Olympic Team

1976 women’s 4x100 freestyle relay swimming team

Names of all individuals on team

Kim Peyton, Jill Sterkel, Shirley Babashoff, Wendy Boglioli, Jennifer Hooker (heats)

Olympic Games experience

Olympic Games Montreal 1976, gold (4x100 freestyle relay)

Comments to support the individual’s nomination

If the 1980 US Hockey Team was the “Miracle on Ice,” the 1976 US Women’s 4x100 freestyle relay team was the “Miracle in the Water.” It remains one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history, a David vs. Goliath story of four young American women who defeated a team of what was later revealed to be state-sponsored, medically enhanced athletes from East Germany, in the final event on the swimming program. The U.S. team qualified third, in part thanks to the efforts of Jennifer Hooker’s preliminary swim. America’s lead-off leg, Kim Peyton swam valiantly to keep the Americans close, and the U.S. co-captain Wendy Boglioli outswam her opponent to pull the U.S. to within a second. The youngest member of the team, 15-year old Jill Sterkel, swam the fastest leg of the day. She pulled the U.S. into the lead on a fabulous flip-turn and handed Shirley Babashoff, a 4/10th second advantage. The entire arena was on its feet as the American anchor extended her lead and struck the wall, breaking the existing world record by almost 4 full seconds. The East German women finished .68 seconds back. The story was later featured in a documentary, “The Last Gold,” which showcased the willpower of four young swimmers who prevailed against the unethical practices of another nation’s sporting system engineered to win at all costs.

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