By Craig Morgan, Special to TheSunDevils.com
TEMPE, Ariz. -- When Ray and Buffie Anderson first watched the USA Swimming-produced documentary, "The Last Gold," at the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials this summer, they thought it would be a perfect fit for Sun Devil Athletics' annual Senior Student-Athlete Championship Life Experience Event.
The allegations of rampant doping among Russian athletes leading into the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro only served to underscore that belief.
"We were the beneficiaries of timing," said Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson, who was on hand for a showing of the film on Thursday at ASU's Galvin Playhouse. "All of the events and news surrounding the doping scandal with the Russian athletes made this message all the more relevant."
"The Last Gold" details the story of the 1976 U.S. Olympic women's swim team, specifically members of the 4x100 free relay team, as they competed against an East German team that rose from relative obscurity in the 1972 Olympics to utter dominance in 1976 through now-documented and state-sponsored doping.
The East German women did not win a single gold medal at the 1972 Games in Munich, Germany, but they shattered numerous world records and won 11 of 13 gold medals in Montreal in 1976, failing only to capture the 200 meter breaststroke and the final event of the competition, the 4x100 meter relay, won by the United States' Kim Peyton, Wendy Boglioli, Jill Sterkel and Shirley Babashoff.
"I would never in my wildest dreams imagine that 40 years later, after what our team went through and what other countries went through we'd see this happening again," said Boglioli, who was in attendance for the showing of the film on Thursday along with the other two surviving members of that relay team, Sterkel and Babashoff. "There have to be consequences. Athletes have to take a stand because nobody else is taking that stand. We are, as are the coaches, the stakeholders in the Olympic Games."
There were clear-cut messages that Anderson and ASU Associate Vice President for Cultural Affairs Colleen Jennings-Roggensack hoped the student-athletes would take from the documentary.
"One of the basic lessons is that life isn't fair so how do you deal with that?" Anderson said. "Shirley Babashoff was supposed to be the next U.S swimmer to win seven or eight gold medals after Mark Spitz (in 1972) but she was cheated. When you know you have been cheated but folks are accusing you of whining and moaning and complaining as they did with Shirley, how do you deal with it?
"There is importance in pursuing victory with honor but everybody doesn't take it well when they're cheated and sometimes that's OK. You shouldn't always feel like you have to be polite and kind and political. When someone cheats you, you can make a statement that says 'I am not going to honor you if you've cheated me' and that's what Shirley did."
Senior men's swimmer Andrew Porter drew comparisons between Babashoff's stand against the East Germans and U.S. swimmer Lilly King's admonishment of Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, who was originally banned from the Rio Games for doping, but was later allowed to compete.
"She did it in an honorable way," Porter said of King. "She didn't totally bash this one person but she said 'we're Team USA and we compete clean.' All these Russians athletes that were cleared to compete have tested positive for doping and Lilly King was letting people know that was wrong."
Some of the film's more subtle messages also made an impression on Sun Devil student-athletes.
"One of my favorite things that Jill Sterkel said was when she admitted she knew there was steroid taking going on but didn't she didn't say anything during the competition because once you give voice to something then you give it power," Sun Devil senior swimmer Alysha Bush said. "That really struck me. It's an excuse for you not to win. She knew what they were doing but she wasn't going to give up and say it was hopeless. She kept fighting."
Bush was also struck by the nuanced and tragic story of the East German swimmers, many of whom suffered health issues due to doping.
"The truth is they were being administered pills they thought were vitamins; forced into it by people they could thought they could trust like their coaches," Bush said. "When they found out, if they wanted to quit, they faced the possibility of being exiled without the ability to get an education or jobs. It was really powerful when one of the women said, 'if you were in my situation as a 15-year-old girl, what would you do?'"
Thursday's event was well attended by student-athletes, students from the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications and coaches such as Bob Bowman, ASU's swimming coach and the men's 2016 Olympic coach.
Anderson has made no secret of his desire to transform ASU into an Olympic sports mecca. The recent move of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) to Tempe, as well as the hiring of storied Olympic coaches such as Bowman, wrestling's Zeke Jones and triathlon's Cliff English are further examples, but events such as Thursday's are part of Anderson's holistic and balanced plan for ASU's student-athletes: a desire to teach them not just the importance of competition and success in the classroom, but character and responsibility to the community as they pursue careers after ASU.
"It's exciting to be part of something like this and have all these resources available," Porter said. "It's inspiring to have such high level athletes like Michael Phelps walking around and high level coaches with so much experience to teach us."
Bush agreed.
"To have the actual women who were on that Olympic team come and talk to us is something I'll remember for the rest of my life," she said. "It was a powerful message and a history lesson for us. This was much better than some senior gift."
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter
TEMPE, Ariz. -- When Ray and Buffie Anderson first watched the USA Swimming-produced documentary, "The Last Gold," at the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials this summer, they thought it would be a perfect fit for Sun Devil Athletics' annual Senior Student-Athlete Championship Life Experience Event.
The allegations of rampant doping among Russian athletes leading into the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro only served to underscore that belief.
"We were the beneficiaries of timing," said Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson, who was on hand for a showing of the film on Thursday at ASU's Galvin Playhouse. "All of the events and news surrounding the doping scandal with the Russian athletes made this message all the more relevant."
"The Last Gold" details the story of the 1976 U.S. Olympic women's swim team, specifically members of the 4x100 free relay team, as they competed against an East German team that rose from relative obscurity in the 1972 Olympics to utter dominance in 1976 through now-documented and state-sponsored doping.
The East German women did not win a single gold medal at the 1972 Games in Munich, Germany, but they shattered numerous world records and won 11 of 13 gold medals in Montreal in 1976, failing only to capture the 200 meter breaststroke and the final event of the competition, the 4x100 meter relay, won by the United States' Kim Peyton, Wendy Boglioli, Jill Sterkel and Shirley Babashoff.
"I would never in my wildest dreams imagine that 40 years later, after what our team went through and what other countries went through we'd see this happening again," said Boglioli, who was in attendance for the showing of the film on Thursday along with the other two surviving members of that relay team, Sterkel and Babashoff. "There have to be consequences. Athletes have to take a stand because nobody else is taking that stand. We are, as are the coaches, the stakeholders in the Olympic Games."
There were clear-cut messages that Anderson and ASU Associate Vice President for Cultural Affairs Colleen Jennings-Roggensack hoped the student-athletes would take from the documentary.
"One of the basic lessons is that life isn't fair so how do you deal with that?" Anderson said. "Shirley Babashoff was supposed to be the next U.S swimmer to win seven or eight gold medals after Mark Spitz (in 1972) but she was cheated. When you know you have been cheated but folks are accusing you of whining and moaning and complaining as they did with Shirley, how do you deal with it?
"There is importance in pursuing victory with honor but everybody doesn't take it well when they're cheated and sometimes that's OK. You shouldn't always feel like you have to be polite and kind and political. When someone cheats you, you can make a statement that says 'I am not going to honor you if you've cheated me' and that's what Shirley did."
Senior men's swimmer Andrew Porter drew comparisons between Babashoff's stand against the East Germans and U.S. swimmer Lilly King's admonishment of Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, who was originally banned from the Rio Games for doping, but was later allowed to compete.
"She did it in an honorable way," Porter said of King. "She didn't totally bash this one person but she said 'we're Team USA and we compete clean.' All these Russians athletes that were cleared to compete have tested positive for doping and Lilly King was letting people know that was wrong."
Some of the film's more subtle messages also made an impression on Sun Devil student-athletes.
"One of my favorite things that Jill Sterkel said was when she admitted she knew there was steroid taking going on but didn't she didn't say anything during the competition because once you give voice to something then you give it power," Sun Devil senior swimmer Alysha Bush said. "That really struck me. It's an excuse for you not to win. She knew what they were doing but she wasn't going to give up and say it was hopeless. She kept fighting."
Bush was also struck by the nuanced and tragic story of the East German swimmers, many of whom suffered health issues due to doping.
"The truth is they were being administered pills they thought were vitamins; forced into it by people they could thought they could trust like their coaches," Bush said. "When they found out, if they wanted to quit, they faced the possibility of being exiled without the ability to get an education or jobs. It was really powerful when one of the women said, 'if you were in my situation as a 15-year-old girl, what would you do?'"
Thursday's event was well attended by student-athletes, students from the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications and coaches such as Bob Bowman, ASU's swimming coach and the men's 2016 Olympic coach.
Anderson has made no secret of his desire to transform ASU into an Olympic sports mecca. The recent move of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) to Tempe, as well as the hiring of storied Olympic coaches such as Bowman, wrestling's Zeke Jones and triathlon's Cliff English are further examples, but events such as Thursday's are part of Anderson's holistic and balanced plan for ASU's student-athletes: a desire to teach them not just the importance of competition and success in the classroom, but character and responsibility to the community as they pursue careers after ASU.
"It's exciting to be part of something like this and have all these resources available," Porter said. "It's inspiring to have such high level athletes like Michael Phelps walking around and high level coaches with so much experience to teach us."
Bush agreed.
"To have the actual women who were on that Olympic team come and talk to us is something I'll remember for the rest of my life," she said. "It was a powerful message and a history lesson for us. This was much better than some senior gift."
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter