200 metres Butterfly, Women

The top 200 butterflyer in the world since Munich was East German Rosemarie Gabriel (formerly Kother), who was World Champion in 1973 and 1975 and had set five consecutive world records in the event, the last two at the June GDR Olympic Trials in Berlin. You are forgiven if you had not heard of Andrea Pollack, her teammate, prior to the Montréal Olympics. Pollack was only 15 and had been ranked 49th in the world in 1975. In the final Gabriel could not match her Berlin times and won bronze, as Pollack won the gold medal, followed by the third East German Ulrike Tauber. The East German sweep made them only the third nation to sweep a women’s Olympic swimming event, after the United States (11 times) and Australia (1956 100 freestyle), although the Soviet Union would join them in the 1976 200 breaststroke two days later.

Five days after this final, Tauber won gold in the 400 individual medley. Pollack never again won a major international in the 200 fly, although she did win the 1977 European 100 butterfly, and several international golds in the medley relay. In 1998 she joined several other former East German swimmers by going public and accusing their coaches and physicians of systematically doping them.