{"id":439598,"date":"2020-07-11T12:15:07","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T19:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=439598"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:28:01","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:28:01","slug":"karen-moe-set-her-first-of-four-world-records-over-200m-butterfly-this-day-50-years-ago-bound-for-olympic-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/karen-moe-set-her-first-of-four-world-records-over-200m-butterfly-this-day-50-years-ago-bound-for-olympic-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Karen Moe Set Her First Of Four World Records Over 200m Butterfly This Day 50 Years Ago, Bound For Olympic Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first of four World records Karen Moe<\/strong> set over 200m butterfly, the last of which was good for Olympic gold at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.<\/p>\n

When 17-year-old Moe, clocked 2:20.7 in her home pool at Santa Clara this day half a century ago, she ended the five-rear reign on the clock of Dutch ‘gentle giant’ of butterfly, Ada Kok<\/strong>, the 1968 Olympic champion who had left the World record at 2:21.0 when she raced at Blackpool’s Derby Baths \u00a0in England on August 25, 1967.<\/p>\n

If Kok wiped 5sec off the standard in four chunks between 1965 and 1967 unchallenged by the pace of others, Moe’s four record between 1970 and 1972 are accompanied by the constant spur of American rivals, first Alice Jones<\/strong> in 1970, as the first inside 2:20, on 2:19.3 in August, and then Ellie Daniel<\/strong>, three times in 1971, the last of her marks a 2:18.4 in Minsk a year out from Olympic Games in Munich.<\/p>\n

At U.S. Olympic trials in Chicago, Moe, coached at\u00a0Orinda Aquabears by Ron Richison <\/strong>and then at Santa Clara by George Haines<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0left no-one in any doubt that she was queen of pace once more: 2:16.62, the first World standard to be timed to to a 100th. Come Munich, the first heat saw the Olympic record fall, to Rosemarie Kother<\/strong>, of the GDR, in 2:18.32. The heat was on. Daniel chucked the gauntlet back with a 2:17.18 in the second prelim to grand lane 4 in a final featuring four swimmers inside 2:20 in qualification.<\/p>\n

In the final, Kother and Daniel set the pace over the first 100m, turning in 1:05.46 and 1:05.62 respectively, to Moe’s 1:06.22. By\u00a0the turn for home, the World record had drawn level with Daniel, in the lead on 1;40.83, Moe on 1:40.92, their teammate Lynn Collela<\/strong> now third in 1 :41.28, Kother on 1:41.55.<\/p>\n

\"Karen

Karen Moe in full flight – Photo Courtesy: ISHOF<\/p><\/div>\n

Moe had most left in the tank, scorched to the title in what would be the last solo World record of her career: 2:15.57, more than a second inside her trials time. That marked the first time the title had been claimed in a World record, after the event was introduced in 1968, and the last time it took a global standard to claim the crown until Beijing 20087, when China’s Liu Zige led an out-of-the-blue home 1-2 with Jiao Liuyang<\/strong>, 2;04.18 to 2;04.72, Aussie Jess Schipper<\/strong> third in 2:06.26.<\/p>\n

In Munich, Moe led a USA sweep: Collela took silver in 2:16.34, Daniel bronze in 2:16.74, locking Kother out in 2:17.11. When she was inducted into the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame as a coach later in life, Moe noted that Haines taught his pupils that the winner would be the swimmer who could maintain the best and most efficient technique for the longest distance throughout a race.<\/p>\n

Between 1973 and 1976, Kother would win the 1973 and 1975 World titles and take the World record down in five stages from 2:15.45 to 2:11.22. She entered the Montreal 1976 Olympic final as favourite but while her global standard survived for another two years, \u00a0it was bronze for Kother, racing\u00a0under her married name of Gabriel. Her 2:12.86 that day completed a \u00a0GDR sweep at the start of the impact of the State Plan 14:25 systematic doping<\/strong> era in Olympic waters. Ahead of her were Andrea Pollack<\/strong><\/a>, in an Olympic record of 2:11.41, and Ulrika Tauber<\/strong>, on 2:12.50.<\/p>\n

Moe was locked out in fourth on 2:12.90, just 0.04sec shy of returning to the podium four years after glory in Munich.<\/p>\n

Moe would be a pioneer later in life too: she went on to coach women’s swimming at the University of California-Berkeley for 14 years. During that time she had tremendous success: three of her athletes – ‘fly legend and double ‘fly Olympic champion of 1984,\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>Mary T. Meagher, Conny van Bentum and Hiroko Nagasaki –\u00a0<\/strong>won nine NCAA titles (See Michael J Stott feature below<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Moe, the first person (man or woman) to be inducted into both the International Swimming Hall off Fame as a swimmer and the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame, she was forced to give up her coaching career and move into administrative roles after the death of her first husband, which left her as a widower with two children. She told Swimming World last year:<\/p>\n

“I am sad that I had to give up my coaching career prematurely after becoming widowed with two young children. But, \u2018once a coach always a coach,\u2019 right? Just ask my friends at Masters swimming, where I am known to do friendly stroke interventions when my coaching impulses take over.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moe was serving as assistant director when she was terminated in 2004 after complaining about the treatment of women in the athletics department.\u00a0Moe Humpreys (her married name) sued for gender discrimination and won a settlement of more than $3.5 million.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Honors and a Very Meaningful and Insightful Speech At ASCA:<\/h2>\n