yes, just by chance came across it, after watching some of the T&F trials re-run. Could not stop watching.

One of the most moving documentaries I've ever seen. Never more pertinent than today.

It is available on iTunes for buy/rent if anyone is interested.

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

I mostly could not stop laughing when they showed Gary Hall as the flag bearer, someone asking him on slowtwitch his qualifications was just so funny.

Same here...I happened into it by watching the replay of the trials. Excellent program...I also had a laugh when Gary Hall came on screen and mentioned to my wife that someone had questioned his credentials on Slowtwitch. Worth watching for sure!

Wait... like he came here, and someone literally asked him for his credentials?! If someone could link me to this, I would be eternally grateful.

IT won't get old:

"What is your swimming history? "

"Good question. Retired physician. Three time Olympian (68, 72, 76) 3 Olympic medals, 10 world records. Son, Gary Jr, 3 time Olympian (96, 2000, 2004), 10 Olympic medals. Currently, Head coach and technical director of the The Race Club, which sent 33 swimmers to the past three Olympics and earned 18 Olympic medals.
I was personally a triathlete for 10 years in Arizona competing in Olympic distances only. Now stick to swimming where I have set 6 Masters World Records.


http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Fundamentals_of_Fast_Swimming_P2807690/?search_string=son%20gary#p2807690

I was hoping someone would post about this documentary. I also stumbled upon it, and I was sucked in right away.

It was interesting how the East German swimmers were very frank about their use of PED's. Wild.

Dang, wish I had heard of this sooner. I'll have to see if it's being rerun at all.

This really is funny. But you never know. I have an acquaintance who grew up in Lake Placid. They used locals to carry flags for other nations. I forget who she carried the flag for.

Watched it with both of my kids (13 and 10 yrs old) who are both competitive swimmers. They've seen a few things on TV lately regarding the fall of the Berlin wall, the coldwar, etc. so this fit into a greater overall education they've gotten about the era I was born into and grew up in. They were both pretty upset about it. But I thought the point they made at the end about: what would you do if you were in that position where either you did it and were a national hero, or you didn't and your life was essentially over. Really wished it wouldn't take a special documentary like this for that women's team and Shirley Burkhoff to get the recognition they deserve. She could have/would have been the female Spitz/Phelps, but the press was to ignorant about the sport to bother to notice what was happening.

It's on Apple itunes. Look to see when nbcsn may replay it with a search on your setup box. Totally worth it. Two of my swim coaches raced during this era. One on the men's Olympic team and one that just missed out on making the team. Both did tons of races against the Germans. The stories in this documentary are just at the surface. What they did not cover were the women and men that were totally drugged up, did not make their teams and had some odd/sad side effects (health problems during and after).