Dick Roth, '69, arrived in Tokyo with every reason for confidence. The 17-year-old held the world record in the 400-meter medley and hadn't been defeated in a race in more than a year.
But Roth fell ill after the opening ceremonies and doctors ordered an emergency appendectomy. He was whisked to an American military base for the surgery, but at the last minute refused to sign a consent form allowing the procedure. He still wanted to race.
Officials tracked down Roth's parents, hoping they could talk their son into a more sensible decision. But when they arrived eight hours later, Roth begged them from his gurney to let him compete. They finally agreed provided doctors could monitor Roth's infection levels.
Hampered by his condition, Roth swam well below his normal level and barely escaped the qualification rounds. On the morning of the finals, exhausted from lack of sleep and weak from a diet of Jell-O and Hawaiian Punch, Roth lay in bed growing more certain of defeat while his roommate and main rival, the University of Michigan's Carl Robie, dozed nearby.
For a distraction, Roth turned on his radio just in time to hear one of the greatest races in Olympic history. Barely known runner Billy Mills, a U.S. Marine who had been raised by his mother on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, was sticking with the leaders in the 10,000-meter run. On the final curve, Mills seemed to fall from contention as the front-runners made their kick to the finish. But Mills exploded down the final straightaway, taking the lead with 20 meters to go and hitting the tape with a time nearly 50 seconds faster than anything he'd ever run before.
The U.S. athletes in the dorm erupted in celebration. Mills's incredible performance drained Roth's despair and inspired him to dig out his best effort, Roth recalls.
Eight hours later, with Mills's victory swirling in his thoughts, Roth swam the race of the life, shaving more than three seconds off his own world-record time, a standard that wouldn't be broken until 1968.
Two weeks later, doctors at Stanford removed his appendix.
Now retired in Utah, Roth, who in 1967 helped Stanford win its first NCAA swimming championship, still credits Billy Mills for his own against-the-odds victory.
"I swam out of my mind," Roth says. "I never got anywhere close to it again."
Sam Scott is a senior writer at Stanford.
