Local swim instructor recalls Olympic experience

Gold never loses its shine and luster and for Mike Troy -- the 1960 Summer Olympic Games were the golden days.

But there have been a lot of changes in competitive swimming between the time he brought back two of those gold champion medallions from Rome and this year's Games that open today in China.

Even with engineering marvels that make pools faster, water clearer and new, nearly friction-free swimwear, Troy said one of the major advancements over the past three decades has been a lot more subtitle.

It's goggles, so common that most swimmers take them for granted. But it has changed the game from when pools were heavily chlorinated and swimmer's eyes hurt worse than the muscles.

"You would get out of the water after training and you couldn't see," said Troy, who operates the Gold Medal Swim School at Ray Road and 56th Street with Mike Walker, a two-time Olympics coach.

"On the way home all the lights would have rings around them," Troy explained.

"Today, kids don't understand because they've always worn goggles and now the water, like we have at the school, is so good you don't need them," Troy added.

Swimmers started wearing goggles in 1976, 16 years after Troy endured the harsh chlorine to win the gold in the 200-meter butterfly and 800-meter freestyle relay.

"Kids ask why we didn't fight to have goggles, but that was the way it was then," he continued. "It's like saying I want to play football but I don't want to sweat."

Another major advancement in the Summer Olympic Games is swim wear.

Unlike the skimpy Speedos of the past, the new Speedo LZR Racer suits are almost full-body suits, using ultrasonic-bonded seams that fit almost like a "second skin."

TYR, Arena, Adidas and Minzuno have also come up with their own versions of the suit.

Troy got to try one on at an Olympians' reunion during the U.S. trials in Omaha this summer.

"They have a video to show you how to put them on," Troy explained. "It took 45 minutes. We were all laughing and screaming, but when I dove into the water I felt less than naked.

"They are unbelievable and you better have one of these suits if you want to win," he added.

The definition of eligibility status has changed dramatically, too.

If Troy wanted to earn money to help pay for this training, he had to find something away from the pool.

"Back then, we were pure amateurs," he said. "I couldn't even work as a life guard or check bags in a locker room."

He applauds the private sponsors and U.S. Olympic committee for helping athletes these days to pay for their training, but said he is disappointed with how performance-enhancing drugs have made their way into the sport.

"It isn't everyone," Troy said. "Dara Torres is a 41-year-old mother who is clean as a whistle and said they can test her any time. Michael Phelps is one of the best in the world and said, ‘Go ahead, and test us.' I think if you get caught you should be banned for life."

As a University of Indiana student/athlete Troy approached the 1960 Olympics as a one-chance opportunity.

"These days you have some athletes going back for three or four Olympics," he said. "But we had one shot at it and when it was over our parents would tell us, ‘OK, now it's time to get a job,' and in my case after I graduated from school it worked out great."

Troy found a job in, and under, water.

He joined the U.S. Navy and became a member of the elite SEALs unit that worked on underwater demolition about the time the war in Vietnam started to heat up.

"The training was so intense that a lot of people washed out," Troy said. "Swimming one small part of it, but I think my Olympic training and discipline helped me. You'd be so tired and confused, but you still had to solve a problem (underwater) and get from here to there without getting caught."

It was also dangerous.

"But it was also a 14-year-old boy's dream," Troy added. "Riding in submarines, jumping out of airplanes, getting picked up out of the water by a high-speed boat and scuba diving."

Then divers used the early model of a re-breathing system that didn't show bubbles and wore anti-magnetic suits that wouldn't set off a bomb.

"It was a lot of fun until they started shooting back at you," he said, "But after (being on the U.S. Olympics team) I felt it was an obligation and I'd do it again."

These days Troy feels that his mission is more important than winning gold medals.

"We're not training future Olympians," he said. "Our goal is to teach kids how to swim.

"I think back on the people I know who wouldn't go to a pool party, or the beach, or get in a boat because they were terrified of the water. All of those things people can't do, not to mention the tragedy for a family when a kid drowns."

Troy, Walker and the Gold Medal Swim School want to make sure a child can survive a fall into the water and are offering free swim lessons on Saturday, Aug. 23 at the school.

"We want to save lives," Troy added.

Swimmers may not realize the revolution in training that goggles brought and these days some youngsters aren't easily awed.

On one wall at the school there is a poster-size reproduction of the Sports Illustrated magazine that featured Troy on the cover of the Aug. 1, 1960 issue.

There was one day when some of Troy's young pupils were admiring the poster.

"Some kids were looking at it and said, ‘Wow, look at that,'" he said.

Troy listened to them as he stood in the background, wondering if they would make the connection between the poster and their swim coach.

Then one of them continued, "Back then Sports Illustrated cost only 25 cents."

Yes, even fame can lose some of its luster.

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