World records set this day, March 15, in history:

The Pioneering Pace Of Backstroke Ace Igor Polianski

Igor Polianski was a big player in the backstroke submarinery of 1988 but he claimed 200m Olympic gold in Seoul on the strength of his swift turns and efficient style, was once described by East German observers as “the closest we’re seen anyone come to the brilliant technique of Roland Matthes”.

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Brown's Big Swim

Rebecca Kate Brown, born 8 May 1977 in Brisbane, Queensland, came to worldwide prominence in swimming when she broke the World 200m breaststroke this day, March 15, 32 years ago in 1994.

She was just 16 and the record she took down at the Australian Championships in Brisbane had stood to Anita Nall since March 2 (see below) 1992, the day the American teen had clocked 2:25.92 in heats at the US Olympic Trials, and then 2:25.35 in finals for two global standards in a day.

In Brisbane, Brown became the first woman ever to race inside 2:25, with a 2:24.76. She was immediately feted as Australia's latest teen swim sensation, but the road would be a hard one. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada, shew swam 6sec outside her best time as teammate Sam Riley rose up the aerial to claim the 100-200 double for the Dolphins.

Two years later, Brown missed the cut for the 1996 Olympics, and hen, in 1998, suffered the same fate in failing o qualify for the Commonwealth Games. She retired from the fast lane, but on the way to a home Olympics, Sydney 2000, Brown changed her mind. She made a pact with medley swimmer Zane King, then her fiancé, now husband, that they would leave no stone unturned to make it to the Games in Aussie colours.

Brown left the Australian Institute of Sport and King behind in a move to Melbourne to reunite with former coach Michael Piper. In northern spring, and late Aussie summer, she claimed the World short-course 200m title, and finished 4th in the 100m at the same event.

Then came Olympic trials in May 2000, when she grabbed her place on the home team for the Games in Sydney with a second-place 2:28.98. At the Games, she missed the cut for the final, finishing 12th in 2:28.24, while Leisel Jones, 15, emerged as the new Aussie swim teen sensation with silver in the 100m at the start of a stellar career as the world's premier breaststroke swimmer of the first decade of the new millennium:

Lethal Leisel Jones, Her 1:05.09, 2:20.54 & A Fat Slap n The Face Of ‘6:1.20’

The Australian’s stellar career masked some lessons that every program in the world should learn from, the details set out candidly in her 2015 autobiography, Body Lengths

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

As Sydney 2000 wrapped up, Brown announced her retirement once again, and in November 2005 she gave birth to her first child, Indiana Rose King. In. 2022, Indiana became a fine swimmer in her own right: at 16 - and coached by her dad at Zane King at Iona College - she raced at a Tri meet on Team (Alice) Mills:

Brown Reflects

On this day, March 14, in history...

The assault on standards continued apace at the GDR Vs URS duels, this history unfolding:

GDR Doping - State Of Swimming +

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord