I hope to give this a listen. But to entice me, did Luka even come up?

You know it did!

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https://www.instagram.com/...alendurancecoaching/

Keen to give this a listen. Thank you for uploading.

Jesse was severely negatively impacted by the 1980 Boycott. Coming off the 1978 and 1979 international meets, he was a true superstar in the sport. The boycott also devastated the careers of several other generational superstars, at a time when their competitive window was seen to be very small.

It's easy to forget that professionalism in Olympic sports wasn't allowed prior to the late 1980's, and wasn't really broadly accessed until the mid-late 1990's. For most swimmers, specifically, that meant the window was very small: maybe the last 2 years of high school and the four years training in college. That meant that it was almost completely unheard of for elite swimmers to be older than about 23. In effect, this was one or at most two Olympic cycles before athletes didn't have club or college support and had to "join the real world."

Those most affected by the Boycott, in terms of swimming, were Vasallo (world record-holder in the IM's), and generational talents Sippy Woodhead, Mary T. Meagher and Tracy Caulkins. Especially for Woodhead, Meagher and Caulkins, this was devastating. All were WR holders at a time when DDR doping programs meant that WR's had to be faster than swims by doped East Germans. These three broke a stranglehold on WR's by East Germans. Woodhead held a WR and AR for more than a decade, and would have been favored for 5 gold medals in 1980. Caulkins was considered the greatest swimmer in history upon her retirement in 1984, and in 1980, would have been favored to win AT LEAST 4 gold medals in 1980. Meagher set world records that lasted for 20 years, and was favored to win 3 gold medals in 1980. All four of these swimmers made it to the 1984 team, but...

Here's the interesting part: the competitive window for all four of the athletes above closed on them when they were 20-21 years old in 1984!!! (Meagher did compete in 1988 at age 24, and won 2 medals behind doped East Germans). They lost a major opportunity in 1980, and barely hung on until 1984, because there were fewer international meets, nearly non-existent support, and only the NCAA swimming system to rely on for training and competition. Prior to the early 1990's, it was assumed that the "prime" for swimmers was the ages of 17-22, but that was a flawed assumption, since this was based only on when swimmers were on their club or college teams.

In contrast, most of our top-level senior swimmers since 2000 have been in their 20's and even in their 30's. They've stayed on the scene through multiple Olympic cycles and were able to continue to develop as their bodies got stronger.

Vasallo, Woodhead, Caulkins, and Meagher (among others) give us some of the most poignant "WHAT IF" scenarios in all of Olympic sports.

In the early 90s I worked with Sherri Hanna, who was a distance swimmer who qualified. Her chance changed by politics.
Well before I met her, in high school Walter Mondale, then VP, came to our HS to justify the Boycott. Even in MN (his home state), it didn't go over too well, perhaps because of the miracle on ice earlier that year. A team filled with Minnesota boys, people felt like we were robbing kids for, what?

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I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________

Yes that boycott changed a lot of trajectories for those swimmers, I was just a couple years older and was a super fan(and mediocre college swimmer at the time)

I always thought what if Jesse got that Pureto Rico spot when he was that young kid setting that 1500 record that stood forever? He then could have swam again in 1980(unless PR also boycotted, dont remember, think they raced). Of course we would have lost one of the greats, but perhaps he would have kept swimming at Mission Viejo, that would have made sense. Then maybe switching over to the US in 1984 with enough time to be eligible. A totally different life for sure, and a much more well known name in swimming.

Love the long boards in the background, wonder if he still surfs much?