1973 World Aquatics Championships

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The first FINA World Championships in Aquatics were held in the Tašmajdan Sports Centre in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, from August 31 to September 9, 1973. Since then, they've been staged periodically but rather irregularly, at intervals ranging from two to five years. The championships include all four Olympic disciplines governed by the international swimming federation FINA: diving, swimming, synchronized swimming, and water polo.

The tournament saw a raft of world records tumble, but nearly all fell to the meet's two dominant countries, East Germany and the United States, who between them claimed 28 of the 37 gold medals on offer. The USA finished with fifteen gold medals, thanks mostly to its strong performance from the men in the swimming and its clean sweep in the synchronised swimming.

Jim Montgomery, the man who became the first to break the 50-second mark in the 100m freestyle, had few problems taking gold in both the 100m and 200m freestyle, with Australian Michael Wenden forced to settle for bronze in the 200m. Another Australian, Brad Cooper, went under the world mark in the 400m, but it wasn't enough to take gold from American Rick DeMont. Both men went under the four-minute mark for the first time.

But Cooper's compatriot, Stephen Holland, exacted revenge on Demont in the 1500m and shattered the world record by almost seven seconds in the process. Holland's effort was Australia's only gold of the meet, while DeMont captured the silver, also under the world mark, with Cooper finishing in third place.

East German backstroker Roland Matthes' glittering career was in its twilight, but it didn't stop him resetting the world record in the 200m backstroke for the eighth time, shaving almost a second off. It would be his last world record, though he also took gold in the 100m backstroke, missing his own record by just over a second. John Hencken also broke the world mark on the way to taking gold in the 100m breaststroke, while Great Britain's David Wilkie did likewise in the 200m.

The Americans truly asserted their authority in the relays, taking gold in the 4 x 100m, 4 x 100m medley and 4 x 200m. Anchored by Montgomery, the 4 x 200m team smashed the world record, winning by a massive 10 seconds from the Australians. The West German team took bronze, Wenden touching out Folkert Meeuw by three one-hundredths of a second.

The Americans' dominance in the men's, however, was matched by the East Germans in the women's. Kornelia Ender announced herself as Shane Gould's successor, taking gold in the 100m butterfly and freestyle and finishing with four gold. Teammate Rosemarie Kother claimed the 200m butterfly in a world record time.

Andrea Hubner (200m) and Gudrun Wegner (400m) made it an East German clean sweep in the medleys, both girls taking more than three seconds off the world mark. Breaststroker Renate Vogel also took out both the 100m and 200m events, and claimed her third gold when the 4 x 100m medley team won in a world record time.

The Americans made a clean sweep of the synchronised swimming, with Japan and Canada forced to settle for consolation medals in all three events. Teresa Anderson won three gold, teaming up with Gail Johnson to take the duet event to add to her solo and team triumphs.

The medals were more evenly spread in the diving with Sweden, Italy, East Germany and the USA all winning gold. Sweden's Ulrika Knape took out her pet event, the 10m platform, but was again denied in the 3m springboard after taking silver at the Summer Olympics a year earlier, this time by East German Christa Kohler.

American Phil Boggs announced himself with gold in the 3m springboard, an event he would dominate for the next five years, while Italian Klaus Dibiasi took out the 10m platform.

The Hungarian water polo team, led by arguably its greatest ever player, Tamás Farago, took gold, exacting revenge on the Soviet Union in the final after the USSR beat them in the 1972 Summer Olympics final in Munich, West Germany.

1 SWIMMING
- 1.1 MEN'S EVENTS
- 1.2 WOMEN'S EVENTS
2 SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING
3 DIVING
4 WATERPOLO
5 External links

[edit] SWIMMING

[edit] MEN'S EVENTS

EVENT	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE
100m Freestyle	Jim Montgomery United States	Michel Rousseau France	Michael Wenden Australia
200m Freestyle	Jim Montgomery United States	Kurt Krumpholz United States	Roger Pyttel East Germany
400m Freestyle	Rick DeMont United States	Brad Cooper Australia	Bengt Gingsjö Sweden
1500m Freestyle	Stephen Holland Australia	Rick DeMont United States	Brad Cooper Australia
100m Backstroke	Roland Matthes East Germany	Mike Stamm United States	Lutz Wanja East Germany
200m Backstroke	Roland Matthes East Germany	Zoltán Verrasztó Hungary	John Naber United States
100m Breaststroke	John Hencken United States	Mikhail Kryukin Soviet Union	Nobutaka Taguchi Japan
200m Breaststroke	David Wilkie Great Britain	John Hencken United States	Nobutaka Taguchi Japan
100m Butterfly	Bruce Robertson Canada	Joe Bottom United States	Robin Backhaus United States
200m Butterfly	Robin Backhaus United States	Steven Gregg United States	Hartmut Flöckner East Germany
200m Individual Medley	Gunnar Larsson Sweden	Stan Carper United States	David Wilkie Great Britain
400m Individual Medley	András Hargitay Hungary	Rod Strachan United States	Rick Colella United States
4x100m Freestyle Relay	UNITED STATES	SOVIET UNION	EAST GERMANY
4x100m Freestyle Relay	Mel Nash Joe Bottom Jim Montgomery John Murphy	Igor Grivennikov Viktor Aboymov Vladimir Krivtsov Vladimir Bure	Roland Matthes Roger Pyttel Peter Bruch Hartmut Flöckner
4x200m Freestyle Relay	UNITED STATES	AUSTRALIA	WEST GERMANY
4x200m Freestyle Relay	Kurt Krumpholz Robin Backhaus Rick Klatt Jim Montgomery	John Kulasalu Stephen Badger Brad Cooper Michael Wenden	Klaus Steinbach Werner Lampe Peter Nocke Folkert Meeuw
4x100m Medley Relay	UNITED STATES	EAST GERMANY	CANADA
4x100m Medley Relay	Mike Stamm John Hencken Joe Bottom Jim Montgomery	Roland Matthes Jürgen Glas Hartmut Flöckner Roger Pyttel	Ian MacKenzie Peter Hrdlitschka Bruce Robertson Brian Phillips

[edit] WOMEN'S EVENTS

EVENT	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE
100m Freestyle	Kornelia Ender East Germany	Shirley Babashoff United States	Enith Brigitha Netherlands
200m Freestyle	Keena Rothhammer United States	Shirley Babashoff United States	Andrea Eife East Germany
400m Freestyle	Heather Greenwood United States	Keena Rothhammer United States	Novella Calligaris Italy
800m Freestyle	Novella Calligaris Italy	Jo Harshbarger United States	Gudrun Wegner East Germany
100m Backstroke	Ulrike Richter East Germany	Melissa Belote United States	Wendy Cook Canada
200m Backstroke	Melissa Belote United States	Enith Brigitha Netherlands	Andrea Gyarmati Hungary
100m Breaststroke	Renate Vogel East Germany	Lyubov Rusanova Soviet Union	Brigitte Schuchardt East Germany
200m Breaststroke	Renate Vogel East Germany	Hannelore Anke East Germany	Lynn Colella United States
100m Butterfly	Kornelia Ender East Germany	Rosemarie Kother East Germany	Mayumi Aoki Japan
200m Butterfly	Rosemarie Kother East Germany	Roswitha Beier East Germany	Lynn Colella United States
200m Individual Medley	Andrea Hübner East Germany	Kornelia Ender East Germany	Kathy Heddy United States
400m Individual Medley	Gudrun Wegner East Germany	Angela Franke East Germany	Novella Calligaris Italy
4x100m Freestyle Relay	EAST GERMANY	UNITED STATES	WEST GERMANY
4x100m Freestyle Relay	Kornelia Ender Andrea Eife Andrea Hübner Sylvia Eichner	Kim Peyton Kathy Heddy Heather Greenwood Shirley Babashoff	Jutta Weber Heidemarie Reineck Gudrun Beckmann Angela Steinbach
4x100m Medley Relay	EAST GERMANY	UNITED STATES	WEST GERMANY
4x100m Medley Relay	Ulrike Richter Renate Vogel Rosemarie Kother Kornelia Ender	Melissa Belote Marcia Morey Deena Deardurff Shirley Babashoff	Angelika Grieser Petra Nows Gudrun Beckmann Jutta Weber

[edit] SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING

EVENT	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE
Solo	Teresa Andersen United States	Jojo Carrier Canada	Junko Hasumi Japan
Duet	Teresa Andersen & Gail Johnson United States	Jojo Carrier & Madeleine Ramsay Canada	Masako Fujiwara & Yasuko Fujiwara Japan
Team Competition	UNITED STATES	CANADA	JAPAN
Team Competition	Teresa Anderson Susan Barros Robin Curren Jackie Douglas Gail Johnson Dance Moore Amanda Norrish Suzanne Randell	Michelle Calkins Frances Hambrook Debbie Humphrey Lorraine Nicholl Gail Page Carol Stuart Susan Thomas Laura Wilkin	Masako Fujiwara Yasuko Fujiwara Junko Hasumi Yasuko Unesaki ---- ---- ---- ----

[edit] DIVING

EVENT	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE
Men's 3 Metres Springboard	Phil Boggs United States	Klaus Dibiasi Italy	Keith Russell United States
Women's 3 Metres Springboard	Christa Köhler East Germany	Ulrika Knape Sweden	Marina Janicke East Germany
Men's Platform Diving	Klaus Dibiasi Italy	Keith Russell United States	Falk Hoffmann East Germany
Women's Platform Diving	Ulrika Knape Sweden	Milena Duchková Czechoslovakia	Irina Kalynina Soviet Union

[edit] WATERPOLO

GOLD	HUNGARY István Szivos • Gábor Csapo • Tamás Farago • László Sarosi • András Bodnar • Zoltán Kasas • Ferenc Konrad • Balazs Balla • István Görgeny • Tibor Czervengak • Endre Molnar
SILVER	SOVIET UNION Anatoly Akimov • Aleksei Barkalov • Aleksandr Dreval • Andrey Frolov • Alexander Kabanov • Yuri Mityanin • Nugsar Msveniradze • Leonid Ossipov • Vitaly Romanchuk • Sergey Severnyev • Vladimir Shmudsky
BRONZE	YUGOSLAVIA Siniša Belamarić • Ozren Bonačić • Milan Franković • Boško Lozica • Pedrag Manolović • Miloš Marković • Đorđe Perišić • Damir Polić • Ratko Rudić • Gyuro Savinović • Nikola Stamenić