Men's 4 × 100 metres medley relay at the Games of the XXII Olympiad | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Venue | Olympiski Sports Complex | ||||||||||||
Dates | 24 July (heats and final) | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 61 from 13 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 3:45.70 | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics | ||
---|---|---|
Freestyle | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | women |
800 m | women | |
1500 m | men | |
Backstroke | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Breaststroke | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Butterfly | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Individual medley | ||
400 m | men | women |
Freestyle relay | ||
4 × 100 m | women | |
4 × 200 m | men | |
Medley relay | ||
4 × 100 m | men | women |
The men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 1980 Summer Olympics was held in Moscow, Soviet Union on 24 July 1980 in the Olympiski Sports Complex. A total of 13 teams participated in the event. These were split over two heats held in the morning of that day, and the eight fastest teams qualified for the finals held in the evening of the same day.
The United States, the winner of all previous editions of this event, was boycotting the games in response to the Soviet–Afghan War. As a result, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and Sweden were expected to win. Australia's Quietly Confident Quartet , however, composed of backstroker Mark Kerry, breaststroker Peter Evans, butterflyer Mark Tonelli, and freestyler Neil Brooks, surprisingly won the final in 3:45.70. They were followed by the silver medalists Soviet Union, 0.22 seconds in arrears, and the bronze medalists Great Britain, as favorites Sweden had been disqualified in the heats. Outside of the 2024 event in Paris, this is the only time the United States has not won the gold medal in the event.
The 1980 Summer Olympic Games were notable for a large number of boycotting countries as a result of the host country invading Afghanistan in 1979. As a result, several medal favorites for the men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay race were absent. The most notable absence was the United States, who had won the event every time since its inception at the 1960 Games, invariably by large margins, [1] and would go on to win the event at all subsequent Games. Furthermore, they had also obtained the gold medal at the previous World Championships, just two years before the Olympiad. This, together with the boycott of the silver and bronze medallists from the previous edition, West Germany—who won the silver medal also at the World Championships—and Canada respectively, meant that the field had opened. [2] [3]
Sweden, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union were the most heavily favoured teams. Another ten National Olympic Committees were able to send teams to Moscow: Angola, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, East Germany, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Spain, and Vietnam. Favorites Soviet Union boasted the silver medalists in the 100 m finals hosted several days earlier in backstroke and breaststroke (Viktor Kuznetsov and Arsens Miskarovs respectively), while their butterflyer (Yevgeny Seredin) and freestyler (Sergey Kopliakov) had come fifth and fourth in their respective 100 m events. The British team included the 100 m breaststroke gold medallist (Duncan Goodhew), and fifth-place finisher in the 100 m backstroke (Gary Abraham). Sweden's butterflyer (Pär Arvidsson) and backstroker (Bengt Baron) had won their respective 100 m events, and their freestyle swimmer (Per Holmertz) had come second in the 100 m, [4] while their lowest ranked swimmer, the breaststroker (Peter Berggren), had come ninth in the 100 m event. [5]
The Australians were regarded as an outside chance for a medal, but were not seen as the main threats, as they were ranked seventh coming into the Olympics out of the 13 competing countries. [3] In the five times the event had been contested, Australia had only won a silver in the inaugural race in Rome, and a bronze medal in Tokyo in 1964. [4] On paper, Australia's team appeared much weaker than those of the other favorites: Peter Evans was the only individual medalist in the distance, claiming bronze in the 100 m breaststroke, [6] while Neil Brooks, the freestyler, and Mark Kerry, the backstroker, had been eliminated in their respective semifinals, and Mark Tonelli was swimming as a makeshift butterflyer. [4] [7]
The medley relay was scheduled in the Olympiski Sports Complex for Thursday, 24 July, the fifth day of swimming competition, with heats from 11 am, and the final from 9 pm. [8] In the morning Sweden was disqualified in the first heat, while Australia and the Soviet Union competed in the second heat. [9] With their superior depth, the home team was able to rest their entire first-choice quartet in the heats, while Australia was only willing to rest Kerry, with Glenn Patching swimming the backstroke leg in his place. [10] The hosts led the Australians from the start and extended their margin over each of the first three legs. Brooks reclaimed 1.34 s on the freestyle leg, but the Australians fell 0.13 s short to come second in their heat. Nevertheless, the Australians qualified in second place overall, as they and the Soviets were almost 2 s faster than the third-placed Hungarians. [9] In any case, the home team, despite resting all of their first-choice quartet, were still faster than the Australians, who had rested only one. [10] The winners of the first heat, Great Britain, had obtained a time slower than even the fourth-place finisher of the second heat, East Germany, and slower than the Soviets' by almost 3 seconds. [9]
The Australian Evans took the opportunity to attempt to regain the psychological ascendancy from the Briton Goodhew, confronting him privately and stating that "we will win it", before noting that Goodhew was astounded by his posturing. [11] Tonelli, the eldest swimmer in the Australian quartet at the age of 23, convened the team as its de facto leader, and asked his teammates to commit to swimming their legs in a certain time; Kerry vowed to swim the backstroke in 57 s, Evans the breaststroke in 63 s flat, Tonelli the butterfly in 54 s and Brooks promised to anchor the team in 49.8 s, even though he had never gone faster than 51 s in his career. Tonelli named the foursome as the Quietly Confident Quartet, and they exhibited a silent assurance as they lined up for the race. Whereas most of the other teams were "psyching up" in the marshalling area, the Australians were remaining light-hearted, convinced that they could perform in the final. [4] [12]
Kerry led off the Australian team in a faster time than he had clocked in the individual event, but it was still two seconds slower than his personal best time. Kerry finished in a time of 57.87 s, leaving Australia in fourth place at the end of the first leg. [4] [9] Kuznetsov gave the Soviets the lead with a leadoff leg of 56.81 s with Hungary and Great Britain in second and third place. France was last to reach the 100 m mark, posting a time of 58.84 s. [9] [10] Evans then swam a personal best of 63.01 s, the fastest split among the breaststrokers by 0.63 s. His leg moved Australia into second place at the halfway mark, just 0.45 s behind the hosts and roughly half a second ahead of the British and the Hungarians. The remainder of the teams had been dropped, with a two-second gap back to the fifth-placed East Germans. [4] [9] [10] [11] Tonelli then swam his leg in 54.94 s, almost two seconds faster than he had done over the distance. [4] Tonelli began to lose ground in the last 50 m and was a body length behind until a late surge brought him to within a metre by the end of his leg. [4] Tonelli's butterfly leg was such that if he had swum the same time in the individual event, he would have claimed the silver medal. [13] Although he lost 0.36 s to Seredin, he had minimised his loss and Australia were within 0.81 s going into the final leg. Furthermore, the Australians were now more than a second clear of the third placed Great Britain. [10]
Brooks then made a powerful, well-timed dive and surfaced almost even with his Soviet counterpart Kopliakov. He had drawn level halfway through his leg and made a superior turn to take the lead as they headed home. The Soviet freestyler pulled level with 25 m to go before Brooks sprinted away again to seal an Australian victory by 0.22 s. [4] He did not breathe in the last ten metres, and claimed to be laughing for the final five metres, confident that his opponent could not pass him. [14] Brooks had finished his leg in 49.86 s as he had vowed to his teammates. [7] In doing so, he recorded the fastest freestyle split in the relay, even faster than the individual 100 m freestyle gold medallist, Jörg Woithe of East Germany. [10]
The time of 3 m 45.70 s sealed Australia's first ever win in a medley relay at the Olympics, for men or women, [4] and it still remains the only time that the United States did not win the men's event. After the race, the team made a celebratory dive into the water and performed a poolside interview. [11] Tonelli remarked that "I was totally stunned. After all the hassle, and my being the athletes' mouthpiece, we'd come through and done it". [12] [13] [15] Australia's women's captain Lisa Forrest hailed the win as "a gold medal that should never have been". [3] Evans said of the relay, "It was unbelievable, but it was all so logical. I was so deliriously happy that I couldn't stop talking," [11] [12] [13] as Brooks dedicated his win to his mother, who had died from cancer the previous Christmas. [14]
Upon returning to Australia, Evans and Brooks were raucously received in their hometown of Perth. They were denied a civic reception by the Lord Mayor of Perth, Fred Chaney, because of his stance on Afghanistan, but the Mayor of Fremantle, Bill McKenzie, hosted one instead. Evans also received congratulations from Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. [11] After being greeted as a hero, Brooks considered retiring as he felt that his gold had diminished his hunger for further success. [14] [12] [16] [17]
The quartet did not compete again as a unit following the Moscow Olympics, as Tonelli retired from swimming immediately after the Games. [15] Australia came third in the 1984 Olympics in the medley relay as the Americans returned to the Olympic fold, with only Evans and Kerry of the original four swimming in the final, while Brooks swam in the heats. [18] Evans and Kerry both retired after the 1984 Olympics, [18] [19] and after Brooks retired in 1986, the last of the Quietly Confident Quartet had departed the Australian swimming scene. [20] [21] [22]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
World record | United States (USA) John Naber (55.89) John Hencken (1:02.50) Matt Vogel (54.26) Jim Montgomery (49.57) | 3:42.22 | Montreal, Canada | 22 July 1976 |
Olympic record | United States (USA) John Naber (55.89) John Hencken (1:02.50) Matt Vogel (54.26) Jim Montgomery (49.57) | 3:42.22 | Montreal, Canada | 22 July 1976 |
Rank | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Australia | Mark Kerry (57.89) Peter Evans (1:03.01) Mark Tonelli (54.94) Neil Brooks (49.86) | 3:45.70 | ||
Soviet Union | Viktor Kuznetsov (56.81) Arsens Miskarovs (1:03.64) Yevgeny Seredin (54.58) Sergey Kopliakov (50.89) | 3:45.92 | ||
Great Britain | Gary Abraham (57.72) Duncan Goodhew (1:03.73) David Lowe (55.57) Martin Smith (50.69) | 3:47.71 | ||
4 | East Germany | Dietmar Göhring (58.34) Jörg Walter (1:05.14) Roger Pyttel (54.81) Jörg Woithe (49.96) | 3:48.25 | |
5 | France | Frédéric Delcourt (58.84) Olivier Borios (1:05.14) Xavier Savin (55.07) René Ecuyer (50.14) | 3:49.19 | |
6 | Hungary | Sándor Wladár (57.30) János Dzvonyár (1:04.12) Zoltán Verrasztó (55.72) Gábor Mészáros (53.15) | 3:50.29 | |
7 | Netherlands | Fred Eefting (58.37) Albert Boonstra (1:05.49) Cees Vervoorn (54.92) Cees Jan Winkel (53.03) | 3:51.81 | |
8 | Brazil | Romulo Arantes (57.99) Sérgio Pinto Ribeiro (1:05.68) Cláudio Kestener (57.33) Jorge Fernandes (52.24) | 3:53.24 |
Medley swimming is a combination of four different swimming strokes into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as a medley relay.
Australia competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. In partial support of the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics Australia competed under the Olympic Flag. 120 competitors, 92 men and 28 women, took part in 92 events in 17 sports.
Neil Brooks is an Australian former sprint freestyle swimmer best known for winning the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow as part of the Quietly Confident Quartet. Brooks was as much known for his swimming achievements as he was for disciplinary incidents, and he often found himself in conflict with officialdom and threatened with sanctions.
Peter Maxwell Evans is an Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1980s who won four Olympic medals, including a gold in the 4×100 m medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as part of the Quietly Confident Quartet. He also won consecutive bronze medals in the 100 m breaststroke at the 1980 Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Mark Anthony Kerry is an Australian former backstroke and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won three Olympic medals, including a gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Summer Olympics as the backstroker for the Quietly Confident Quartet. During his career, he won twelve Australian Championships.
Mark Lyndon Tonelli, whose birth name was Mark Lyndon Leembruggen, is an Australian former backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold in the 4×100-metre medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as a makeshift butterfly swimmer in the self-named Quietly Confident Quartet. Tonelli unofficially led the relay team and was an athletes' spokesperson who fought for the right of Australian Olympians to compete in the face of a government call for a boycott to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Munich, West Germany, 29 events in swimming were contested. There was a total of 532 participants from 52 countries competing.
Robert George Windle is an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1960s, who won four Olympic medals, including an individual gold medal. Windle won the 1500 m freestyle and took bronze in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and silver and bronze in the 4 × 200 m and 4 × 100 m freestyle relays respectively at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Known for his versatility, he is the only male swimmer to represent Australia at the Olympics in all freestyle distances from 100 m to 1500 m. During his career, Windle set six world records and won six Commonwealth Games gold medals. He won 19 Australian championships in all distances from 220 yd to 1650 yd.
Kevin O'Halloran was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s who won a gold medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.
Ian Lovett O'Brien is an Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1960s who won the 200 metre breaststroke at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in world record time. He won five Commonwealth Games gold medals and claimed a total of nine individual and six relay titles at the Australian Championships, before retiring at the age of 21 due to financial pressures.
The Quietly Confident Quartet was the self-given name of the Australian men's 4 × 100 metres medley relay swimming team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and, through the 2016 Olympics, the Australian victory remains the only occasion the United States has not won the event at Olympic level since its inception in 1960. The quartet consisted of backstroker Mark Kerry, breaststroker Peter Evans, butterflyer Mark Tonelli, and freestyler Neil Brooks. The team was nominally led by its oldest member Tonelli, who was 23 and was also a spokesperson for the Australian athletes' campaign for their right to compete at the Olympics against the wishes of the Fraser government. The team was seen as an unlikely prospect to win; all four of the swimmers had clashed with swimming authorities over disciplinary issues and three experienced suspension or expulsion from the Australian team during their careers.
Emily Jane Seebohm, OAM is an Australian swimmer and television personality. She has appeared at four Olympic Games between 2008 and 2021; and won three Olympic gold medals, five world championship gold medals and seven Commonwealth Games gold medals.
Ye Shiwen is a Chinese swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals in the 400 metres and 200 metres individual medley, breaking the world record in the 400 m event and the Olympic record in the 200 m event.
Madison Maree Wilson, is an Australian competitive swimmer who has participated in backstroke and freestyle events at the Olympic Games and the FINA world championships. Wilson has been a member of six world record Australian relay teams, most recently at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
Michael Charles Andrew is an American competitive swimmer and an Olympic gold medalist. He was the 2016 world champion in the 100 meter individual medley. At his first Olympic Games, the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal and set a world record as part of the 4x100 meter medley relay, placed fourth in the 100 meter breaststroke, fourth in the 50 meter freestyle, and fifth in the 200 meter individual medley. Andrew's swims in 2021 at the 2020 Olympics made him the first swimmer to represent the United States at an Olympic Games in an individual breaststroke event as well as another individual event other than an individual medley in the then-125-year-history of swimming at the Summer Olympics. He has won 78 medals at Swimming World Cup circuits.
The mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held in 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. These Games marked the first time to feature a mixed-gender swimming event in the program. Each 4-person team features two male and two female swimmers in no particular order.
The women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 30 July and 1 August 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. It was the event's sixteenth consecutive appearance, having been held at every edition since 1960.
Swimming at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships was held from 21 to 28 July 2019.