{"id":447022,"date":"2025-04-26T02:22:29","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T09:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=447022"},"modified":"2025-04-26T06:50:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T13:50:22","slug":"when-jim-montgomery-and-jonty-skinner-chased-sub-50-a-unique-summer-pursuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/when-jim-montgomery-and-jonty-skinner-chased-sub-50-a-unique-summer-pursuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Races: When Jim Montgomery and Jonty Skinner Broke a Special Barrier – A Unique Summer Pursuit Of Sub-50"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Jim Montgomery and Jonty Skinner Chased Sub-50: A Unique Summer Pursuit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Swimming World’s Great Races Series has featured numerous duels between star athletes. In this edition, Jim Montgomery and Jonty Skinner engaged in a great race, albeit one in separate pools.<\/em><\/p>\n

The most iconic barrier-breaking performance in sports history is not difficult to decipher. It is the 3:59.4 mile run by Great Britain\u2019s Roger Bannister<\/strong> in 1954, marking the first time the four-minute threshold was eclipsed. The effort captured the attention of the world and opened the imagination of what was possible in an athletic endeavor.<\/p>\n

Fourteen years later, American sprinter Jim Hines<\/strong> produced another legendary outing, as he became the first man to officially cover the 100-meter dash in under 10 seconds. The speed Hines displayed in 1968 handed him the gold medal in the event at the Olympic Games in Mexico City.<\/p>\n

From the equine world, Secretariat<\/strong> <\/a>is celebrated as the greatest racehorse of all-time and used the 1973 Kentucky Derby to put on a show that remains unmatched. Running 1:59.40 at Churchill Downs, Big Red \u2013 as he was known \u2013 became the first horse to crack the two-minute barrier in the Derby, which is run on a 11\u20444-mile track. His Triple Crown was completed several weeks later, when he delivered his epic run at the Belmont Stakes.<\/p>\n

In the pool, breaching the 50-second barrier in the 100-meter freestyle became a major storyline of 1976. The men at the center of the chase, American Jim Montgomery<\/strong> and South African Jonty Skinner<\/strong>, never met during that Summer of Speed, as politics kept them apart. Nonetheless, they engaged in an entertaining, albeit long-distance, duel.<\/p>\n

The 100 freestyle has long been considered swimming\u2019s blue-ribbon event, and the territory of some of the sport\u2019s legends. Duke<\/strong> Kahanamoku<\/strong>, Johnny Weissmuller<\/strong>, Don Schollander<\/strong> and Mark Spitz<\/strong>, to name a quartet, won Olympic gold in the two-lap discipline. More, Weissmuller was the first man to break the one-minute barrier, accomplishing the feat in 1922. Over the next half-century, the record continued to dip, to the point where sub-50 became a legitimate possibility midway through the 1970s.<\/p>\n

In most eras, the Olympics bring together the best competitors an event has to offer. However, that was not the case at the 1976 Games in Montreal, where a key figure was missing from the pool deck. Four years before President Jimmy Carter<\/strong> infused politics into sports by leading a United States boycott<\/a> of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, politics played a role in the 1976 Games.<\/p>\n

Due to its apartheid policies, South Africa was banned from the Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee in 1964, a restriction that lasted until the 1992 Games. Caught in the middle of his country\u2019s segregation practices, which he did not support, was Skinner, one of the world\u2019s premier sprint freestylers.<\/p>\n

Competing collegiately for the University of Alabama, Skinner established himself as an NCAA and United States national champion in the 100 freestyle. As much as Skinner might have been detached from his homeland and apartheid, his citizenship \u2013 based on IOC rule \u2013 made Skinner ineligible to compete on the biggest stage in sports. It was a hand Skinner was forced to accept, and it also dealt a blow to the depth of the 1976 Games. Without Skinner, Montgomery raced the clock, and not a rival who would have raised the level of competition.<\/p>\n

As he prepared for the Montreal Games, Montgomery was a well-known commodity. In 1973, Montgomery flourished as a member of Team USA at the inaugural World Championships. In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Montgomery earned gold medals in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle, and helped the United States win three relay titles.<\/p>\n

Following the World Champs, Montgomery joined the power program of Indiana University, which was guided by Hall of Fame coach Doc Counsilman<\/strong>. As a Hoosier, Montgomery captured three individual NCAA titles and developed into an Olympian, thanks to Counsilman\u2019s influence. Although Montgomery exhibited natural ability before working with Counsilman, the coach enabled Montgomery to hone his mental approach.<\/p>\n

\"Jim

Jim Montgomery<\/p><\/div>\n

Ahead of the Olympics in Montreal, Counsilman convinced the men\u2019s team that it could establish itself as the greatest team in history. Indeed, that is what Team USA accomplished, as it won 12 of the 13 events and swept the podium in four disciplines.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the smartest guy I\u2019ve ever known in my entire life,\u201d Montgomery said of Counsilman. \u201cJust sheer brain power. And he had a sense of humor. He just put it right on the plate. \u2018We\u2019re going to absolutely dominate. That\u2019s my goal, and that\u2019s my goal for you guys.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Montgomery personally accepted Counsilman\u2019s challenge.<\/p>\n

Coming off a bronze medal in the 100 freestyle from the 1975 World Championships, Montgomery elevated his performances in Montreal, a fact that was evident during the semifinals of the 100 freestyle. Erasing any doubt over who was the favorite for gold, Montgomery blistered a world record of 50.39, a mark which was nearly more than a second faster than the No. 2 seed, Italian Marcello<\/strong> Guarducci<\/strong> (51.35). Montgomery\u2019s dominance allowed he and Counsilman to experiment in the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the prelims, we figured we had the race pretty much won,\u201d Counsilman said. \u201cSo we risked it. We swam the race to break the record by going out harder. We figured that even if he died a little coming home, he\u2019d still have enough to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montgomery and Counsilman were not just concerned with lowering the world record. The final was about taking Montgomery into \u2013 pardon the pun \u2013 uncharted waters. A sub-50 performance was within reach and producing a readout on the clock that started with a \u201c4\u201d was an enticing opportunity.<\/p>\n

As a member of a squad that was obliterating the opposition, there was a competition within a competition of sorts for Team USA. Who could produce the most memorable performance? For that honor, the battle primarily came down to Montgomery and John Naber<\/strong>, the University of Southern California star who won the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke events in world-record time. Montgomery, though, had the extra power of delivering a barrier-breaking outing.<\/p>\n

The bronze medal Montgomery claimed in the 100 freestyle at the 1975 World Champs also served as motivation. During 1974 training, Montgomery and Counsilman toyed with a workload that was more geared toward the middle-distance events. Ultimately, it cost Montgomery some of his pop in his main event, but the error was better realized at the World Champs, rather than the Olympics. By the time Montreal called, Montgomery was in peak form and possessed lofty target times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought realistically I could swim 49.4 or 49.5,\u201d Montgomery said. “I had some relay splits that were that fast at that time, and back then we didn’t have the fancy relay starts they do now. If I didn’t have that training failure in 1974, I wouldn’t have become Olympic champion. I was stronger and handled the power training necessary for the 100 free.\u201d<\/p>\n

The confidence brewed by Counsilman in Montgomery was clear from the start in the final as the 21-year-old bolted to the front of the field and held a half-body-length lead at the turn. Coming off the wall in 24.14, the question wasn\u2019t whether Montgomery would win the race, but if he could join Bannister and Hines as a barrier breaker. Indeed, Montgomery was given access to the club by the slimmest of margins, the scoreboard flashing 49.99. Countryman Jack Babashoff<\/strong> followed in the silver-medal position, well behind in 50.81.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will put Montgomery in the Swimming Hall of Fame,\u201d Counsilman said. \u201cI think this is the last barrier in swimming. We broke one minute in the 100 freestyle 50 years ago, and I don\u2019t think we are going to break 40 seconds. So this is it, at least for a long time. I thought it was the best swim of the Olympics, and we\u2019ve had some good swims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Counsilman was prophetic in his statement, as Montgomery was enshrined into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 1986. While Montgomery\u2019s profile obviously highlights his gold medal, it also references his barrier-breaking identity and place in history alongside Bannister.<\/p>\n

\"jonty-skinner\"

Jonty Skinner – Photo Courtesy: Amelia B. Barton<\/p><\/div>\n

As monumental as it was, Montgomery\u2019s world record and solo status in the sub-50 club was short lived. Without the opportunity to race at the Olympics, Skinner identified the Amateur Athletic Union National Championships in Philadelphia as his focus meet for the summer. Scheduled for three weeks after the Olympics, the competition lacked the firepower present in Montreal, but Skinner wasn\u2019t really racing the men in the adjacent lanes in Kelly Pool. Instead, Skinner was racing the clock and Montgomery.<\/p>\n

Before settling on Philadelphia as the stage for his personal Olympics, an attempt was made to get Skinner American citizenship in time to compete at the United States Olympic Trials. A petition with more than 50,000 signatures was sent to Washington, D.C. and Representative Walter Flowers, a democrat from Alabama, introduced a bill to Congress \u2013 HR 12257 \u2013 that would award Skinner citizenship in time to compete at Trials. Alas, the push on Skinner\u2019s behalf fell through, leaving him as a spectator to the Montreal Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really had no issues with not being there since I was focused on Philly,\u201d Skinner said. \u201cIt ticked me off that (Montgomery) 50, and that is what fueled me the last few weeks getting ready. I had focused on breaking 50 as a season goal, so when (Montgomery) went 49.9, I adjusted to 49.8. I wasn\u2019t nervous at all. I did a lot of visualization to prepare, so I was ready in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Racing alone or without rivals to push the pace is not an easy chore, but Skinner had plenty of motivation. Despite besting the field by more than two seconds, Skinner relented. He went out in 23.83, .31 quicker than the split of Montgomery, and he came home slightly quicker as well. At the touch, Skinner produced a time of 49.44 to shave .55 off Montgomery\u2019s performance from the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n