I used to do like four or five
dolphin kicks off the walls
and that would probably get me about
five to seven metres underwater.
It was 1984, nobody was using it.
I started, but the next generation came around
and took it further than I did.
I might be the one that originated and started this
but they really took it through Olympic level.
(THE RISE OF THE DOLPHIN KICK SEOUL 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES)
So now we're moments away from the start
of the 100-metre backstroke,
100 metres out and back.
It's over fast and they start underwater,
three of the swimmers, for extended periods of time.
And a Berkoff blast-off in lane 4.
Look at this, 10, 20 metres,
only three people on the surface,
five underwater.
Six, six up... Seven up... Murphy still under.
But Berkoff has the lead.
Berkoff comes out of the water with the lead.
He has turned this into
a 35-metre start and a 65-metre swim.
And now under a world record split again, or just above it,
but Berkoff has the lead.
David Berkoff starts down
the final straight of this 100-metre backstroke.
He's being challenged and very strongly now,
by Suzuki, and coming up is Polyansky...
(LOS ANGELES 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES)
(JESSE VASSALLO OLYMPIAN 1984 - USA)
Hello.
As a young swimmer, I used to
play around a lot underwater
with my fins
and I was pretty fast doing butterfly kick under the water.
But in 1976
I was at the US Nationals, I was 14 years old
and I was swimming the 200 backstroke
next to John Naber.
John was a very big guy and I'm a short guy.
I was just saying to myself,
"If I get behind him on the starts,
"I'm going to be swimming on his wake the whole time".
So I decided
to do the underwaters
coming off the starts
and it worked pretty well
and after that I continued to
develop it and use it in my turns
and stuff like that.
(IGOR POLYANSKY BRONZE MEDAL - USSR/RUSSIA)
Hello?
FrOM 1987,
many, many swimmers from different countries,
the United States and Russia and Japan and from Europe
started to practise more butterfly kick underwater
because it's much, much faster
than backstroke swim on the top level of water.
Many swimmers like David Berkoff or Daichi Suzuki
were very good butterfly kick underwater,
plus flexible, if you're strong enough for it,
and of course the speed underwater was very fast.
Daichi and Berkoff were much faster than me
in butterfly kick underwater, especially because
backstroke sprint is a short distance,
especially for short courses, they were one of the best.
1988 was my first Olympic Games,
I was 21 years old,
and 200-metre backstroke and 100-metre backstroke
it was very suitable for me to make a podium.
(MEN'S 100 METRES BACKSTROKE FINAL)
(INDOOR SWIMMING POOL, OLYMPIC PARK, 24 SEPTEMBER 1985)
(DAICHI SUZUKI GOLD MEDAL - JAPAN)
Hello. Just before starting the race,
I transformed into a warrior and in my mind,
all I desired in that moment was to be the number one.
I was in the third lane.
As you know, there is a short presentation
where they say, "the third lane, Daichi Suzuki"
and you greet the public by waving.
As I walked then,
I noticed that my legs were shaking.
And I realised how nervous I was.
I always practised
the dolphin kick under the water every morning
and I did it always with swim fins.
So I can't say exactly how long I could do it
because I used to wear fins during training
but 50 metres was very easy for me.
Next to me,
there was David Berkoff in the fourth lane.
I saw his face but he looked more nervous than me.
And it made me think
that I wasn't the only one feeling nervous,
so maybe I had a chance to win.
I'm not sure exactly for my race for 100-metre backstroke
because it happened so quick.
David and Suzuki
swam faster than me the first 50 metres
because they have
a very good strong butterfly kick underwater,
but one of my main goals was try to swim
with the second 50 metres backstroke as fast as possible.
I was under the water for only 25 metres in the primary race.
I knew that Berkoff stayed under the water
for 35 metres in the primary race
because I'd watched his video and it meant that we had
a 10-metre difference.
So this time, my strategy was
to swim 30 metres under the water
instead of 25 as I did in primary.
Since many years before,
I knew that one day I would compete
in the race
against Berkoff and Polyansky,
so I always did image training against them.
I did it many times every day. At least once a day, every day,
imagining that I could win
in the last second against them.
So when I finished the race and I watched the video,
I saw that the race had happened
exactly as I'd always imagined.
I feel really proud
to have competed
against Berkoff and Polyansky.
They were from great countries,
like the Soviet Union and the United States,
and I personally feel
very satisfied to have beaten them.
After winning in the Olympics, wherever I went,
everybody would recognise me.
I was well known by many people
but I couldn't concentrate well
on competition after that.
Being a champion of the Olympics
made my life
confused for a while.
(KIM BANG-HYUN, OLYMPIAN 1996, 2000 AND 2004, SOUTH KOREA)
I think that race just gave
a whole media attention, the worldwide attention.
It was one of the most unorthodox
and chaotic beginnings of a 100 backstroke race ever,
with five of the eight finalists
going at least 25 metres underwater from the start.
You'll never see this any more.
I think that just opened everybody's eyes up, saying,
"Oh, why is everybody underwater kicking that far?"
They're faster than the people swimming above the water.
So that was sort of like an eye opener
not just for the public,
but also for coaches and for other swimmers as well.
The unofficial winner,
Daichi Suzuki, Japan.
55.05.
(SUZUKI D)
I met Suzuki and Suzuki told me that
many years back, when I was in Japan
in of those clubs, he was one of the swimmers there.
So he said, "You know,
"I learned that day about the Vassallo technique".
And they called it
the Vassallo technique from then on.
It's an honour!
And it was really nice to hear him recognise that.
(THE INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING FEDERATION, FINA,)
(CHANGED THE RULE AFTER THE 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES.)
(A SWIMMER'S HEAD SHOULD BREAK THE SURFACE)
(BY 10 METRES IN THE BACKSTROKE.)
(IT WAS EXPANDED TO 15 METRES IN 1991, WHICH STANDS TODAY.)
(ON THE LINE)