MENTOR AND PRODIGY
Maverick swim coach Laurie Lawrence recalls how he guided Duncan Armstrong to a dramatic gold medal in the 200m at the 1988 Seoul Olympics
DUNCAN Armstrong is remembered for the 200m race at the 1988 Seoul Olympics that turned swimming on its ear, riding the wake of US star Matt Biondi and storming home over the top to clinch victory.
The 20-year-old Aussie underdog who had been ranked 25th in the world over 200m took home the Olympic gold medal that night and, with a time of 1:47.25, a world record.
Olympic gold is often forged in the hard work of lap after lap from a year out, but Armstrong’s quest had began in earnest two years before in Edinburgh.
The Chandler-based swimmer, under the stewardship of maverick coach Laurie Lawrence, stunned the swimming world in a remarkable, comefrom-behind win at Edinburgh’s 1986 Commonwealth Games – this time over 400m.
English swimmer Kevin Boyd had raced to a commanding 25m lead and while Armstrong began to close the distance, at the 300m mark the race was all Boyd’s.
No one gave Armstrong any hope of reeling him in.
As veteran radio and TV sports commentator Norman May called it at the time: “How is it possible to catch a swimmer of this nature, with this little course left? If Armstrong can close that gap, he’s a phenomenon”.
But Boyd had gone out hard and lactic acid was building up in the muscles of his arms and legs.
Armstrong had swum his own race and came home with the cool confidence of a predator, living up to the name his coach had given him – “The Animal’’.
May worked himself up into a lather.
“Has (Boyd) gone out too fast? This will tell on him in this last 50 metres. He’s really flying but Armstrong’s coming at him. There’s not much there … look at the margin now!
“This is sensational! I think Armstrong will win this.
“He’s going to beat him … he’s beaten him … he’s given him 25 metres … 25 metres!’’
Mentor and prodigy met under the diving tower later, after Armstrong had received his Commonwealth Games gold medal at the presentation ceremony.
Lawrence says that gold medal swim in Edinburgh
made Armstrong not only realise but, importantly, believe he had what it would take to win in Seoul. Sights were set on the 200m and the 400m.
In his book Lawrence of
Australia, the coach says the pair made a pact that night under the diving tower in Edinburgh.
Lawrence had decked himself out in a kilt and tartan cap – when in Edinburgh, do as the Scots do, he figured – and had been leading the crowd in a loose rendition of a Scots classic with the lines “Oh you take the high road and I’ll take the low road …’’
Armstrong walked up, shook his hand and thanked him, then said: “Dad will like this. He helped me do my wheels at night. He’ll be rapt.’’
“The wheels’’ was a reference to an interesting training regime that coach, swimmer and the swimmer’s father had developed as extra work each night, once the endless laps
were over at Chandler. It involved a skateboard.
“I want to win in Seoul,’’ Armstrong told Lawrence. “You give me any training you like. I mightn’t like it, but I’ll do it. Anything. I’ll do whatever you think it takes. We’re a team.’’
Lawrence told the Bulletin this week that Armstrong had shown plenty of maturity in that race.
“It was his first major international. He’s had a couple of trips overseas with what they called the Queensland target squad,’’ he said.
“Greg Lalor was the executive chairman of Queensland Swimming and he wanted to expose the Queensland swimmers to international competition. I think that was the start of Queensland really becoming a dominant force in international and in Australian swimming.
“Lalor had big vision.’’
In his book, Lawrence recalls
that Armstrong lapsed just once in his quest for Olympic glory.
After going to a 21st birthday party, the swimmer had decided to take a morning off and used a sore shoulder as an excuse.
Lawrence wasn’t having any of it, and phoned him to say he had a surprise for him at Chandler and he should run the 16km from home at Mt Gravatt to the aquatic centre.
Armstrong ran all the way and was made to wait until the squad finished training before receiving his surprise – Lawrence ordered him to run home again.
The years since may have mellowed the tough coach.
Talking to the Bulletin, Lawrence insisted Armstrong never missed training. That 32km run obviously pleased the coach and it counted as a session.
“We spoke about doing extras,’’ Lawrence said.
The skateboard was a refined
version of an American coach’s method of getting his swimmers to lie belly-down along skateboards and propel themselves around the pool deck to strengthen arms and shoulders.
Part of Armstrong’s training, which began in the lead-up to Edinburgh, used a skateboard with its wheels bolted on sideways, so that the swimmer had to balance himself on his stomach across the board.
“Every night after dinner, he and his father used to pick up the skateboard, he’d put gloves on, he’d go to the bottom of the hill (at Mt Gravatt) and crawl up to the top for half an hour while his father walked beside him in silent communion,’’ Lawrence said.
Part of the extra work in Armstrong’s quest for Seoul was aimed at strengthening his legs.
“They were doing about 80km a week, minimum, which is 1600 laps,’’ Lawrence said.
“When it was time to get out (after training) his legs were a little bit weak so I got a weight belt and every night after training, when the others had gone home, he’d stay back and do vertical kicking in the diving pool at Chandler with his hands above his head.
“That’s good exercise because if you don’t kick, you drown.’’
Lawrence was convinced Armstrong could win both the 200 and 400m events in Seoul, but Kevin Boyd was a factor yet again in the longer race.
“We had trained for the 400. As it happens, Kevin Boyd was next to Duncan in that race (in Seoul) and went out, and Duncan traditionally held back.
“He got up past Boyd but didn’t see Uwe Dassler (the East German swimmer who won the race) on the other side of Boyd.
“He was out of sight because Boyd was a big bloke.’’
Armstrong took silver.