Each day through August 4, Jeff Commings will take you back 30 years to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, highlighting one of that day\u2019s swimming events that continues to be a benchmark for the current culture of the sport. A full list of medalists from that day\u2019s competition follows at the end of the article.<\/i><\/p>\n
Feature by Jeff Commings<\/i><\/p>\n
PHOENIX, Arizona, August 3. EVERY Olympic Games has its shocking upsets. In 1984, that happened in the men\u2019s 200 butterfly.<\/p>\n
THE Albatross hadn\u2019t flown at the 1984 Olympic Games for two days, and perhaps the lack of action in the pool took West Germany\u2019s Michael Gross off his edge on the second-to-last-day of the meet. If there was anything close to a sure thing in men\u2019s swimming at the 1984 Olympics, it was that Michael Gross was going to win the 200 butterfly. He was the world record holder, the reigning world champion and the winner of the 100 fly. All of this sounds familiar, doesn\u2019t it? Cue the playbook for the same event at the 2012 Olympics featuring Michael Phelps.<\/p>\n
Like Phelps, Gross likely did not expect a swimmer with nothing to lose who lived in the Southern Hemisphere. Swimming out in lane six, 17-year-old Jon Sieben was about as much of a dark horse as you can get. But in the Olympics, past credentials mean nothing when the starter says \u201cTake your marks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The likely challengers for gold were American Pablo Morales, looking for revenge after losing gold and his world record to Gross in the 100 fly; and Rafael Vidal of Venezuela, who had an exceptional prelim swim to place second for finals.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how Swimming World Magazine\u2019s Chris Georges detailed the race in the September 1984 issue:<\/p>\n
Gross took the lead from the gun, as expected, but Vidal hounded him the entire way. The attention of the crowd was focused on the center lanes. Morales appeared to hang back for 100 meters before coming on to make his move.<\/p>\n
Swimming virtually unnoticed in lanes six and seven, Sieben and (Canada\u2019s Jon) Ponting were having a go of it themselves. It wasn\u2019t until the final 30 meters, when it became evident that Herr Gross was not going to have things all his way, that the race in lanes six and seven caught the attention of the crowd. Seemingly accelerating as though a fire had been lit under him, Sieben suddenly came into medal contention. \u201cI could see Rafael beside me in lane five,\u201d Sieben said later, \u201cand coming home that last 50, I knew I was a definite medal chance. I didn\u2019t even know where Michael or Pablo were.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only knew I\u2019d won when I turned around and saw on the board that I\u2019d won,\u201d he said. So did the Aussies, who were spread out in the stands between the press area and the athletes\u2019 seating at the far end of the diving well. What was immediately apparent was that Sieben had scored the upset of the meet by defeating Gross. What didn\u2019t immediately sink in was that he had gone one-hundredth of a second faster than Gross\u2019 old (world) record, too.<\/p>\n
The standing ovation Sieben received was as enduring and enthusiastic as that for almost any American winner at Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
And, perhaps, most significantly, this was the only event in the entire aquatics competition at the Games that was completely unaffected by the absence of Soviet and East German swimmers. The boycott became laughable \u2013 no Eastern-bloc athlete would have even made the final.<\/i> <\/p>\n
Los Angeles was not Sieben\u2019s only appearance at the Olympics, but by 1988 his star had quickly faded. He didn\u2019t finish high enough at the 1988 Australian trials to qualify for the Olympics in the 200 fly. He did manage to make the 100 fly final in Seoul, missing a bronze by three hundredths of a second. He also competed in the 100 fly at the 1992 Olympics, but did not make the final.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200 butterfly medalists:
\nGold:<\/b> Jon Sieben, Australia (1:57.04, world record)
\nSilver:<\/b> Michael Gross, West Germany (1:57.40)
\nBronze:<\/b> Rafael Vidal, Venezuela (1:57.51, Venezuelan record)<\/p>\n
Video of men\u2019s 200 fly:<\/b><\/p>\n