Laura Gail Siering (born February 23, 1957) is an American former competition swimmer who competed briefly for the University of Southern California, and represented the United States at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, winning a silver medal swimming the breaststroke leg in the 4x100-meter medley relay. After graduating Modesto's Fred C. Beyer High School, she later graduated Stanislaus College, and in the 1990's worked as a schoolteacher and Assistant principal in greater Modesto.[2][1]
Siering was born February 23, 1957, to Jack and Lois Siering in Pomona, California, the older of four siblings. Lauri began swimming at age nine with the Recreation Program at Temple City in greater Pomona, though by 1967, the family moved to Modesto, California. By age 12, she resumed swim training and competition and beginning in the summer of 1971 swam with the Modesto Raquet Club Aquatic program where she competed and was trained by Coach Bob Casci.[3] Enrolling when the school first opened in 1972, Siering graduated Modesto's Fred C. Beyer High School in June of 1975. While coaching the Modesto Raquet Club Aquatics program, Bob Casci also coached swimming at Beyer High School, where Siering trained and competed with the boy's team.[4] In 1976, Modesto Raquet Club Coach Casci moved to the Jersey Wahoos where he led six of the Wahoo swimmers to the National Championships, and then after a year served as founder and President of Berkeley's Coast Line Casuals.[5][6]
Siering's younger twin sisters were also active in swimming, though her younger brother was not. Her father Jack, an anesthesiologist, helped support Lauri's travel budget to a number of domestic meets, and her mother Lois drove Laurie and her younger sisters to many regional meets, though her community also helped fund some of the costs of Lauri's competition and travel.[7][8][1]
Early AAU competition
Distinguishing herself at 17 as a future Olympic contender at the April 1974, AAU Short Course Nationals in Dallas, Texas, she placed sixth in a field of the nation's top 100 swimmers in the 200-yard breaststroke with an AAU Pacific Association record time of 2:24.04, and placed seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:07.61.[3]
Representing Modesto Raquet Club Aquatics on April 3, 1976, at the 1976 AAU Swimming Championships in Modesto, California, Siering swam a somewhat disappointing fourth in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:42.69.[9] Siering suffered from asthma and hay fever during her competitive swimming years, and sometimes after long workouts had trouble catching her breath. In Olympic competition, she had the challenge of adapting to a different medication for her asthma, as her usual medication had been banned by the U.S. Olympic committee.[10] Siering's pre-Olympic training increased from 45 minutes three days a week to 3.5-5 hours a day, six days a week, and included weight training.[1]
International competition
In October, 1975, shortly after high school graduation, and at a high point in international competition and training, Siering won a gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke at the seventh Pan American Games in Mexico with a time of 2:42.35, and another gold in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:15.17.[11]
After graduating Beyer High School in June, 1975, Siering planned to train for a year with her Coach Bob Casci at the Modesto Swim and Raquet Club. Training for the 1976 Olympics for a few months prior to the trip to Montreal with the U.S. team at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, Lauri swam a 1:04.7 for the 100-meter breaststroke, only two-tenths of a second slower than the standing U.S. record of 1:04.56 in the event. In preparation for the Olympics, Siering was trained by U.S. Olympic Women's Head Coach Jack Nelson.[12][13]
1976 Olympic trials
At the June, 1976 U.S. Olympic trials in Long Beach, California, Siering swam a 1:14.46 for the 100-meter breaststroke finals, winning the event and qualifying for a place on the U.S. Women's Olympic team. She also won the finals of the 200-meter breaststroke event trial finals finishing with a time of 2:38.75. In both events, Marcia Morey of Mission Viejo placed second.[14]
1976 Montreal Olympic silver medal
On July 18, 1976, Siering won a silver medal swimming the breaststroke leg as a member of the second-place U.S. team in the women's 4×100-meter medley relay, together with Linda Jezek (backstroke), Camille Wright (butterfly), and Shirley Babashoff (freestyle).[2][15] According to the Modesto Bee, Siering swam a 1:13.7 for her 100-meter breaststroke leg, a personal best.[7] Siering's 4x100-meter medley team which swam a combined time of 4:14.55, placed second to the East German team of Ulrike Richter, Hannelore Anke, Andre Pollack, and Kornelia Ender, that swam a combined time in the finals of 4:07.95, finishing around 6.6 seconds ahead of the American team. Later, allegations of steroid doping by members of the East German team were found to be accurate by the late 1990's. In interviews not long after the games, American swimmer Shirley Babashoff had stated concerns about members of the East German Women's team having possibly taken anabolic steroids as part of their pre-Olympic training. In a July 23, 1976 interview with the Modesto Bee, Siering voiced similar concerns.[10][16][17]
Siering also competed in the women's 100-meter breaststroke and 200-meter breaststroke at the 1976 Olympics, but did not advance to the finals in either event. She advanced to the semi-finals of the 100-meter breaststroke, but did not advance to the finals. In the 100-meter breaststroke semi-finals she swam a 1:14.84, and though she finished in the highest place of any American swimmer, she placed 11th overall, and would have needed a time in the top eight to advance to the finals. German swimmer Hannelore Anke later placed first in the finals, having set a World and Olympic record of 1:10.86 in the preliminary heats. Anke was followed by Russian swimmers taking both the second and third place in the finals.[10]
In the 200-meter breaststroke, Siering swam a 2:41.66 in the heat 2 preliminary, and did not advance to the semi-finals, as her time placed her only 15th overall. [2][10]
Continuing to swim in late July-August 1977, while briefly representing the Santa Clara Swim Club, Siering won the 200 meter breaststroke event in a time of 2:43.16 at the Mission Viejo Invitational Swim Meet.[18]
Education and careers
University of Southern California
After the Olympics, Siering attended the University of Southern California on an athletic scholarship by 1976, where she was coached by Lilian "Pokey" Watson-Richardson. At an exhibition at Tokyo, Japan in April, 1976, as part of the University of Southern California Team, Lauri swam a 2:49.60 in the 200-meter breaststroke, placing second to Japan's Kazuyo Inabe who swam a 2:36.30.[19] Laurie and the U.S. Team travelled to Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka, as part of their tour. Siering left elite competitive swimming by 1979, after she left the University of Southern California.[20]
Stanislaus State
Siering left the University of Southern California, and completed an Associate of Science at Modesto Junior College in Modesto in 1984. She later completed a four year degree at nearby Stanislaus State in 1984, now known as California State University, Stanislaus in Turlock, California.[21] Around the 1980's, Siering had a short marriage and a daughter. Siering began a Masters at Stanislaus State in Sustainable Agriculture, where she studied environmentally friendly agriculture, sometimes known as bio-intensive gardening and was involved in a field study with John Jeavons of Ecology Action of Palo Alto. Jeavons has remained active in the non-profit Ecology Action and has served as the Executive Director.[22][1]
In 1994, Siering worked as a special education teacher at Teel Middle School in Modesto, usually given an address in Empire, California, about six miles East of Modesto.[23][1][22] In September, 1998, Siering served as an Assistant Principal at the newly opened Dennis G. Earl Elementary School in nearby Turlock, California, about 14 miles Southeast of Modesto.[24]
In December, 1998, the U.S. Olympic committee under Dick Schultz sought to gain some form of additional recognition for the silver medal 4x100-meter medley relay team of Linda Jezek, Lauri Siering, Camille Wright, and Shirley Babashoff, after revelations that members of the East German medley team had definitely used anabolic steroids. On December 12, 1998, Francois Gerard, International Olympic Committee Director, rejected the idea of recognition that may have included marking the East German's records with asterisks, giving out compensatory certificates, or withdrawing or reassigning the East German women's medals.[25] In November 1998, Former East German team coach Rolf Glazer admitted to providing performance enhancing drugs to 1976 4x100 medley relay swimmer Andrea Pollock.[26] According to Olympedia, subsequent to the reunification of East and West Germany in the 1990's, officials from East Germany admitted they provided performance enhancing drugs to the vast majority of their swimmers, including 1976 Olympic 4x100-meter medley relay breaststroker Hannelore Anke.[27]
Honors
In November, 1973, Siering was named a co-winner of the Outstanding Swimming Award by the Modesto Swim and Raquet Club.[28] In 1976, she was named a Sportsman of the Year in the Open Division at the Sportsmen of Stanislaus Annual Awards Banquet.[29]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
