Steve Genter

Steve Genter
	Genter at the 1972 Olympics after 200m Silver medal
Personal information
Full name	Robert Steven Genter
Nickname(s)	"Steve", "Curly"
National team	United States
Born	January 4, 1951 (age 73); Artesia, California
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Spouse	Erika Ruegg
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Club	Lakewood Aquatics Club
College team	University of California, Los Angeles
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing the United States
Olympic Games
Pan American Games
Universiade

Robert Steven Genter (born January 4, 1951) is an American former competition swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist. He was a freestyle specialist who earned a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He also won silver medals at the Munich Olympics in the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle events.^[1]

In high school, where he attended Lakewood High, in Lakewood, Caliifornia, part of the Long Beach School District, Genter was an All-American in both swimming and water polo. He swam for the Lakewood Aquatics Club.^[1]^[2] He sat out from swimming for a good part of his Senior year in High School due to sinus infections.^[3]

In the 1970 Universiade in Turin Italy, he took a silver in the 400 and 1500 Meter freestyles.^[1]^[4] In later competitions, Genter would shave his head before swim meets, for which he was given the nickname "Curly".^[5]

Career

1971 Pan Am Games

At the 1971 Pan American Games he won gold in the 4×100 metre freestyle (with Dave Edgar, Jerry Heidenreich, and the non-Olympian Frank Heckl) as well as in the 4×200 metre freestyle (with Jerry Heidenreich and the non-Olympians Jim McConica and Frank Heckl) and silver in the 400 metres freestyle. Steve's only AAU championship came in the indoor 200 yard free in 1972.^[1]

1972 Olympics

At the 1972 Olympics, he had a collapsed lung about a week before the 200-meter freestyle event, possibly brought on by a persistent cough and altitude changes during the cramped plane ride to Munich. On August 24, only five days prior to his first competition, Genter underwent a relatively minor surgical procedure to reinflate his lung with a tube, but he received thirteen stitches, and spent five days of full rest mostly in bed recovering with a few lung rehabilitation and light torso exercises given to him by his coach Jim Montrella. He took only a day of light swim training before his first competition on September 29.^[6]

200-meter silver

Several American Doctors felt he could compete, German Doctors advised him to withdraw; he refused and with the consent of his coach, competed. Remarkably in his first race, he won a silver medal in the 200-meter swim against rival Mark Spitz who took the gold. In the 200-meter qualifying heat on the morning of August 29, Genter finished only .13 second behind Spitz who, like other qualifiers, was conserving energy. In the Final Medal race for the 200-meter later on August 29, Genter finished about a second behind Spitz, about a body length, but actually led by a tiny margin at the 100-meter mark until the last 25 meters of the event when Spitz finished strong. Despite his injury, Steve swam a personal best time of 1:53:73, holding off the third-place finisher Werner Lampe by about a quarter of a second. The speed of his recovery was remarkable, though he swam with some pain, was barred from taking pain medication due to Olympic rules, and had light bleeding. He may have had additional pain after he ripped a few stitches at his 100-meter turn at the halfway mark.^[6]^[7]

4x200-meter relay gold medal

Two days later on August 31, Genter won a gold in the 4 x 200 meter relay where he swam third, helping to set a World Record relay time, though he sat out the qualifying heat to conserve energy.^[8] His time of 1:52:72 gave the Americans a considerable lead, and Mark Spitz finished off the swim, giving the American team a time of 7:43:3.^[9]

400-meter bronze medal

On September 1, he won a Bronze medal in the 400 meter swim, beating the standing Olympic record in his qualifying heat, though it was not the fastest time of the day. In the 400 meter final, he lost to Brad Cooper by a full 1.67 seconds, but still went under the standing Olympic record time with a 4:01.94.^[10]^[7]^[6]

In late March 1974, after a break from competition, he swam in the NCAA Championships as a Senior at UCLA.^[3]

Life after swimming

Genter was engaged to marry Swiss swimmer, national breast stroke champion, and 1972 Olympic Competitor, Erika Ruegg in Long Beach on September 14, 1974.^[11]^[12] After his graduation from UCLA, Genter moved to Switzerland, where he lived after the late 1970s. He raised a family of 5 children, worked in the computer industry, and coached water polo, his favorite sport.^[1]^[13]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Olympedia, Steve Genter, Biography". Olympedia. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
^ "Hollingworth, Hank", "Gambril Says Tide Aquatics on Rise", Press-Telegram, Long Beach, California, pg. 47, 28 March 1974
^ ^a ^b Hollingworth, Hank, "Genters Back in NCAA Swim", Press-Telegram, Long Beach, California, pg. 23, 26 March 1974
^ ISHOF list with all medalists in Universiade history Archived 2013-09-25 at the Wayback Machine
^ Steve Genter. Sports-Reference.com
^ ^a ^b ^c Foster, Richard J., Mark Spitz; The Extraordinary Life of an Olympic Champion, Santa Monica Press, Santa Monica, California, (2008) pgs. 162-175
^ ^a ^b "200 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
^ "Swimming at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's 4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
^ Bock, Hall, "In 1972 Spitz Raked in 7 Gold Medals", The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, California, pg. 22, 26 August 2000
^ "Swimming at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's 400 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
^ "UCLA's Gender in Swim Spotlight", The Peninsula Times Tribune, Palo Alto, California, pg. 32, 28 March 1974
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Erika Rüegg Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
^ Foster, Richard J., Mark Spitz; The Extraordinary Life of an Olympic Champion, Santa Monica Press, Santa Monica, California, (2008) pg. 274