This week in our Timeline includes the 50th anniversary of the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games, with its 29 World records:

Montreal 1976 - 50th Anniversary Of A Game-Changing Games

Where Munich 1972 had witnessed 30 World records, Montreal 1976 added 29 to the books & rates No2 on the all-time rankings of Games that produced the most new global standards in the pool. It all unfolded 50 years ago this week - &remains a milestone in swim history, for reasons good, bad & ugly

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

On this day... July 26... world records set throughout history

• July 25 and the conclusion of the 50th anniversary of Montreal 1976 below, with an editorial from our archive relevant yesterday, today and tomorrow until the IOC and World Aquatics act on pledges to care about athlete welfare and fair play:

Tracy Caulkins & The 40th Anniversary Of A Record Lost In A Career Of Gains

Sunday Essay: Anniversaries are usually celebrated not for the loss but the gain of something but this day is different - a 40th milestone with Tracy Caulkins’ name on it because of the status she relinquished, one that changed the face of women’s medley swimming for almost three decades

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

On this day... July 25 throughout history ...

The Last Gold To The USA's 4x100 Free Women's Quartet; The 1st Sub50 100 Free; And A Rush Of Records To Bring The 50th Anniversary Of Montreal 1976 To A Speedy Close

This was the day 50 years ago when Kim Peyton, Wendy Boglioli, Jill Sterkel and Shirley Babashoff won "The Last Gold" at the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games, breaking the World record in the 4x100m freestyle in 3:44.82 to halt the GDR gold rush at the first Olympics to feature a whole team of swimmers fuelled by a state doping machinery run out of an IOC-accredited laboratory.

The last session of finals in Montreal also featured the iconic 49.99 World record of Jim Montgomery (USA) in the 100m freestyle, bringing the tally of new global standards over seven days of racing to 29.

Those and other World records set this day throughout history:

From the SOS Archive:

May Honour For The Girls Of The Last Gold Unlock Waves Of Due Recognition For Other Women

As Shirley Babashoff, Wendy Boglioli, Jill Sterkel and Kim Peyton enter the Hall of Fame as the first relay to be recognised 48 years after the USA women’s only and “Last Gold” at Montreal 1976, will the Hall and Swimming Governors step up for generations owed recognition and healing?

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Other profiles on the athletes above:

London 1908: When Over 60,000 Days Flocked To See 11 Days Of Olympic Swimming & Taylor’s Triple Gold

At the London 1908 Olympics, the pool was build on the infield of the main stadium, with a capacity of more than 80,000 and “full crowds of 68,000” on each of the 11 days on which swimming was held & Britain’s Henry Taylor was the hero with three golds

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Karen Muir - The Trailblazer Denied Olympic Honours By South Africa’s Apartheid Regime

The South African backstroke pioneer of the pool established 15 World records between 1965, at 12 the youngest global-standard setter in history, and 1969. Her career included no international podiums, as a result of her nation’s racist apartheid regime

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Thorpe Delves Into His Olympic Dreams & Duress 25 Years On From Sydney 2000

“I appreciate when people say ‘you don’t know what you did for the nation’. It’s overwhelming when I hear that, or how much joy I brought to someone’s life. To have that impact on the national psyche is an enormous accomplishment but it wasn’t just me, it was all of us in the Olympic team.”

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Bob Bowman: The Golden Rules Transcend Phelps, Marchand, Kòs, Devils & Swimming – A Book For All Realms & Seasons

From The Archive to accompany our 2024 awards coverage: Bob Bowman’s Golden Rules, published in 2016 as the Phelps era drew to a close, are timeless - and a part of the success stories of Marchand, Kòs and their NCAA-champion teammates at the ASU Sun Devils in Arizona

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Happy 40th Birthday Michael Phelps

We mark the 40th birthday of the most decorated Olympian in history with extracts from the archive, a couple of galleries and other images from Patrick B. Kraemer, and my top 15 favourites from the G.O.A.T’s Games-Over collection

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

A Story In Flow

Peaty’s Mentor Mel Marshall To Quit Britain In Leap To Australian Dolphins After Paris

Marshall guided Peaty for 17 years from a “reluctant” 12-year-old to “a soldier, a warrior, who’ll go over the top whatever you ask him to do” with a pioneering pantheon. After Paris, she will coach at the Griffith University High Performance Centre in Queensland

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Adam Peaty, Crisis To Quest, Part 1 – Winter 2022 To Spring 2023; My Self-Destructive Spiral

“it’s an incredibly, incredibly lonely journey. No one will ever understand how lonely it is to be at the top of the sport and continually be there because you’ve got to say no to so many things, including many things that make you happy.” - Adam Peaty

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Adam Peaty, Crisis To Quest - Part 2: Gratitude For His Gift, Peace & The Paris Passion Show

News, Views, History and Analysis On The State Of Swimming & Olympic Sport by Craig Lord

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

This week in our Timeline includes the 50th anniversary of the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games, with its 29 World records:

Montreal 1976 - 50th Anniversary Of A Game-Changing Games

Where Munich 1972 had witnessed 30 World records, Montreal 1976 added 29 to the books & rates No2 on the all-time rankings of Games that produced the most new global standards in the pool. It all unfolded 50 years ago this week - &remains a milestone in swim history, for reasons good, bad & ugly

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

(subscribers have access to the full Timeline content in our daily trawl of pioneering moments in swimming history - and the accompanying profiles in our SOS Hall of Fame as we build the library).