consistency in Diving – 9
By Jerry Symons
World Swimmers for 1966 – 10
Establishing a Published "Best Times" List – 14
By Richard Heller
AAU Championship Qualifying Times -18
The Back Take-Off – 24, 25
By Tony Turner
World Records – 26
1966 25 World Best Times – 45, 46

Here is an excerpt of the World Swimmers for 1966 piece:

Mike Burton, 19, the World Record holder for 1500 meter freestyle and the American Record holder for the 1650 yard freestyle was chosen today as the "World Swimmer of 1966" by the editors of SWIMMING WORLD magazine.

Burton, who hails from Sacramento, California, is a sophomore at UCLA. In 1966 Burton clocked an unbelievable 16:41.6 for 1500 meter, breaking the old mark held by Steve Krause of 16:58.6 by seventeen seconds.

On his way to his world Record performance in the 1500 meter, Burton clocked 8:48.8 for 800 meter, the second fastest clocking ever achieved. This was only six tenths of a second off of the world record set earlier in the year by the Soviet, Belits Geiman.

In addition to his World Record swim at 1500 meters, Burton, 5'9", 155 lbs., set an American Record for 1650 yards freestyle when he won the National AAU Indoor Championships at Brandon, Florida, with a time of 16:27.3.

In the women's division, Claudia Kolb, 16, of Santa Clara, California, was chosen woman "World Swimmer of 1966" by the editors of SWIMMING WORLD magazine. Miss Kolb set a world record in the 200 meter individual medley 2:27.8 and her clocking of 5:15.5 for the 400 meter individual medley, the second fastest ever, was just six tenths slower than the world record of Donna DeVarona set in 1964 (5:14.9). The Santa Clara miss was also timed in 4:39.0 for 400 meters freestyle, just one second over the world mark of 4:38.0.

Miss Kolb climaxed her year with a win in the 800 meter freestyle, 400 meter freestyle, 400 meter individual medley, 200 meter individual medley, and a second in the 200 meter butterfly as well as swimming on the winning medley relays and freestyle at the 1966 "Little Olympics" at Mexico.

Miss Kolb, a junior at Santa Clara High School, will be 17 in December, is 5'7" weighs only 127 lbs., shows that she will be a gold medal contender in almost any event she enters in the 1968 Olympics.

For the complete Swimming World Magazine article on the 1966 World Swimmers of the Year, click here.

Premium online subscribers can view the entire January 1967 edition of the magazine, as well as any other edition of the magazine back to 1960. To order a premium subscription, please click here.

Swimming World Magazine January 1967 Back Cover

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