Montreal – 1976

Four years is an eternity in the life of a young athlete.  With no international championships to prepare for in the years between Olympics in those days, my focus became setting the world record and consistently beating those who would attempt to challenge me for Olympic Gold.
 

I came into the Montreal Games as the biggest favorite for a gold medal in any event in track & field.  Ranked #1 in the world every season since the Munich Olympics and the setter of 9 world high jump records in the ensuing years earned me the right to “expect” to be Olympic champion.

John Lennon said it best when he wrote, “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”  The attributes of speed and aggression in my approach that had allowed me to dominate the event for four years were the same ones that were my undoing in the torrential downpour that characterized the Olympic high jump final at the ‘76 Games.

I recall being unhappy about my draw as the first jumper in the order at each height.  It’s precisely that jumping position that allowed me to secure my second bronze medal when I was able to clear 7’3” (2.21m) as the first jumper at that height prior to the skies opening up in earnest.
 

I remember turning to my teammate Bill Jankunis and saying, “if it stops raining this instant, not only will I win this thing, I’ll set the world record.  If it doesn’t stop right now, that’s the last height I’ll clear.”

It didn’t stop raining!

I recall saying in the press conference after the victory ceremony that “in history it has only rained this hard once before and on that occasion they were leading animals into an ark two-by-two!” 

My redemption from the disappointment of my performance in Montreal is that I set my 10^th and final high jump world record four days later, I was ranked #1 in the world that season for the fourth consecutive year, and I learned a valuable lesson about the need for Plan B.

I set a course in the fall of 1976 toward becoming strong enough that I could alter my approach when necessary to accommodate for rainy conditions should they ever occur again at an important competition.  In essence, I made peace with the rain during the second half of my career.