Duncan Armstrong
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competitor for  Australia |
|||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Men’s Swimming | |||
| Gold | 1988 Seoul | 200 m Freestyle | |
| Silver | 1988 Seoul | 400 m Freestyle | |
| Commonwealth Games | |||
| Men’s Swimming | |||
| Gold | 1986 Edinburgh | 400 m Freestyle | |
Duncan John D'Arcy Armstrong OAM (born April 7, 1968 in Rockhampton, Queensland) is an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1980s, who won gold in the 200 m freestyle at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He is currently a swimming commentator on Channel Nine's Wide World of Sports and is also a well known swimming safety advocate.
Coached by the flamboyant Laurie Lawrence, Armstrong made his debut in the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he won the 400 m freestyle and the 4×200 m relay. However, the Australian selectors controversially rested him from the 200 m event even though he was the national champion in the event.
Armstrong arrived in Seoul as a rank outsider, facing the trio of past and current world record holders in the 200 m event, Matt Biondi of the United States, Artur Wojdat of Poland and Michael Gross of West Germany. As a back-end swimmer, Lawrence devised a plan for Armstrong to swim as close to Biondi in the adjacent lane as possible, benefitting from Biondi’s wake. It worked, with Armstrong storming home in the last 50 m to claim gold with a world record time of 1min 47.25 s. Later in the 400 m, Armstrong was once again slow out of the blocks, turning last at the 100 m mark, and still being second last at the 300 m mark. However he stormed home, and in a photo finish, claimed the silver medal behind East Germany’s Uwe Dassler. He had carved more than 5 seconds off his previous personal best. For his efforts, Armstrong was awarded the Young Australian of the Year award for 1989.
Armstrong was again the favourite as the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland approached in 1990. However, a bout of glandular fever forced him to withdraw. He proceeded to compete at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics but was a shadow of his former self. He retired after the Games. In 1998 at the age of 30, he announced in June that he would come out retirement and commence training for the 200m freestyle for the 2000 Summer Olympics, as Australia had won the 4×200 m freestyle event in that year's World Championships, and were expected to win in Sydney, with the likes of Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett and Michael Klim. However, after two months of training, Armstrong announced that he would abandon his comeback and retire again. Australia, led by Thorpe, proceeded to win the gold in the relay event by over 5 seconds.
[edit] Honours
- 12 June 1989: Medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of service to swimming[1]
- 23 June 2000: Australian Sports Medal[2]
- 1 January 2001: Centenary Medal for service to Australian society through the sport of swimming[3]
[edit] References
- Andrews, Malcolm (2000). Australia at the Olympic Games.
- ^ ARMSTRONG, Duncan John D'Arcy, It's an Honour.
- ^ ARMSTRONG, Duncan John, It's an Honour.
- ^ ARMSTRONG, Duncan John, It's an Honour.
[edit] External links
|
|
|---|
|
1900: Frederick Lane | 1968: Michael Wenden | 1972: Mark Spitz | 1976: Bruce Furniss | 1980: Sergey Kopliakov | 1984: Michael Gross | 1988: Duncan Armstrong | 1992: Yevgeny Sadovyi | 1996: Danyon Loader | 2000: Pieter van den Hoogenband | 2004: Ian Thorpe |
