Word: swimmers
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...golf. Certainly some basic regulations must be updated and simplified. As it stands, the Olympic rulebook reads like a French constitution, and is just about as workable. Whatever man-made foul-ups were involved, hidebound laws and simple legislative misunderstanding contributed to such contretemps as the disqualification of U.S. Swimmer Rick DeMont and his loss of a gold medal and the ludicrous 51-50 Russian victory over the Americans in the basketball finale...
Minuscule Dosage. The first involved Rick DeMont, 16, a slender distance swimmer from San Rafael, Calif., who had won the 400-meter freestyle by 1/100 sec. over Australia's Brad Cooper. Only minutes before he was to swim in the finals of the 1,500-meter freestyle, DeMont was told that he had been disqualified; an illegal stimulant, ephedrine, had been found in his urine specimen, submitted after the 400. The ephedrine was in prescribed medication that DeMont, an asthmatic, had been taking for years and that he had noted on his Olympic medical form. But neither the Olympic...
...family moved to Walnut Creek, Calif, in 1961, Chavoor suggested that he join the program at the prestigious Santa Clara Swim Club under the direction of crusty George Haines?who cast an appraising eye at Spitz's first few performances and predicted: "He'll probably be the best swimmer in the world." That kind of praise was not given lightly; among Haines' stable of champions was Don Schollander, who won four gold medals at Tokyo in 1964. Mark, then 14, joined the club that year, and immediately became a formidable rival of Schollander, who was four years his senior...
...however, Mark loosed a freshet of stunning performances; he broke five U.S. and three world marks, took five gold medals in the Pan-American games at Winnipeg and was named Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine. That did not sit too well with Schollander, who was still considered by many to be king of the aquatics hill. Haines, who had been selected to coach the U.S. men's team at Mexico City, did little to smooth over the rivalry with his candid statement: "Right now, Spitz is better than Schollander." As Chavoor puts it: "Mark wanted...
Mark's ever-widening eye for the girls has also caused a few ripples. Until recently, he had been dating U.S. 800-meter Freestyle Swimmer Ann Simmons, 19. Since arriving in Munich, he has been seeing Jo Ann Harshbarger, 15, who is entered in the same event as Simmons. Though the Olympic regimen and Village logistics prevent too close a liaison, the feeling prevails among Olympians that broken hearts on land do not lead to broken records in the pool. Says an older member of the U.S. women's team: "The least he could have done was put the make...