1973 World Aquatics Championships

The first FINA World Championships in Aquatics were held in the Tašmajdan Sports Centre in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, from August 31 to September 9, 1973. Since then, they've been staged periodically but rather irregularly, at intervals ranging from two to five years. The championships include all four Olympic disciplines governed by the international swimming federation FINA: diving, swimming, synchronized swimming, and water polo.

The tournament saw a raft of world records tumble, but nearly all fell to the meet's two dominant countries, East Germany and the United States, who between them claimed 28 of the 37 gold medals on offer. The USA finished with fifteen gold medals, thanks mostly to its strong performance from the men in the swimming and its clean sweep in the synchronised swimming.

Jim Montgomery, the man who became the first to break the 50-second mark in the 100 m freestyle, had few problems taking gold in both the 100 m and 200 m freestyle, with Australian Michael Wenden forced to settle for bronze in the 200 m. Another Australian, Brad Cooper, went under the world mark in the 400 m, but it wasn't enough to take gold from American Rick DeMont. Both men went under the four-minute mark for the first time.

But Cooper's compatriot, Stephen Holland, exacted revenge on Demont in the 1500 m and shattered the world record by almost seven seconds in the process. Holland's effort was Australia's only gold of the meet, while DeMont captured the silver, also under the world mark, with Cooper finishing in third place.

East German backstroker Roland Matthes' glittering career was in its twilight, but it didn't stop him resetting the world record in the 200 m backstroke for the eighth time, shaving almost a second off. It would be his last world record, though he also took gold in the 100 m backstroke, missing his own record by just over a second. John Hencken also broke the world mark on the way to taking gold in the 100 m breaststroke, while Great Britain's David Wilkie did likewise in the 200 m.

The Americans truly asserted their authority in the relays, taking gold in the 4 x 100 m, 4 x 100 m medley and 4 x 200 m. Anchored by Montgomery, the 4 x 200 m team smashed the world record, winning by a massive 10 seconds from the Australians. The West German team took bronze, Wenden touching out Folkert Meeuw by three one-hundredths of a second.

The Americans' dominance in the men's, however, was matched by the East Germans in the women's. Kornelia Ender announced herself as Shane Gould's successor, taking gold in the 100 m butterfly and freestyle and finishing with four gold. Teammate Rosemarie Kother claimed the 200 m butterfly in a world record time.

Andrea Hubner (200 m) and Gudrun Wegner (400 m) made it an East German clean sweep in the medleys, both girls taking more than three seconds off the world mark. Breaststroker Renate Vogel also took out both the 100 m and 200 m events, and claimed her third gold when the 4 x 100 m medley team won in a world record time.

The Americans made a clean sweep of the synchronised swimming, with Japan and Canada forced to settle for consolation medals in all three events. Teresa Anderson won three gold, teaming up with Gail Johnson to take the duet event to add to her solo and team triumphs.

The medals were more evenly spread in the diving with Sweden, Italy, East Germany and the USA all winning gold. Sweden's Ulrika Knape took out her pet event, the 10 m platform, but was again denied in the 3m springboard after taking silver at the Summer Olympics a year earlier, this time by East German Christa Kohler.

American Phil Boggs announced himself with gold in the 3m springboard, an event he would dominate for the next five years, while Italian Klaus Dibiasi took out the 10 m platform.

The Hungarian water polo team, led by arguably its greatest ever player, Tamás Farago, took gold, exacting revenge on the Soviet Union in the final after the USSR beat them in the 1972 Summer Olympics final in Munich, West Germany.

Medal Summary

wimming

Men's

Diving

Water Polo

Men's Competition

*details|1973 FINA Men's World Water Polo Championship

External links

* [http://sports123.com/swi/index.html Sports123 Results]
* [http://www.gbrathletics.com/sport/swimwc.htm GBRAthletics Results]
* [http://www.fina.org/pdf%20files/histoFina/HistoFINA_IV_a.pdf FINA Official Results]