Former Olympic swimmer reflects on Games
’ changes
It was a time of innocence mixed with awareness. A time when amateur sports mostly still meant just that. When athletes competed to be the best they could be, not necessarily the richest or most famous.
When Lynn Gautschi (Vidali) competed in back-to-back Olympics in 1968 and 1972, she said the athletes’ entire focus was on competition.
That’s because back then none of the athletes, with the exception of a very few of the most elite among them, had to deal with the pressure that all the big moneyhas brought to amateur athletics these days. And, of course, even the potential endorsement haul considered big money in those days pales in comparison to the millions athletes could earn today.
Gautschi blames the money as the main culprit in the doping scandals that have plagued the Olympics recently.
“There’s so much money involved that I think that’s why there’s steroids involved,” Gautschi said. “These athletes, it’s all they do, and they try to stay in the sport by taking (steroids) as long as they can.
“It’s a very big business. (Athletes are) not just in it for the love of the sport. It’s not enough to just be the fastest human in the world any more. It’s turned very professional.”
Not that Gautschi wouldn’t have liked to see a little more financial support for athletes in her time. She said she would have liked to have continued her swimming career after winning silver in Mexico City in ‘68 and bronze in Munich in ‘72, but she couldn’t afford it.
While some athletes, such as her friend and seven-time gold medal winner Mark Spitz, received endorsement opportunities, most like Gautschi didn’t.
“A few of us got some of the money but the rest of us did it for the challenge of comp-etition,” she said. “,There’s never a happy medium. We couldn’t take money for (Olympics) training. I think they need to help the athletes more.”
Since she retired from competitive swimming, Gautschi has worked as a teacher, both at Live Oak High and Martin Murphy Middle School. She also spent more than a decade coaching the Acorn girls swim team, winning a string of league titles.
And, Gautschi has recently found herself getting back into competitive sport.
Only this time it’s in the sport her kids, Ryan and Ronni, love — water polo.
