Today in swimming history takes one of the most veteran swimmers in the current USA Swimming National Team program, and throws him back 14 years. At the 1997 U.S. Open, Robert Margalis, at only 15, won the 400 meter IM in 4:23.26, which smashed a National Age Group Record that stood for 12 years. In that race, he also knocked off then World Record holder Tom Dolan.
He went on to have his biggest successes at the Pan American Level. He bookended his career there (assuming retirement is in his future after London) with gold medals – in 2003 in the same 400 IM in Santo Domingo, and then again in 2011 in Guadalajara in the 800 Free Relay.
At that same meet on the same day, a budding coach from Lake Forest, Illinois named Lea Maurer broke the meet record in the women’s 100 back in 1:01.83. At the time, she was just two years into a 10-year run at the school that included a mythical national championship and coaching 2003 National High School Swimmer of the Year Matt Grevers. Maurer has since gone on to become the head women’s coach at Stanford.
Swimming Birthdays
- Mary Stewart (66) – Canadian butterfly swimmer who at all of 5’1 broke the 100 fly World Record twice in the 1960’s. Also the 1962 Commonwealth Games Champion in the event.
- Hannelore Anke (54) – Part of the East German swimming machine of the 1970’s who won two gold medals at the 1976 Olympics (including the 100 breaststroke). She is in the International Swimming Hall of Fame, but Officials from the East German team would later admit that she was doping.
- Lara Carroll (25) – Australian swimmer who won bronze in the 200 IM at the 2005 World Championships.
- Gisselle Kohoyda (20) – You may not know the name yet, but the Lousiville sophomore breaststroker has thrust her name into the national spotlight with strong swims the past three weeks.
- Duke Cunningham (70) – Better known for his exploits as a U.S. Representative from California (where he’s currently serving 8 years in prison for accepting bribes), Cunningham was actually the swim coach at Hindsdale Central High School for one year in the 1960’s. There, he coached two future Olympic champions: John Kinsella and John Murphy.