Ep. 377: Former Olympian Casey Converse On Lessons Learned – and Not Learned — From the 1976 Olympic Doping Scandal

MinistryWatch Podcast

The 2024 Summer Olympics are about to begin in Paris, and that event should be of interest even to those who don’t much care about sports. For one thing, it’s the 100^th anniversary of the 1924 Olympics, also held in Paris, in which Christian missionary Eric Liddell won a gold medal. That story was famously recounted in the Academy Award winning movie “Chariots of Fire,” and the story and that movie has become a part of the lore of the modern evangelical movement.

Another story unfolded 48 years ago, at the Montreal Games, in 1976. It was that year, at the height of the Cold War, that the American women’s swim team, a team many called the strongest in the world at that time, went up against the East German women’s team. Though the American team brought home a lot of hardware from those games, many sports historians and others believe the women of that team were robbed of their place in Olympic history by the aggressive doping program of the East Germans. Swimming World Magazine has called those Olympics “Doping’s Darkest Hour.” The East German doping program eventually led to reforms in the Olympic movement. That said, if you have been following this year’s Olympics coverage, you may know that a new doping scandal, involving Chinese athletes, threatens to taint this year’s games.

So this story of the 1976 games, which has elements of heroism, courage, leadership, and character is as relevant today as ever.

And there’s no better person to tell this story than Casey Converse. His book is “Munich to Montreal: Women’s Olympic Swimming in a Tarnished Golden Era.”

Casey had a front row seat to the controversy. He was a member of the USA Olympic Swim Team at the Montreal Olympics. He was also an American record holder in the 1650. From there, he coached at the United States Air Force Academy for 28 seasons. He was recently selected as one of the top 100 college swim coaches in the last 100 years by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches of America. He also served as a consultant for the documentary “The Last Gold,” which is a film account of the story we’ll talk about today.

Also, if I might insert a personal note here: Casey is a friend. My son Cole swam for the Air Force Academy’s men’s team during his time there, and I got to know Casey a bit. I was personally inspired by his mentorship of generations of young swimmers and future Air Force officers, including my son. I should also add that he is now battling a very serious form of cancer, and I’ve been able to see his character and his faith shine brightly as he faces this new challenge. It’s an honor to know him, and an honor to have him on the program.

The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.