The swimmer who won the first 200m Butterfly was labelled a ‘water risk’ (drowning risk) when he entered College when he was 16 in 1949. He was such a bad swimmer that he could not get out of the pool after attempting to swim. In 1949 his future as a swimmer was not bright. In fact I’m sure any of those who knew him would have put money down that he would never be a swimmer, never mind an Olympic swimming champion.
Fast forward to the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games and this same young man had an Olympic gold medal around his neck.
Bill Yorzyk was a poor swimmer but he loved the water. When he was labelled a drowning risk by his College at age 16 he was annoyed and wanted to change that. Luckily he had unlimited access to the college pool and every possible moment he swam. He had tried to get onto the college football team and didn’t make it, so he had loads of spare time.
He swam and swam and swam at the college pool. A swim coach quietly observed him from the sidelines and began to see the potential in such a stubborn character.
Charles Silvia was the college swim coach and he approached Yorzyk and offered to coach him. Their relationship grew and he got stronger and stronger, becoming a well known distance swimmer. He was college champion in the 1500 by his second year in college.
In 1955 Yorzyk saw a swimmer swim Butterfly. He thought ‘I could do that’ and began to practice the unique stroke. He even developed a breathing every second stroke style which he invented.
At that time in competitive swimming, breaststroke was at a crossroads. Since the 1930’s, and up to 1952, some breaststroke swimmers were interpreting the arm rule in breaststroke to include a recovery over the surface and some were swimming submerged. It was very discombobulated. Eventually the fastest swimmers in breaststroke were swimming a butterfly arm stroke with a breast kick. Finally, in 1956, the one stroke became two strokes. Breaststroke and Butterfly.
In 1956 the IOC added Butterfly to the event list. Two new events; 100m butterfly for women and 200m butterfly for men.
In the 200m Butterfly final, Yorzyk won in a time of 2:19.3, winning by four seconds. It was the only gold medal in men’s swimming in 1956 for the American team. A very good result for someone who was a drowning risk only a few years previous.
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