Making Waves. Chris Epting

was so excited. In his eyes, those ever-twinkling and mischievous eyes, I could see how proud he was that all of our work had paid off. Even then, at the beginning of my journey, he saw potential in me that I didn’t even known was there.

      The next morning, we would head off to Olympic training. As I got on the bus to go back to the hotel and pack up my things, I remember asking my mom, “Wait, those same Olympics that we watch on television? That’s really what I’m going to go compete in?” She nodded her head. Flip came over and said, “Shirley, there’s only one Olympics, and you’ll be swimming at them.” That’s when it started to sink in. I was really going to the Olympics.

      A reporter came over to me and said, patting me on the back, “Finally, the United States has a premier freestyler.”

      From Chicago I was sent to Knoxville, Tennessee, for two weeks of training before the Olympics. I was disappointed when I learned that Flip wouldn’t be going with me. It made absolutely no sense to me that a swimmer’s personal coach could not come and be with them before the most important races of their lives. But back then, that’s just how it was. You would be under the control of coaches you’d never met before. It was a very unsettling feeling; I’m glad that the policy has since changed.

      Still, the coaches, led by Sherm Chavoor, turned out to be great. As soon as we arrived at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, we settled into some fun, interesting practices. Sherm was older, kind of like Flip, and I liked his style. It was also beautiful in Knoxville, and I really enjoyed the fact that they gave us some time to explore the area. We even got to have dinner at the house of famous college football coach Bear Bryant.

      At training camp, we ran through the 400 freestyle relay and set a world record, which we were super happy about. As we approached the end of our training, we all got fitted for our Olympic uniforms. That was so exciting. They actually picked me as the model to use in magazines to illustrate what the uniforms were going to look like. They also gave us our own USA sweatsuits and bags full of freebies like goggles, Chapstick, and sunscreen—anything you might need while swimming. Best of all, we each got our own camera, the old-fashioned kind with the flashcube that rotated with each shot you took. They wanted us to take pictures of our experiences at the Olympics, which seemed like a really nice idea.

      When our training ended, we all boarded our charter plane at the airport in Knoxville, and then we were off. Next stop, Munich.