There are many tragic events from sporting history but few are more moving than the moment when an entire Italian swimming team was lost in a plane crash this week back in 1966.
Today, courtesy of the recollections of Georges Kiehl, French international of the Sixties and spokesman for the European Swimming League, we remember those who lost their lives and the pay homage to a man who paid his respects in a special way.
First, in the words of Georges Kiehl:
BREMEN 1966 - Back in the Swinging Sixties, swimmers had far fewer opportunities to compete at the very highest international level as is the case today: the Olympic Games every four years, with European Championships in between, and also every four years in those days. There were also dual meets and tournaments organised by federations but there was almost no meet at which Europeans, Americans, Australians and Japanese could compete against each other besides the Olympic Games.
You can imagine, then, the high regard in which the 'Bremen Internationale' in Germany was held: held annually from 1957 to 1980 during the short-course winter season, the meet was famous for offering the chance for the world to gather once a year. The meet director was Karl-Walter Fricke, a man who managed to get almost all Olympic champions to Bremen, among exceptions the great Don Schollander, an American who in 1964 became the first swimmer to win four gold medals at one Games. Fricke extended the invitations, organised the meet and actually ran the meet. He sat at a small square table on the pool deck next to lane 1, at the corner of the pool. And he was also the announcer and live commentator who entertained and informed the public, lending pace to the popular event.
In 1966, European swimmers were training hard for the upcoming European Championships to be held in Utrecht (42 years on, and Eindhoven will host the championships for a second time, in March) and valued any opportunity to get race practice on the road to the big moment. When I received an invitation, I was delighted to attend - so much so, that I minded little that the journey involved a train, a night train, and another day train. Those were the days when travel retained a little romanticism. As I spoke German, my coach allowed me to make the trip on my own.
The dates of the meet are etched on my memory: Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th January, 1966. As usual, all swimmers trained in the small, 25m pool (6 lanes) on the Friday afternoon. We noticed that the Italian contingent was absent. News filtered in: the rumour was that their plane had crashed at Bremen airport. We waited in hope that it wasn't so but the tragic news was eventually confirmed. We were all dumbstruck.
What would Fricke do? Cancel the meet? Not at all. Neither were the heats re-seeded. Instead, he believed that the best way for us all to pay our respects was to let the show go on and acknowledge the painful absence of the Italians. For the next two days, the lanes that would have been graced by many in line for European and Olympic selection were left empty as we raced alongside aquatic ghosts in a spirit of the friendships we had known. As a mark of respect and in order to honour those who had lost their lives, a bouquet of flowers was placed on the starting block at the end of each empty lane. It is an image I will never forget.
I knew Dino Rora (we swam at club level against Fiat Torino) and others. The year before (1965) we had swum in July at San Remo (Italy v France v Sweden) and later in September in Rome at the Six Nations Tournament. In a kind gesture of remembrance, the Italian Swimming Federation today hosts the annual Coppa Brema in memory of those who died that day in 1966.
In Bremen, I was lucky enough to win my two breaststroke races, and whenever I have been asked over the years to list my favourite moments and best-recalled victories, I have always included the Bremen 1966 event. It was known as the 'Short-Course Olympics' back then. For me, the empty lanes and the flowers have been an abiding and unforgettable memory.
Karl-Walter Fricke, who passed away in February 2006 at the age of 93, deserves warm thanks from the world swimming community for his role in events. He should be regarded as the true father of the Swimming World Cup, having given rise to the idea of hosting international events of global significance in between the biggest of occasions. The Bremen meet and several others eventually joined forces to form the world cup, and Italy was among the first to host Swimming World Cup events: Venice (1989), Desenzano (1990 and 1994), Milan (1991 to 1993), St Vincent (1995) and Imperia (1996 to 2002). Much water under the bridge since Bremen, but the memory of 1966 lingers strong in mind and heart.
SwimNews thanks Georges for his memories, and recalls those who lost their lives - Italian readers can find Geroges' story and more information from Walter Bolognani at nuoto.it.
On the evening of January 28, at Bremen airport, seven athletes and an accompanying coach died when their plane crashed on landing at Bremen aiport. They had flown from Milan. They were among bright prospects for the Italian Olympic team in 1968. The Italian coach, Bubi Dennerlein, was replaced at the last moment by Paolo Costoli, of A.S. Rome Club.
The disaster was the worst in Italian sports history since a plane crash at Turin killed the entire Torino soccer team back in 1948.
Daniela Beneck, then Italy's top woman swimmer and later a leading light in the federation and media, was to have gone to the meet in Bremen, but was excused so she could at- tend her sister's wedding.
Those who lost their lives were:
Luciana Massenzi, 20, national backstroke champion.
Carmen Longo, 19, national breaststroke champion.
Amedeo Chimisso, 19, who died in the year of his international debut.
Paolo Costoli, coach and national champion on freestyle (200m to 1,500m) in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1937 and 1938. In 1931, he took bronze over 1,500m at the European Championships behind Oliver Hallassy (HUN), and in 1934 at the same event claimed two silvers, over 400 and 1,500m behind Jean Taris (FRA). Costoli was a pioneer as far as Italian swimming success was concerned.
Bruno Bianchi, who had turned 23 just two days before the tragedy, was national sprint freestyle champion (100 and 200m). In the month of his 17th birthday, he competed at the 1960 home Rome Olympic Games and raced again at the Tokyo Games in 1964. In 1965, he led the Italian team to a first victory at the Six Nations, ahead, for the first time, of France, Sweden and Great Britain.
Chiaffredo 'Dino' Rora, 21, was a freestyle and backstroke national champion and held the European 100m backstroke record in 1963. He was a medal hope for the Utrecht European Championships before his untimely death.
Daniela Samuele, 17, was national junior butterfly champion.
Sergio de Gregorio, 20, national champion over 200, 400 and 1,500m freestyle. He was racing 200m times in 1965 worthy of making the 1968 Olympic final, and was the first Italian under 18mins over 1,500m.
That year's meet in Bremen saw Ada Kok (NED), 1968 Olympic champion warm up with wins of 1:05.9 and 2:25.4 over 100 and 200m butterfly, while Kiehl, we can reveal took the 100m breaststroke in 1:09.7 and the 200m in 2:32.1.