{"id":435324,"date":"2020-06-11T17:18:01","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T00:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=435324"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:31:48","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:31:48","slug":"when-roland-matthes-sat-on-john-nabers-couch-watching-ryan-murphys-rio-2016-backstroke-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/when-roland-matthes-sat-on-john-nabers-couch-watching-ryan-murphys-rio-2016-backstroke-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"When Roland Matthes Sat On John Naber’s Couch Watching Ryan Murphy’s Rio 2016 Backstroke Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

When American\u00a0John Naber<\/strong> finally ended the nine-year reign of East German\u00a0Roland Matthes<\/strong> on backstroke at the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games and the two men, though poles apart on the geo-political map of the world, hugged in the way rivals who understand the value of mutual respect do, they could hardly have dreamt of a moment that would unfold 40 years and 20 days later.<\/p>\n

The Cold War was long over, the minders long gone, as Naber and Matthes toasted friendship while sitting together on Naber’s couch in Los Angeles and watching the Rio 2016 Olympic 100m backstroke final together.<\/p>\n

“He was visiting Los Angeles in 2016 during the Rio Olympics and he and I sat on my couch in the living room and watched the backstroke races together,” recalled Naber this week.<\/p>\n

They watched and delighted in American Ryan Murphy<\/strong> breaking the Olympic record for gold in 51.97. Back in 1976, Naber took down Matthes’ World record of 56.30 with a 56.19 in semis, before claiming gold in a stunning 55.49 global standard.<\/p>\n

His teammate Peter Rocca<\/strong>, on 56.34, would forever be able to recall the time he got his hand to the wall ahead of the legendary Matthes. The East German took the bronze in 57.22, six weeks after an appendectomy had ended realistic chances of him becoming the first man to join the triple Olympic Crown club founded by Australian Dawn Fraser in 1964 after her 100m freestyle wins of 1956 and 1960.<\/p>\n

\"Naber

John Naber and Roland Matthes in 2016 – Photo Courtesy: John Naber<\/p><\/div>\n

Matthes had claimed the 100m and 200m Olympic titles in both 1968 and 1972, a feat that contributes much to him being known to this day as the most successful backstroke swimmer of all-time. Known as the Rolls-Royce of his stroke, Matthes, who passed away last December, has the greatest collection of Olympic backstroke medals in history, with four gold and one bronze.<\/p>\n

Aaron Peirsol,<\/strong> another towering achiever in one of the greatest winning streaks in Olympic history (1992 was the last time a non-American won an Olympic backstroke title), cue closest to Matthes on Olympic tallies, with three gold and two silvers.<\/p>\n

There’s another record of records, too, for Matthes: at 16 World standards, he tops the pace-setting league of backstrokes aces, Peirsol next with 11 pioneering moments.<\/p>\n

As the stories of Shane Gould<\/strong> <\/a>and others down the years show, of course, it just takes the one Games to make a massive impact. Naber’s impact was of the shooting-star kind. He’d pipped Matthes at a USA Vs GDR dual in California and in doing so had helped to prevent the meet going to the visitors but Matthes retained the world crown over 100m in 1975 and Montreal was to have been his golden finale.<\/p>\n

Illness intervened but given the speed Naber mustered, he would most likely have beaten a fighting fit Matthes at the end of his long and illustrious career, one that no longer stretched to the 200m.<\/p>\n

John Naber – A Glorious Games<\/h2>\n