Two Golds in 27 Minutes: Flashback to Kornelia Ender and the Last Olympic Double Before Leon

Leon Marchand dazzled on Wednesday by winning gold medals in the 200 butterfly (1:51.21) and 200 breaststroke (2:05.85), breaking Olympic records in both and taking down the defending Olympic champions along the way.

In honor of Marchand’s historic double, let’s take a look back at the time a swimmer completed the exhausting feat at the Olympics — 48 years ago. While Marchand had almost two hours to recover between his individual events, East German 17-year-old Kornelia Ender triumphed in the 200 freestyle (1:59.26) and 100 butterfly (1:00.13) at the Montreal 1976 Olympics, setting a pair of world records just 27 minutes apart.

In the 200 free, Ender knocked about half a second off her own world record of 1:59.78 from Olympic Trials the month prior, beating American swimmer Shirley Babashoff (2:01.22) by almost two seconds. She was the first woman under 2:02, 2:01, and 2:00 in the event.

In the 100 fly, Ender matched her own global standard from Trials the month prior, holding off East German teammate Andrea Pollack (1:00.98) by less than a second. The U.S. finished 3-4 in the event courtesy of Wendy Boglioli (1:01.17) and Camille Wright (1:01.41).

Ender also won the 100 free (55.65) and 4×100 medley relay (4:07.95) in world-record times, becoming the first female swimmer to win four gold medals at a single Olympics. Her four Olympic gold medals still rank top-10 all time among female swimmers.

At the time, Ender’s deep voice and overdeveloped body drew doping suspicion, but her drug tests came back negative. Americans set nine national records at the 1976 Olympics, but each time was bettered by an East German competitor. The East German women finished with gold medals in 11 of the 13 events.

Babashoff sparked a media firestorm when she offered her opinion on the East German women’s swimmers in Montreal: “Well, except for their deep voices and mustaches, I think they’ll probably do fine.” She was reportedly labeled “Surly Shirley” in the press and a “loser” by Sports Illustrated.

Fifteen years after East Germany’s success in Montreal (90 total medals across all sports, including 40 golds), details of the country’s state-sponsored doping program emerged in 1991. Athletes said they were unknowingly given steroids, with Ender even being banned from the team by in 1977 when she refused to take a banned substance. Some were recruited into the doping program as young as 10 years old. Germany has compensated some of the victims for their resulting health issues and secured a few criminal convictions of “doping doctors.”

Despite requests from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to redistribute the medals won at the 1976 Olympics after an admission from East Germany officials, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it had no intention of revising the record books. The U.S. protested on behalf of its women’s 400 medley relay team that won silver behind the East Germans in 1976, and a similar petition was made by the British Olympic Association on behalf of swimmer Sharron Davies, who was the silver medalist in the women’s 400 IM at the 1980 Olympics behind East German Petra Schneider. In rejecting the appeals, the IOC made it clear it wanted to discourage any protests in the future.

The Olympic double has also been completed on two other occasions more than a century ago. Australia’s Frederick Lane prevailed in the men’s 200 free and 200 obstacle events at the Paris 1900 Games. Hungary’s Alfred Hajos picked up victories in the 100 and 1200 free back at the Athens 1896 Olympics, the first modern edition of the Summer Games.

Michael Phelps already proclaimed Marchand’s accomplishment the “greatest double in our sport ever.” He became the first swimmer to win gold in both a butterfly and breaststroke event at a single Olympics, same day or not. Marchand will be aiming for his fourth gold medal of the Olympics later this week in the 200 IM.