{"id":576470,"date":"2024-01-25T06:10:39","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T13:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=576470"},"modified":"2024-01-30T13:23:16","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T20:23:16","slug":"throwback-thursday-remembering-lance-larson-when-silver-was-faster-than-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/throwback-thursday-remembering-lance-larson-when-silver-was-faster-than-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Throwback Thursday: Remembering Lance Larson &#8211; When Silver Was Faster Than Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Throwback Thursday: Remembering Lance Larson &#8211; When Silver Was Faster Than Gold<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>As we remember Lance Larson, who passed away last week, this week&#8217;s Throwback Thursday focuses on his iconic and controversial showdown with Australian John Devitt in the 100-meter freestyle at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. This piece is a chapter from John Lohn&#8217;s book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Below-Surface-History-Competitive-Swimming\/dp\/1538142929\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ZZ2XB13LF979&amp;keywords=John+Lohn+surface+below&amp;qid=1706138086&amp;sprefix=john+lohn+surface+below%2Caps%2C73&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Below the Surface: The History of Competitive Swimming<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div>His career included NCAA championships for the University of Southern California. He was a world-record holder in multiple events. He was the first man in history to break the minute barrier in the 100-meter butterfly. He was enshrined in the International Swimming Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 1980.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>What <strong>Lance Larson<\/strong> did not claim during his career was an individual Olympic gold medal, the defining achievement of any athlete in the sport. But that missing tally on Larson\u2019s ledger was no fault of his own. Rather, Larson&#8217;s name is forever linked to one of the biggest controversies in Olympic lore.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>At the 1960 Olympics, automatic-timing technology was still in its infancy and, therefore, not trusted as the ultimate judge of the races contested in Rome. Instead, the chore of identifying the finishing order was handed to 24 judges \u2013 three officials for each of the eight lanes in the pool. Meanwhile, the timing system was viewed as a backup device to be used only under extenuating circumstances. Through Olympic history, the use of judges had never been a problem, and there was no reason to believe anything would change.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>An assessment of the 100-meter freestyle suggested the battle for the gold medal was a two-man affair, matching Larson and Australian world-record holder <strong>John Devitt<\/strong>. While Larson was riding a wave of momentum after winning the event at the United States Olympic Trials in 55.0, Devitt held the fastest time in history at 54.6. Barring an upset, those men were going to take gold and silver. But in what order?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>After the final concluded, there still wasn\u2019t a clear answer.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Devitt entered the 1960 Games as an Olympic veteran, having won the silver medal in the 100 freestyle in 1956. With a pair of world-record performances in a 10-day span in 1957, Devitt stamped himself as the man to beat on the way to Rome. But Larson was no pushover, his credentials as the world-record holder in the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley reflecting his versatility. However, neither of those events appeared on the 1960 Olympic schedule, which meant Larson had to place his focus elsewhere. The 100 freestyle was his choice.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Larson and Devitt had no trouble winning their respective heats in the preliminary and semifinal rounds, their showdown in the final a much-anticipated affair. Could Devitt improve from silver to gold and follow countryman Jon Henricks onto the top step of the podium? Or, would Larson restore the title in the sport\u2019s blue-ribbon event to the country that produced former champions and legends Duke Kahanamoku and Johnny Weissmuller?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>As expected, Larson and Devitt battled side by side for their two laps, the Australian slightly ahead at the 80-meter mark. But a flourish in the final strokes by Larson enabled the American to pull even with Devitt, the men seemingly touching at the same time, Brazil\u2019s Manuel dos Santos back in the bronze-medal position.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>As frenetic as the race was, it couldn\u2019t match the confusion and controversy that erupted at the finish. Of the three judges who were charged with determining the first-place finisher, two cited Devitt as the winner. However, the three judges selecting the second-place finisher were also split in their decisions, two choosing Devitt for second place and one selecting Larson as the runnerup. When the results of the six judges were combined, there was a deadlock over the winner. Three picked Devitt. Three named Larson.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>When the automatic-timing system was consulted, another story was told. All three stopwatches assigned to Devitt revealed a time of 55.2. For Larson, the stopwatches returned times of 55.0, 55.1 and 55.1. At that point, technology deemed Larson the winner of the race, and because the stopwatches were considered the backup timers, Larson was viewed as the presumptive gold medalist.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>That thought was quickly reversed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Despite no written language in the bylaws allowing for the chief judge to rule on the outcome of a race, Sweden&#8217;s Henry Runstromer declared Devitt the champion and Larson the silver medalist, much to the chagrin of Larson and the United States contingent.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cI don\u2019t understand,\u201d Larson said. \u201cI don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Larson wasn\u2019t the only individual perplexed by the decision. Max Ritter, the United States\u2019 delegate to FINA and a founder of the international governing body, knew the chief judge was not to have a say in the case of a tie. Rather, he knew the referee was expected to consult the backup timing system and abide by its readouts. In this case, Larson would have been declared the gold medalist, with Devitt taking the silver medal. But Runstromer remained firm in his decision and added insult when Larson\u2019s final time was changed to 55.2, simply to match Devitt\u2019s mark and to make the outcome look reasonable. After all, the Olympic champion couldn\u2019t possibly have a slower time than the silver medalist.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Irate with the decision, Ritter called the situation \u201cunbelievable.\u201d Meanwhile, the United States appealed the decision, citing the rule that the electronic-timing system should have been consulted, and Runstromer should not have involved himself in the selection of the winner. As for Devitt, he was not pleased with the United States\u2019 decision to challenge the result.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cAll I did was swim,\u201d Devitt said. \u201c(Larson) took it badly. But he can\u2019t be crooked on me. I don\u2019t know who won, and Larson can\u2019t know either. If the judges change their placings, I am perfectly willing to give the medal back. I have always been taught to accept the judge\u2019s decision.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>With the gold medal in his pocket, it was easy for Devitt to announce he would respect a judge\u2019s verdict against him. However, placed in Larson\u2019s shoes, would he truly have accepted the outcome? He never got the chance to fulfill his words, as FINA rejected the United States\u2019 appeal.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In Rome, Devitt added a bronze medal in the 800 freestyle relay while Larson won a gold medal for handling the butterfly leg on the United States\u2019 victorious 400 medley relay.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Although Larson\u2019s Olympic days ended without a solo crown, he remained a prominent figure in the sport. As a Masters swimmer, he registered times that were on par \u2013 and sometimes faster \u2013 than when he was setting records during the prime of his career.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cI think it\u2019s the competition that motivates me more than anything else,\u201d Larson said of his Masters involvement. \u201cI enjoy winning, and the recognition that goes along with it. It\u2019s sort of like being on stage again. Sort of an ego trip.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>If there was a positive development out of Larson\u2019s loss, it was the decision by FINA to prominently utilize electronic-timing systems, and eliminate the guessing game that arose in Rome. Of course, the move in that direction came at a price.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Throwback Thursday: Remembering Lance Larson &#8211; When Silver Was Faster Than Gold As we remember Lance Larson, who passed away last week, this week&#8217;s Throwback Thursday focuses on his iconic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7533,"featured_media":438526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[12924,54403],"class_list":["post-576470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-world","tag-john-devitt","tag-lance-larson"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Remembering Lance Larson - When Silver Was Faster Than Gold<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this Throwback Thursday, we revisit the 100-meter freestyle showdown between Lance Larson and John Devitt at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/throwback-thursday-remembering-lance-larson-when-silver-was-faster-than-gold\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Throwback Thursday: Remembering Lance Larson - When Silver Was Faster Than Gold\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this Throwback Thursday, we revisit the 100-meter freestyle showdown between Lance Larson and John Devitt at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/throwback-thursday-remembering-lance-larson-when-silver-was-faster-than-gold\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-25T13:10:39+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-30T20:23:16+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lancelarsonjohndevvitishof.jpeg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"712\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Lohn - Editor-in-Chief\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Lohn - Editor-in-Chief\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/throwback-thursday-remembering-lance-larson-when-silver-was-faster-than-gold\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/throwback-thursday-remembering-lance-larson-when-silver-was-faster-than-gold\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Lohn - Editor-in-Chief\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3f0e2ad8a794a7b70130d33a350970df\"},\"headline\":\"Throwback Thursday: Remembering Lance Larson &#8211; 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