Page 1 |
Previous | 1 of 3 | Next |
|
This page
All
Subset
|
o €EME
Speed swimmer
It's not easy to concentrate on accounting
when your youngster is just a
couple of miles across town swimming
for the big prize—a trip to the Olympic
Games in Mexico City. But that is
what John E. Skrifvars, Los Angeles
partner, tried to do at the end of
August. If his attention wandered a
bit from his H&S work, other parents
will understand. John was thinking of
his daughter Lynn, a 17-year-old senior
at Warren High School in Downey,
California, who spent much of the time
from August 24 to 28 at the Los Angeles
Swim Stadium with other racers
competing for places on the United
States women's Olympic swimming
team.
While John Skrifvars went to work
each morning at the H&S Los Angeles
Office, Mrs. Skrifvars accompanied
Lynn to the pool. Elimination heats
were scheduled for the mornings; afternoon
finals in each event determined
who would travel to the Mexico
City games. The family arrangement
was that if Lynn's time in her morning
heat should qualify her for the final,
then John Skrifvars would get away
from the office for an hour or two in
the afternoon in order to see her compete
in the showdown race.
Lynn swam in clockings that were
her lifetime best in each of the three
events she entered—the 200-meter freestyle
and the 100- and 200-meter backstroke.
But other girls swam a bit
faster, and Lynn qualified for the afternoon
final in only one event, the
200-meter backstroke. Her father re-
14
ceived the news by telephone and went
to the pool in the afternoon to see Lynn
finish sixth, 3.8 seconds behind the
winner, Pokey Watson, whose time
bettered the listed world record.
Although she did not make the
Olympic team this year, Lynn performed
remarkably well at the Los
Angeles trials. Her 200-meter backstroke
time, 2:28.1, was 2.4 seconds
faster than her best previous time.
Lynn's coach, Don Gambril of Long
Beach, brought her training along in
stages so her peak performance in both
freestyle and backstroke events would
be at the Olympic try outs. Other
coaches and swimmers did likewise—
with the result that seven world records
were bettered in five days of
swimming races that were nothing
short of sensational. Sherman Chavoor,
coach of the U.S. women's Olympic
swimming team, said at the end: "This
is the greatest women's team ever assembled."
George Haines, the men's
team coach, added: "I've never seen a
meet like this one. "
Now back in school and planning to
enter UCLA next year, Lynn is also
pointing toward the World Student
Games to be held next summer in
Spain. She trains hard, working out
twice daily seven days a week and
swimming at least 12,000 meters (more
than 7 miles) a day, when she can. She
is a tall, slim girl (5' 8", 125 lbs.) who
does well in her school work, but has
little time for recreation not connected
with her swimming. Unlike other girl
swimmers of national standing, many
of whom have been swimming competitively
since they were tots, Lynn
has been competing for only four years.
"We pretty much let Lynn alone,
and don't push her," Mrs. Skrifvars
says. "She decides herself how much
she wants to give to her swimming."
About coming close to the Olympic
Games, but missing the trip, Lynn's
mother said: "She took it beautifully.
I think her father and I were more
crushed than she was."
Copyrighted -- License
from Black Star
