1964 Olympic gold medalist Dick Roth died on September 23. He was 77 years old, and due to turn 78 three days later.
Roth, a native of Palo Alto, California, won an Olympic gold medal in the 400 IM when he was 17 years old. That legendary win came the day after being stricken by acute appendicitis; he postponed surgery until after his race.
His appendix is currently part of the collection at the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
His time of 4:45.4 in the 400 IM in the Olympic final broke the World Record by 3.2 seconds (which was his record, set 10 weeks earlier, and broke the previous mark by 1.6 seconds). In total, he held the record for almost four years before Soviet Andrey Dunayev broke it by a tenth ahead of the 1968 Games.
Roth also broke the World Record in the 200 IM at the 1964 US National Championships, but the event was not an Olympic event until 1968.
A year later in 1965, after battling shoulder tendinitis, he won World University Games gold medals in the 400 IM and 800 free relay. He was named the Swimming World Magazine World Swimmer of the Year in 1965.
In total, he won 11 AAU National Championships, almost all of which were in the IM events.
Roth grew up racing under Hall of Fame coach George Haines at the Santa Clara Swim Club alongside the likes of Don Schollander, Steve Clark, Wayne Anderson, Donna de Varona, Gary Illman, Claudia Kolb Thomas, Terri Strickles Strunk, Ed Townsend, and Mike Wall, all of whom competed at the 1964 Olympic Games.
He then matriculated to Stanford, where he won the 1967 NCAA Championships in the 200 IM, 400 IM, and 800 free relay.
Roth was inducted into the International Hall of Fame in 1987.
After his swimming career ended, he moved into what he called a “hippie lifestyle” living in a commune in Santa Barbara and Elko County, Nevada for 17 years. He then spent a decade working for the Stephen Covey Leadership Center at Utah State University before eventually retiring to Park City, Utah.
Earlier this year, Roth wrote a book called “Swimmer, Hippie, Cowboy” recounting his life.
The difference between this mentality and that of today’s swimmers is why American swimming has tanked.
“Roth wins 400 IM with appendicitis”
“Walsh withdraws from 50 free because it makes her too tired for the 100 IM”
And that’s one of America’s “better” swimmers. Not to mention people like Jaikins going 56 at world champs
All swimmers, regardless of their primary events, used to just swim 10k every day. Higher training base = higher race ability. Gretchen doesn’t train garbage yards, so she doesn’t have a base to race as much. Her training is specialized to break world records in sprint events of every stroke, not go 4:40 in a 400IM
Maybe we shouldn’t normalize pushing through the pain and delaying surgery for a trophy
Some moments come once in your lifetime. You may choose to pass it up, he did not.
Olympics = vs. little world cup meet.
Sad to hear. Roth played a key role in Stanford’s first NCAA Swimming Championship in 1967.
— “Roth also broke the World Record in the 200 IM at the 1964 US National Championships, but ultimately didn’t swim that race at the Olympics (where the U.S. won gold, silver, and bronze).” —
CORRECTION: the 200 IM was not held at the 1964 games. Its initial year was at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
1964 was the inaugural year for the 400 IM at the Tokyo Games. (Donna de Varona won the women’s race.)
I hope to Put my Spleen in the Hall of Fame one day.
Randy