1968 - Mexico City and, for the first time, a summer Olympics at altitude. What would happen? 52 out of 87 medals for the USA swimming team; Australia came in second in total medals with 8. Swimmers like Mike Burton, Douglas Russell, Charles Hickcox, Gary Hall, Sr., Don Schollander, Debbie Meyer, Jan Henne, and Claudia Kolb were among the USA's best. Not winning an individual gold, but still getting some hardware with a silver in the 100 fly and a couple of relay golds? Mark Spitz.
1972 - Munich. Terrorism hits sports in a big way. Swimming was over by the time the hostage crisis happened, with the USA's Mark Spitz winning an unheard of 7 gold medals. On the woman's side, Shane Gould of Australia pulled off a similar feat with 5 medals, three of them gold, and all of them in individual events. East Germany (GDR) was starting make a showing with silver medals in both women's relay events. Wonder how they will do at the next Olympics?
