Vladimir Salnikov: The 15 Minute Man

In Olympic sport there have been several events which have had a time, distance or points barrier which seem impenetrable until that one unique Olympian achieves that breakthrough. In gymnastics it was the perfect 10, first scored by Nadia Comaneci at the 1976 Montreal Olympics during the women's team event. In cycling's team pursuit Germany broke the 4 minute barrier at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, whilst Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean took the honours for being the first ice dancers to skate to perfect 6's in the Winter Olympics. Olympic swimming has had its own record barriers to break including the sub-minute 100 metres freestyle for men and women, yet it is arguably the 15 minute men's 1500 metres that held the most imposing aura for most of the modern Olympics era. Considering that in the recently completed Beijing Olympics final all bar the last swimmer in the gold medal race went under this mark it could be argued that 15 minutes was possible, and now it is commonplace. However it took a remarkable Russian swimmer from the Soviet era to take long distance swimming into this uncharted territory, and when he did it twice in the Olympics there were eight years and two boycotts between those swims. His name was Vladimir Salnikov, and he was the first man to swim past the 15 minute barrier.

Salnikov's first stuttering steps on the path to Olympic glory came in his home town of Leningrad, now known in the post-Soviet era as Saint Petersburg. The son of Valeri Salnikov (a merchant ship's captain) he was taken by his mother Valentina at the age of seven to a local pool for a season's pass. At a time when quota's and supplies of all goods and services were limited by the Soviet state it was not surprising that Salnikov missed out on the much-wanted ticket. Next year he returned with his mother and was fortunate to secure a season's pass, plus the attention of swim coach Gleb Petrov. Petrov studied Salnikov's movements on land as well as his eagerness to swim and selected the boy to participate in a 120 member local swim training program. The Soviet system of applying science and beaurocracy to sport was applied in full on developing Salnikov's youthful talent, and by the age of 12 he was part of an elite Leningrad sporting school's swim team. Despite earaches and tonsilitis Salnikov continued to improve and whilst his family weren't involved with his swimming Salnikov later believed his father's stern way of dealing with him helped motivate his work in the pool.

By 1974 Salnikov was attracting more attention from the Soviet sporting system, and in turn new support from new coaches. Coach Igor Koshkin and sports psychologist Gennady Gorbunov helped bring Salnikov on so that he was primed for the 1976 Soviet Olympic trials, with a training regime that included 6 kilometres swimming per day (swum at intervals with his heartbeat between 145 and 155 beats per minute), an hour's weightlifting and only five to ten minute rest breaks. At the 1976 trials Salinkov also utilised visualisation techniques provided by Gorbunov to swim the 1500 metres in 15.43.92, coming third. This gave him the opportunity to participate later that year in the greatest 1500 metres final held in the first 80 years of the modern Olympics.

The 1976 1500 metres final in Montreal was remarkable in that the gold, silver and bronze medallists all finished below the pre-games world record. Americans Brian Goodell and Bobby Hackett took more than four and two seconds off Goodall's world record in their swims, whilst Australian favourite also came in under the mark. Salnikov was the first Soviet swimmer to qualify for the 1500 metres final at the Olympics and came fifth with 15.29.45, which was a dramatic drop from his trial swim. It was to be the last time that an American would win the 1500 metres at an Olympics with either Soviet or Russian swimmers competing in the same pool.

In the period from the 1978 World Swimming Championships in Berlin through to the 1980 Moscow Olympics Salnikov grew into the role of the Soviet's first swimming superstar. In the pool at Berlin he won both the 400 metres and 1500 metres freestyle finals, setting championships records with both swims and in the latter final beating Olympic silver medallist Bobby Hackett by almost 20 seconds. His time for the 400 metres was a world record (3.51.94) and he also backed up to participate in the silver medal winning Soviet men's 4x200 metre relay team. Meanwhile as part of his development and training Salnikov attended training camps in of all places Mission Veijo, California with US coach Mark Schubert. At a time when Soviet and US relations where dominated by the Cold War it was refreshing to see that the sport of swimming could bridge such a cavernous political gap. As Vladimir himself put the experience:

"I really got an idea of what big-time sport is all about after two weeks training in the United States. We had believed we weren't any different to the Americans, but we were unable to understand why they swam faster and won most of the medals at world tournaments. It turned out that their training methods and their attitude to training were different."

In 1979 Salnikov set a world record the non-Olympic distance of 800 metres, becoming the first person to swim under 8 minutes for the event. As the premiere distance swimmer in the world his position as favourite for at least the 1500 metres gold medal in Moscow was virtually unassailable. In the four years between Montreal and Moscow Salnikov swam the eight fastest times aside from Goodell's world record over 1500 metres, and under 15 minutes 10 seconds 6 times. The 1976 gold medallist (and pupil of Mark Schubert) Bobby Goodell was still in the 1500 metres swim game but he had finished fifth at the US Olympic swim trials with Mike Bruner the new American champ, whilst Australian 'superfish' Steve Holland had retired after he took bronze in Montreal. and been supplanted by Max Metzker. The Swimming World Magazine world swimmer of the year for 1979 was prepared for the apogee of his career in the first Olympics to be held behind the Iron Curtain.

As noted elsewhere the 1980 Moscow Olympics were marked by the US-led boycott which resulted from Soviet aggression in Afghanistan. In men's swimming the absence of the Americans, West Germans, Japanese and Canadians had a mixed effect; in some events such as the shorter sprints the non-appearance of the likes of Rowdy Gaines meant that East German and Soviet Union swimmers claimed medals they may not have had a claim to in more open competition. For Salnikov the boycott had taken away one of his major competitors in the 400 metres (Canadian world record holder Peter Szmidt), but it arguably had minimal effect on his 1500 metres swim. Salnikov had already taken the short-course 1500 metres world record from Goodell; now it was the time of the long course event.

The 1500 metres heats were held second day of the Moscow Olympic swimming program, and there were a total of 21 competitors from 14 countries. In the first heat Hungarian Zoltán Wladár won with a time of 15.31.06, whilst in the second heat the compatriot of Salnikov Aleksandr Chayev took out the race in 15.28.68. That same heat saw second place swimmer from the 1978 Berlin 1500 metres Borut Petric (YUG) finish in 15.31. 53, but three other swimmers in that heat failed to complete the race. The final heat was all Salnikov; he completed the 1500 metres in 15.08.25 which placed him over 9 seconds quicker than second place swimmer East German Rainer Strohbach. The line up for the final saw Salnikov in the fastest qualification time, with Strohbach second quickest, Chayev third and Rafael Escalas (ESP) fourth.

Remarkably, considering the recent history of Olympic 1500 metres finals the race for gold silver and bronze in Moscow was held the day immediately after the heats. Unlike in games such as those in Beijing, Athens and Sydney the contestants had to back up without the benefit of a day's rest, plus there were other events to swim for some of the entrants (for example Salnikov still had his 400 metres). In light of this, Salnikov's 1980 final swim can be considered all the more remarkable compared with those from the likes of Perkins and Hackett in later years.

When Salnikov finally dived off the blocks he was undoubtedly the pinnacle of the Soviet swimming program, and without the Americans to threaten this the Russian quickly established his ascendency over the pack. At 100 metres he was already a second in front of the nearest rival with an intermediate time of 58.53 seconds. By 300 metres that lead was doubled, and at the half way mark Salnikov was 5.18 seconds ahead of Goodell's then current world record pace. The spectators who naturally were overwhelmingly biased towards their home town hero responded to the Soviet swimmer's efforts, screaming and calling for him to win and win withing the world record. At 800 metres he was still under the minute per 100 metres mark, and the 1500 metres in 15 minutes looked very vulnerable.

Behind Salnikov the battle for the minor medals was on, with Chayev, Metzker and Strohbach all fighting hard; however they were never in the hunt for gold, which was Salnikov's without a doubt as he came to the last 100 metres. Goaded by a crowd that knew that they were witnessing something historic Salnikov responded in the only way he could; he swam even quicker. For the last 100 metres he completed the two laps in 58.05 seconds; almost half a seocnd quicker than his first 100 metres. As his hands hit the finishing wall Vladimir Salnikov looked up to the scoreboard. The time flashed up: 14.58.27. The son of a Leningrad sea captain, who's country had never won a gold medal in men's swimming before these Olympics, and who had swum fifth in his last Olympic final, had claimed the greatest prize of all. A gold medal in a time that would forever mark him as the first of his kind; the first to go below 15 minutes.

At this point it could be enough to finish Salnikov's story. He took two more gold medals in Moscow, one in the 400 metres and one in the 4x200 metres men's relay final. Yet this isn't the end. Four years later Salnikov would have gone to Los Angeles as the world record holder, being the only man who had swum under 15 minutes. However in a tit-for-tat boycott the Soviet Bloc spurned the chance to compete in the LA 1984 Olympics, and so Salnikov had to wait for another chance to claim a fouth Olympic gold medal.

In Seoul 1988 Salnikov returned to the Olympic pool forone last games. Up until 1986 he had won 61 consecutive 1500 metres swims, swum under 15 minutes for the distance four times and no one else had come within a bull's roar of his world record of 15.54.76. However his results had slumped since coming fourth at the 1986 world swimming championships, and in 1987 he failed to make the final of the European championships. Written off as a threat for gold, now coached by his wife Marina and only winning a place on the Soviet team after intervention from the sports minister, the hero of Moscow looked decidedly vulnerable.

In the preliminaries though the Salnikov of old re-emerged, clocking the second fastest time (15.07.83), with American Matt Cetlinksi fastest qualifer for the final. Then as the greatest Olympic champions can and often do respond, in the final Salnikov took the lead from 675 metres and was never headed. Surging ahead with every lap the last gold medallist for the Soviet Union in an Olympic swimming final took the race in a time of 15.00.40, thus becoming at 28 the owner of the five fastest times for the 1500 metres ever swum, and the oldest Olympic swimming champion for 56 years. His world record stood until 1991, and whilst that time is now down to 14.34.56 the status of being the first man to swim 1500 metres under 15 minutes will forever be his. Vladamir Salnikov in 1980 and in 1988 demonstrated greatness that will always mark him as a legend of Olympic swimming.



Sources:

• "The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition" by David Wallechinsky, Aurum Press, 2008
• "The Official Report of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games" (available online at http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1980/or1980v3.pdf)
• USA Swimming - 1980 Olympic Trials Results: http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/_Rainbow/Documents/e271d644-d2df-4cdb-8bd5-1ee19b261e2c/1980.pdf
• "Australia at the Olympics" by Malcolm Andrews, ABC Books, 1996
• "100 Greatest Olympians from 1896" by Jim Tracy, Savvas Publishing, 1983
• Sports Illustrated - "From Stillness Comes Swiftness" (21/5/84): http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1122098/1/index.htm
• Sports Illustrated - "Russia Gets Into The Swim" (4/8/1980): http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1123650/index.htm
• IOC Biography - Vladimir Salnikov: http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/profiles/bio_uk.asp?PAR_I_ID=43061
• Wikipedia - Vladamir Salnikov Biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Salnikov
• International Swimming Hall of Fame - Valdamir Salnikov: http://www.ishof.org/honorees/93/93vsalnikov.html
• Wikipedia - 1978 World Swimming Championships Berlin Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_World_Aquatics_Championships
• "Ten Soviet Sports Stars" by Yuri Khromov, Brandon Books 1990

Daley Thompson: The Decathlete Legend

In the track and field program at a Summer Olympic games the title of best all round male athlete resides with the man who collects the gold medal for the decathlon. This ten discipline, two day event has provided many of the iconic figures of the modern Olympics. Jim Thorpe was the first great decathlon gold medallist, picking up the unique double decathlon and pentathlon victories in Stockholm 1912. Glenn Morris, the American gold medal winner in the 1936 Berlin Olympics not only showed his supremacy over his rivals, he also began a short tempestuous relationship with the director of the definitive official Olympic film of these games, Leni Riefenstahl. Bob Mathias took the gold medals in the first two Olympics after World War Two, in London 1948 and Helsinki 1952, whilst Rafer Johnson's victory over C.K. Yang in Rome 1960 is one of the 101 greatest moments in modern Olympic history. Then in 1976 Bruce Jenner turned his decathlon triumph into a multi-million dollar industry back home in the USA. However the greatest decathlete of all time didn't come from the United States like all these illustrious predecessors. The remarkable Daley Thompson won his first gold in the boycott-effected Moscow 1980 Olympics, then reached a new level of Olympic greatness in the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games.

Daley Thompson was born on July 30th, 1958 in the London suburb of Notting Hill, to a Nigerian father and Scottish mother. Whilst at a Sussex boarding school the young Thompson showed promise in athletics, which was further developed by a period at the age of 17 with the Essex Beagles athletics club. Prior to winning the 1976 British AAA decathlon title the young Briton went to Montreal and came 18th with 7434 points. It was an inauspicious start for an Olympic career that would stretch through to Seoul in 1988, and include not just two gold medals but also world championship titles, world records, European championships and Commonwealth Games gold medals as well.

At the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games Thompson won his first major international senior decathlon title, and in the period between then and Moscow 1980 he rapidly grew in stature and performance. His only loss in this period came in 1979 at the European championships; between then and 1987 Thompson never lost another decathlon. As the upcoming Soviet-hosted Olympics were threatened by a major US-led boycott Daley Thompson became engaged in a personal duel with West German decathlete Guido Kratschmer. Kratschmer was the then world record holder before the two met in May 1980 (by this time West Germany had joined the Moscow boycott). At this decathlon Thompson beat Kratschmer and set a new world record (8622 points). This performance established Thompson as a red hot favourite for the Olympics in Moscow, and whilst Kratschmer won the world record back his non-attendance(plus the absence of American and Canadian athletes) meant the Briton had the Moscow gold medal to lose. And he didn't disappoint; winning the decathlon gold medal with a final score of 8522 and running 153 points ahead of his silver medallist rival Yuri Kutsenko.

Naturally with the non-appearance of the then world record holder, plus the overall paucity of quality opposition of the Moscow 1980 decathlon field, Thompson's first Olympic decathlon gold medal could be regarded slightly tarnished by harsh critics. However the story would be dramatically different four years later in Los Angeles. The period between these two boycotted Olympics was dominated in decathlon by the hard-fought battle between Daley Thompson and new West German champion decathlete Jürgen Hingsen. These two would duel repeatedly over European, world championship and finally Olympic stages and in the process create one of the greatest moments in Olympic history.

Hingsen like Thompson was born in Duisburg in 1958, and the two first came into serious competition at a European Junior championship in 1977. At this event Thompson came first and Hingsen third. Hingsen developed slower than Thompson, and it wasn't until 1982 that the West German claimed the position as the new threat to the British Olympic champion. At the West German championships that year in Ulm Hingsen set a new world record of 8723 points. This gave him the favouritism for the European championships in Athens, however Thompson took that title. In 1983 Hingsen set another new world record point score the decathlon, scoring 8779 at Bernhausen. Yet again however at the next major international track and field meet (the 1983 Helsinki IAAF World Championships) Thompson defeated Hingsen, with the scores being 8714 points for the Briton and 8561 for the West German. For a third time Hingsen set a world record (8798 points), this time at Mannheim in 1984; the third time he had achieved such a result on West German soil. The question was would Hingsen be able to buck the trend of losing out to Thompson on foreign soil for a third time. The next meeting of the two in such conditions would be the Los Angeles Olympics.

During the final months of the lead up to the 1984 Summer Games Thompson again and again added personal colour to his rivalry with the so-called "German Hercules". When Hingsen claimed he would be winning gold in Los Angeles Thompson claimed "There are only two ways he is going to bring a gold medal home; he'll have to steal mine or win another event." For other Olympians this could have been called arrogant; yet Thompson's clowning and cheeky sense of humour excused him from most criticism. He also called the West German "Hollywood Hingsen" because he resembled the actor Burt Reynolds, whilst in a separate showing of supreme confidence Daley Thompson wrote a postcard to dual decathlon gold medallist Bob Mathias saying "I'm coming to get you." When it came to mind games the Briton was setting a leading pace from his West German and other rivals.

On August 8th 1984 athletes from 18 countries began the 10 event final chase for decathlon gold. Unlike 1980 the field wasn't as significantly weakened by the revenge boycott implemented by the Soviet-bloc at Los Angeles; Thompson and three West Germans, Hingsen, Kratschmer and Siegfried Wentz formed the core lead group, whilst the Americans expected to do well with home soil advantage and world championship entrant John Crist. The first event was 100 metres, and Thompson (who could perform creditably in 4x100 metres relays at Olympic and Commonwealth Games) raced Hingsen and Kratschmer. Setting his best ever time for the distance in a decathlon Thompson scored 948 points with his time of 10.44 seconds. Hingsen was third behind Kratschmer as well, and down by 122 points from the Briton.

Thompson had another win in the next event, the long jump (his result would have earned him fifth in the final of the LA 1984 long jump final), but Hingsen narrowed the gap slightly. The shot put followed and this was an opportunity for Hingsen to reclaim more ground between him and Thompson. However Thompson again rose to the occasion and putted the shot to a personal best of 15.72 metres. Hingsen was behind the defending Olympic champion and he wasn't as yet able to pull in enough points at this stage to threaten Thompson yet. The high jump however saw Hingsen make up some ground, with his final height of 2.12 metres clawing back 77 points from Thompson. Importantly for Hingsen he aggravated a knee injury in his right leg, receiving four pain killing injections to continue competing. This may not have stopped Hingsen physically yet it did work against him mentally, and the coming final event of the day needed strong legs.

The last event of the decathlon's first day was the 400 metres. Thompson reasserted his pre-eminence with a win against Hingsen and the American Jim Wooding. The close of the first day saw the West German world record holder on 4579 points and the British reigning gold medallist from Moscow on 4633 points. Hingsen was only trailing his world record by 17 points, but Thompson was 114 points ahead and had achieved the highest first day score in an Olympic decathlon. It appeared that Thompson would surpass the slightly injured Hingsen and win his second Olympic decathlon title.

The second day of the 1984 decathlon began with the 110 metres hurdles. Hingsen clawed back all of 6 points and so stayed in the silver medal ranking. The seventh event was the discus, and it was here that Hingsen finally unleashed his promise. On his first throw the West German reached 49.80 metres; his best ever result in a decathlon. Thompson on the other hand had a poor first throw, sending the discus down range only 37.90 metres. Hingsen's second throw was even better, reaching 50.82 metres and applying significant pressure to the Briton. Daley Thompson improved only marginally, and with Hingsen's last throw not improving his position the lead was posied to change. As Thompson later described it, he was looking over the edge and needed to meet the challenge. And like every great Olympic champion he did; the third throw from Thompson sailed to 46.56 metres. It was another personal best for Thompson and whilst Hingsen had won this round with 888 points, the Briton still led. It was getting closer and closer to crunch time.

The eight event was the pole vault and it was here that Hingsen unfortunately suffered the effects of illness, effectively ending his hopes. Before his first two vaults the West German had vomited twice, and his best height after three attempts was a sub-par 4.50 metres. Thompson on the other hand flew over the bar, and with his best height being a full half metre above Hingsen (earning him 1052 points) the gold medal was almost around the Briton's neck. In the penultimate round (the javelin) Hingsen again underperformed whilst Thompson took 824 points with his throw of 65.24 metres. Then it came down to the final race; the 1500 metres.

In the closing event of the 1984 Los Angeles decathlon Thompson knew he had gold, but on his horizon was beating Hingsen not just in places on the medal stand but also in the world record point score. Needing a time of 4 minutes 34.8 seconds Thompson literally strolled to the finish line. His time was 4 minutes 35 exactly, which meant he fell a single point shy of equalling Hingsen record. The first double decathlon gold medallist since Bob Mathias (who as promised he had 'caught'), Daley Thompson took a victory lap of the LA Olympic Coliseum track, showing his joy whilst pointedly criticising the jingoistic coverage of the American host broadcaster. Wearing a t-shirt that read "Thanks America for a great games," on the front and then on the reverse "But what about the TV coverage?" he was met by Princess Anne (herself an Olympian). Later when asked what she had said to him, Thompson again revealed his comedic side; "She said I was a good looking guy!" joked the Briton. To add a much later layer of glory on his victory, in 1986 the IAAF established that Thomspon had run one second quicker than recorded in the 110 metres hurdles, hence claiming that single point he needed to equal Hingsen's record.

For Great Britain and for Daley Thompson Los Angeles was a golden games, and whilst Hingsen had been competitive at these Olympics up until the discus there was no denying that the dual gold medallist from the United Kingdom was the best decathlete of his generation. Three times the great rivals had met in major international championships and each time Daley Thomspon had prevailed. Later Thompson continued to Seoul where he placed a credible fourth, whilst Hingsen suffered the crushing disappointment of being disqualified for false starts in the 100 metres. In some ways this served as the perfect postscript for an epic duel between two great Olympians; one who scaled amazing heights, one who was unable to reach the potential he had displayed away from the cauldron of Olympic decathlon competition.









Sources:

• "The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition" by David Wallechinsky, Aurum Press, 2008
• "The Official Report of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics" (available online at http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1984/1984v2pt2.pdf)
• IAAF Online Profiles for Daley Thompson & Jurgen Hingsen: http://www.iaaf.org
• New York Times: Call This Briton Great (20/8/84): http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954354,00.html
• Decathlon 2000: Jurgen Hingsen Biography: http://www.decathlon2000.ee/eng/athletes.php?art=606
• Decathlon 2000: Daley Thompson Biography: http://www.decathlon2000.ee/eng/athletes.php?art=607
• Olympics30 - Thirty Greatest Olympic Stories - Daley Thompson: http://www.olympics30.com/30greatest/daley-thompson.asp
• Wikipedia - 1983 Helsinki Athletics World Championships Results (Decathlon): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_World_Championships_in_Athletics_-_Men's_Decathlon
• Wikipedia - Daley Thompson Biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daley_Thompson
• Sports Reference - Daley Thompson: http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/th/daley-thompson-1.html
• "16 Days of Glory: The Official Film of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics" (Video), directed by Bud Greenspan