On this day at the NSW Championships in Sydney in 1978, Australian Michelle Ford claimed her second 800m freestyle World record in 16 days. On January 6, she had wrestled the standard out of the hands of the GDR's double Olympic champion of 1976, Petra Thümer, in 8:34.86. Then, this day, January 21, 1978, the 15-year-old axed another chunk off the mark in 8:31.30. The day of the sub-8:30 was nigh.

By the time Ford and her rivalry with fellow Australian Tracey Wickham was done, the teenagers had changed the game in women's distance freestyle swimming: Wickham held the global mark at 8:24.62 for nine years from 1979, and Ford left the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games as the only non-Western woman to claim gold in the pool.

Her magnificent win and the against-the-odds story behind it, at the height of the Cold War that spilled into sport, are told in her book Turning the Tide, with this author, published in 2024 by Fair Play Publishing. The work led to these two breakthroughs:

Ford’s Book Has Bach Backing Fight To “Right Wrongs” Of GDR Doping After Decades Of IOC Inaction

On the 50th anniversary of the official birth of the GDR’s State Plan 14:25 doping program, we recall the first sign of hope that the IOC knows the truth and may one day act on it, Thomas Bach having indicated as much in Michelle Ford’s Turning The Tide with this author

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

The Tide Turns At Last: Australia To Grant Official Recognition To Moscow 1980 Olympic Team

In an exclusive with News Ltd in Australia, SOS on what fair play, justice and reconciliation mean to those denied all three for decades. “We are flabbergasted at the support we’ve had. It’s ... going to be very emotional.” - Max Metzker

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Turning The Tide, at FairPlay Publishing:

Turning the Tide

Against the backdrop of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, the 1980 Moscow Olympics was always going to be political. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser wanted Australia’s Olympic athletes to boycott the Games, in line with the USA, but many of the athletes had a different view. Athletes were the victims

Fair Play PublishingMichelle Ford and Craig Lord