Marilyn Ramenofsky in action – from:gettyimages.it
Article by Giovanni Manenti
Il Swimming is a discipline where, rather than against their opponents, athletes compete against the clockthis sport taking place in the swimming pool where they are divided by their respective lanes, which is why it is not unusual to record diametrically opposed careers among those who achieve world records without having an Olympic or world championship gold in their list of achievements and those who, vice versa, manage to climb to the top step of the podium without ever establishing a record…
Before delving into our story today, however, we need to make a clarification on how Swimming has evolved over the years, significantly since the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, when the related program went from only 18 scheduled tests (10 in the men’s field and 8 in the women’s field…) in the previous edition of Tokyo 1964, to 29 races, divided into 15 and 14, up to the current 34 equally divided between the two sectors .
Vice versa, during the World Championships – which already counted on 29 events from the first edition in Belgrade 1973 – we have now reached 40 with 20 tests in both the men’s and women’s fieldswith the difference being the 50m backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly events which are not part of the Olympic Program compared, vice versa, to the 50m freestyle…
Obviously, this entails that any world record holder has a much better chance of winning a Gold Medal by being able to compete in more than a single raceon the contrary, a very different circumstance until the end of the 1960s, especially with regards to free style which, at the time, it included only the 100 and 400 meter tests, compared to six nowadays, in addition to the two 4×100 and 4x200sl relays.
The victim of this circumstance is the American Marilyn Ramenofsky, born on August 20, 1946 in Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, as the last of four children of parents of Jewish originboth graduated from “University of Illinois” and with his father Abraham subsequently working as a doctor after taking part in the Second World War in the US Air Force…
Initiated to practice swimming at the famous “Dick Smith Swim School” of Phoenix, the young Marilyn then moves on to the “Arizona Desert Rats”, where he has the opportunity di be coached by spouses Walter and Nancy Schlueter, valuable technicians capable of helping many futures grow Olympic champions.
And one of these seems to be Ramenofsky herself, given the impressive progress recorded, as she does not hide when she states: “it was the hard training I had to undergo that ensured that my times improved rapidly, which represented an undoubted incentive in trying to reach the top of the specialty” …
Specialty which, incidentally, is the 400 meters freestyle since as previously mentioned, the Olympic Program – apart from the fast trials on the 100m freestyle – did not allow alternatives, as it was not yet possible to try the 200m and 800m freestyle, races where the undine from Phoenix could probably have had her say , given that in his “Year of Glory” 1964 establishes the US record for 220yds in 2’17”3.
But anyway, we need to adapt and, afterwards having stood out in the two-year period 1962-’63 which saw it included in the “All America Women’s Swimming Team” – with Buck Dawson, Director of “International Swimming Hall of Fame” to define the not yet 18-year-old Marilyn as: “the first swimmer capable of expressing a perfect freestyle” – Ramenofsky literally “explodes” in the Olympic Season…
Con the world record for the 400m freestyle dating back to the beginning of August 1960 with the time of 4’44”5 achieved during the Olympic Trials in Detroit by the then 16-year-old Chris von Saltza – then Gold Medal over the distance at the following Rome Games in 4’50”5 – here Ramenofsky takes it on July 11, 1964 when he stopped the clock at 4’42”0 in Los Altos, California, also home to the AAU Championships where, at the beginning of August, he dropped to 4’41”7.
Having just become an adult, that’s it on August 31st in New York the freestyler disintegrates her own limit, covering the distance in an extraordinary, for the time, time of 4’39”5which is why there can be no doubts about who is the favorite for the Gold Medal at the subsequent Tokyo Olympics which, moreover, will see the swimming competitions will take place in the week from 11 to 18 October …
This means having to maintain shape well beyond the canonical central summer months of July and August, and Team USA presents itself in the Japanese capital with a trio made up not only of the world record holder, but also of 17-year-old Virginia “Ginny” Duenkel and 18-year-old Terri Stickles.
At the time, there was no competition between American specialists and the rest of the planet – proof of that At the 1962 European Championships in Leipzig, the Dutch Adrie Lasterie won with a time of 4’52”4 – without prejudice, of course, to the “legendary” Australian Dawn Fraser who, now 27 years old, takes part in her third Olympics in Tokyowhere she became the first athlete ever to win three consecutive gold medals in the same specialty of 100m freestyle…
A Fraser who had also won silver in the 400m freestyle in 1956 in Melbourne and was also able to qualify for the Final four years later in Rome, finishing no better than fifth in the race won, as already mentioned, by von Saltza with the Olympic record of 4’50”6.
Test gods women’s m.400sl which takes place with the heats on October 17th and the Final the following dayand in which Duenkel takes part after having collected three days earlier the bronze in the 100m backstroke, swum in 1’08”0 compared to the 1’07”7 with which compatriot Cathy Ferguson precedes (1’07”9) the French Christine “Kiki” Caron …
With the 31 participants divided into five heats and the 8 best times to access the final act, von Saltza’s Olympic record was short-lived, improved for the first time by Duenkel, who won the first series in 4’48”6and therefore by the world record holder who, in the fourth, stops the clock at 4’47”7 ahead of Fraser and Canadian Jane Hugheswhile Stickles also did her duty, touching first in the fifth heat in 4’49”3.
All according to predictions, therefore, or at least that’s what it seems like from the forecasts first strokes of the Final which starts at 11:10 local time, with Ramenofsky leading for the first 150 metersonly to then slow down and be overtaken by Duenkel who progressively takes the lead until finishing victorious in a time of 4’43”3 equal to the new Olympic recordcompared to the 4’44”6 of the world record holder with the Stickles to complete an all-around podium”a stars and stripes” finishing in 4’47”2 relegating Fraser to fourth place…
One of biggest surprises in the history of swimming of which the freestyle athlete from Arizona remained the victim despite herselfmoreover without having any other possibility of revenge given that in those “fabulous 60s” sports practice was almost exclusively limited to the college years and with his world record to be improved in mid-August 1965 in 4’39”2 by compatriot Martha Randallwho had won bronze in the 400m medley final in Tokyo.
All before giving a significant “shock” provide the specialty Debbie Meyer – which we have already discussed – that between in 1967 and 1970 he improved the absolute limit on five occasions up to 4’24”3as well as winning three Gold medals (200m, 400m and 800m freestyle) at the 1968 Mexico City Games…
A chance that Marilyn was not granted…
2024-05-01 18:15:25
#JOKE #MARILYN #RAMENOFSKY #400SL #TOKYO #GAMES #SportHistoria
