Philadelphia, August 14, 1976. The stands were packed at Kelly’s pool in Philadelphia. It was 4:30 in the afternoon and the air was hot. It was 91°F (33°C) and the air was trembling.

Behind the starting block for the 100m freestyle race was a tall, slim young man with straight posture, a pronounced chin, and a dark mustache. Someone familiar with British comedy would probably detect a certain resemblance to John Cleese. The blue letters “CJAC” on his orange shirt indicated that he competed for the Central Jersey Aquatic Club. The John Cleese look-alike was in great shape. He spun his arms and looked down the 50-meter pool. The only thing on his mind was the 100m race ahead of him. He’d swum this race before—at least once a day for the past six months.

A downside of the meet was the quality of the pool, far from the standards of the recent Olympic pool of Montreal. The pool in Philadelphia had no wash-through gutter and was only 3 feet (0.9 m) deep in the shallow end. It was very wavy and had just enough room to perform a flip turn without head injury. The Philadelphia Department of Recreation later filled up Kelly’s and replaced it with a lawn bowling court.

That week in August was one long, massive celebration of the American Olympic team, which had won every single medal except one at the men’s events at the Montreal Olympics a few weeks before. Olympic gold medalists such as John Naber, Peter Rocca, John Hencken, and Shirley Babashoff earned a lot of applause, along with the women’s team, which had beaten the fiercely powerful East German team in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay final.

At the races that day, however, there were two other swimmers who brought the sport back to the future: Jonty Skinner and Jesus Vassallo. Jonty Skinner was the name of the John Cleese clone. He stood 6’6” (198 cm) tall and swam for the University of Alabama, where he’d won the NCAA championship in the 100m freestyle a year prior. At that time, the men’s college championships (NCAA) was the fastest swimming competition in the world.

However, Jonty Skinner, a South African, had not been permitted to participate in Montreal. Since the South African Minister of Interior, Jan de Klerk, had proclaimed that its Olympic team would only consist of white athletes, South Africa had not been welcome to participate in the Olympics.

With Skinner absent, Jim Montgomery, who trained in the old home pool of Mark Spitz in Indiana, had won the 100m freestyle in great style. He became the first swimmer to complete a 100-meter race with an average speed of over two meters per second. With this speed, he was able to butcher Mark Spitz’s Olympic record (51.22), and his 49.99 was a whole 0.82 second better than Jack Babashoff, who came in second—and coincidentally used to train with Skinner in Alabama.

Skinner was thrilled to be standing there at Kelly’s pool in the summer heat. He’d been training throughout the whole summer and was in the best shape of his life. As he wasn’t allowed to compete in international championships, he’d never before focused on swimming fast in a 50-meter pool. When asked about his swimming, he’d replied, “Whatever the winning time in Montreal, I will swim faster in Philadelphia.” Skinner was a pioneer in the use of mental visualization. Time and time again, he’d gone through the race in his mind—what it would feel like, what he should focus on, how he would be able to fight the shocking muscle rebellion that breaks out in a swimmer’s body in the second half of a 100m race.

When asked about his swimming, he’d replied, “Whatever the winning time in Montreal, I will swim faster in Philadelphia.”

Jonty Skinner’s leg kick had never been anything to write home about. Other 100m swimmers typically have a constantly pounding leg kick. Skinner’s left foot kicked down once his right hand entered the water, and his right foot went down once his left hand did the same. In between, he let his feet casually rotate around each other—a style he’d developed in his young teens when training under his father, Doug, back home in Cape Town. Other swimmers who’ve used the same type of kick include Anders Holmertz and today’s long-distance champions, Gregorio Paltrinieri and Katie Ledecky. These days, however, practically no one uses Skinner’s technique when swimming the 100m freestyle.

The drawback of this two-stroke leg kick is that it doesn’t provide all that much forward momentum. Nor is it particularly good at lifting the body, especially if the body is more muscular. Jim Montgomery’s 195 pounds were distributed over his 6’3” frame. Jonty Skinner’s slim 6’6” body weighed no more than 185 pounds and was therefore better suited to the two-stroke leg kick. A benefit of using this leg kick is that it saves a lot of energy as long as your feet and legs don’t stick out too much. It may also help your balance, which is why it’s beneficial if you tend to go wide when returning your arms to the water.

Skinner’s technique and mental preparation turned out to be more than sufficient for this race of the year—perhaps even the decade. He crushed the Americans who’d made their way to Philadelphia. Montgomery, the Olympic hero, wasn’t there, but Skinner beat his world record (49.99) with a time of 49.44. This was also the first African world record in swimming and it stood until 1981.

Skinner’s fierce dream race broke the norm of the dominance of the American men’s team in the 1970s. The United States had won 12 out of 13 events at the 1976 Olympics, losing the 200m breaststroke to John Hencken from the United Kingdom. At that time, participating nations were allowed to field three swimmers per event. That meant that there were 33 individual medals up for grabs. The Americans took 25 of these.

https://lithub.com/barred-from-the-1976-olympics-these-swimmers-still-beat-olympic-records/ 

My son Jonty Skinner

By Doug Skinner

Lean, loose-limbed, 1,95m tall Jonty Skinner flew home from the USA in early December. A gentle giant with a slow Southern drawl and complete indifference to the swimming fame that surrounds him.

A slow-moving figure in faded denims and a tatty T-shirts at the pool belies the tremendous athletic ability that galvanizes into action when Jonty is in the water.

His crawl arm stroke has very little dependence on the legs and comprises a 90% power mass ratio arm effort.

He reaches out with the full extension of the arm and shoulder at 30-degree angle. He digs the hand down to push up the elbow to engage the shoulder. This forms the lever and he almost lifts himself over the water so the exit of the hand occurs at the same place it enters.

Jonty broke the world record in most unfavourable conditions at 4:30pm with the air temperature at 90 degrees centigrade so I guess this has to make him the greatest.

His latest academic results are 2 A’s and 4 B’s + 1 C which was pretty good. He is at present the Captain of the Alabama University swim team and his immediate object is to recapture the 100 yards indoor title and improve on his 100 yards record of 43,92.

Jonty is a former world record holder and NCAA champion who has been coaching for over 30 years. Throughout his world-renowned coaching career he has been very technical and detail-oriented. The past 10 to 15 years he has been studying the brain and has been reading up on research and experimenting with new techniques with elite level athletes.