IN THE PIPELINE:Shirley, she had the guts

My mom, who also lives here in Huntington Beach, has always had a knack for meeting interesting people in unexpected places. So it was no surprise when she told me about her mail carrier, Shirley, and what a nice, helpful, friendly woman she was. However, what did manage to get my attention after hearing more about Shirley (and eventually meeting her) was that Shirley was not just any Shirley — she’s Shirley Babashoff, eight-time Olympic medalist and one of the greatest swimmers in recorded history.

Surely you remember Shirley. In Montreal, she was the 1976 Olympic gold medalist in the 400-meter freestyle relay, and silver medalist in the 200-meter, 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle and 400-meter medley relay. At Munich, in the 1972 Olympics, she won gold in the 400-meter freestyle relay, silver in the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle. As well, she won the 1975 World Championship in both the 200- and 400-meter freestyle. She also won five additional world championship medals and 27 national titles and set 11 world records in eight different events and 29 American records in 27 separate events.

Shirley was named 1974’s “USA Sportswoman of the Year” and Swimming World magazine’s “American Swimmer of the Year” in 1976, and when she retired she was the all-time leader among U.S. women (a record she held for 24 years until Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson finally surpassed her career total in 2000). Plus, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1982 and U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1987.

But for all of the awards and accolades, for all the records and glory, there’s something else that I think that distinguishes Shirley Babashoff as an exceptional champion — she’s the one who first had the guts to publicly flag and challenge the East Germans on the fact that they were pumping their swimmers with major doses of steroids — that they were turning the 1976 Olympics into a Frankenstein freak show.

Her hunches started developing back in 1973, when she noticed female East German swimmers developing higher muscle mass and lower voices. But then, at Montreal in 1976 when she and her teammates found themselves losing the gold to athletes who were clearly doped, Shirley had enough.

She gave a voice to what many were thinking, but were too scared to address directly.

She called the East German squad on the carpet. What did she get for her troubles? The nickname “Surely Shirley,” tagged as a sore sport by many in the international press and criticized for “only” winning a batch of silvers along with her one gold.

But time has been a friend to Babashoff, because since then we have learned that the East Germans did in fact cheat the rest of the world’s athletes. In 1976, East German swimmers won 11 of 13 gold medals.

This was after winning none in 1972. Do the math today and it would only seem right to strip them of their gold and place the medals where they rightfully belong: with American swimmers.

Though Shirley has made recent appeals to Olympic officials, it seems unlikely today that everything will ever be done about it. But thankfully, she has no regrets about what she did (today, in light of the many steroid scandals her actions seem more timely than ever).

In conversation, Shirley Babashoff is still outspoken. She’s also funny, honest and a terrific storyteller. She talks about what it was like to be a 15-year-old competing at Munich and how strange it was that one day to find armed guards at the cafeteria, the day the terrorists attacked.

How all of the young female athletes, who first loved the privacy of having their own little studio apartments, then crammed into those apartments for safety and company.

She recounts meeting President Ford before the 1976 Olympics, the joys of competing, growing up in Whittier (her brother Jack was also an Olympic swimmer) and what her post-Olympic life has been like. She retired before the boycotted 1980 Olympics and, along with fellow Olympian multi-medalist Mark Spitz, became a spokeswoman for a swimsuit company. After that she coached swimming for 10 years. In 1986 she had a son, Adam. She raised him as a single parent and today the bond between them seems profoundly strong.

And for 20 years she’s been a mail carrier here in Huntington Beach for the United States Postal Service. She doesn’t have a pool where she lives but she still looks to hit the water whenever she can.

Cradling her gold and silver medals, she offers details of the awards: the silver is pure, the gold is plated, and sometimes the chains on them break. They are priceless reminders of thousands of hours of training; countless travel miles and the grit and determination of a young Whittier girl who could outswim all the boys.

Perhaps someday the Olympic Committee will figure out a way to correct the blatant cheating that took place. They did award the Olympic Order to Shirley in 2005, an honor established in 1974 to acknowledge individuals who have “illustrated the Olympic ideals through actions, have achieved remarkable merit in the sporting world or have rendered outstanding services to the Olympic cause.” Maybe they understand that she was the one who changed history by speaking out.

But regardless, if you live along Warner near Bolsa Chica, pay close attention to your mail carrier. It may just be Shirley Babashoff, a legendary American champion who didn’t just have the talent to make a difference — she also had the guts.

What do you think? Should the Olympic medals be rightfully awarded to the American swimmers?