Michelle Ford, Olympic Champion – Turning The Tide, PART ONE: How An Aussie Teenager Stopped the GDR Juggernaut And Her Fight For Swimming Justice
Michelle Ford, Olympic Champion – Turning The Tide is an epic sports book for the ages. The story of a brave young Australian teenager who outgunned the drug-induced East German juggernaut in her quest for Olympic swimming glory.
Fulfilling her grandfather’s belief that she could be the best in the world culminating in the day Michelle stopped the girls in the blue swimsuits who had stunned the world with their domination of women’s swimming at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.
Ford won gold in the 800m freestyle in an Olympic record time of 8 minutes and 28.90 seconds to achieve what many believed was unachievable at the Moscow Games of 1980.
She had been in Montreal as a 14-year-old and had learnt many lessons – now four years later, forewarned and forearmed returning to the Olympic stage to fulfill her grandfather’s belief – no matter what the challenges.
THRILLED: Michelle Ford on the gold medal podium. Photo Courtesy Russ McPhedran (Michelle Ford Collection)
Dubbed the Carss Park “Cannonball” from Sydney’s south, Michelle Ford had to contend with more than the race against the clock to be the best in the world and more than her own brutal training sessions as she worked her mind and her body to match competitors fuelled by cocktails of anabolic steroids.
Ford proving that good old fashioned Aussie spirit, hard work, a determined will to win, with input from astute coaches like Dick Caine, John Rodgers, Don Talbot and Bill Sweetenham, all playing their parts along with a good feed of steak and eggs preparing you to overcome anything manufactured in the lab.
She was confronted with a scandal that would affect and eventually rob thousands of young female athletes of their sporting dreams.throughout the 1970s and 80s
Michelle’s was a remarkable career that so many girls like her will relate to in this detailed, tell-all insight into how she survived and conquered one of the darkest periods in the history of Olympic competition.
World, Olympic and Commonwealth records and Commonwealth and Australian titles from the 200m butterfly to the 400m individual medley and the 400, 800 and 1500m freestyle – Michelle Ford was a true champion in every sense.
And apart from the brigade of the blue swimsuit machine, she also had to contend with the fight being wagered in the political corridors of power playing out for the right just to face the GDR juggernaut in Moscow as countries including the US and Canada deciding to boycott the Games in protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan – a move that divided the Olympic world.
Despite the Australian Government’s tyrannic stance to join the boycott, the Aussie team was saved by an 11thhour 6-5 vote by the Australian Olympic Council to attend the Games with team members still facing an uprising against the decision.
The team receiving death threats and abuse that took its toll on so many and still haunts the 1980 team members to this day; a depleted Australian team had to sneak out of the country under the cloak of darkness.
But now, some 44 years on, and Michelle Ford has produced yet another gold medal performance in telling this story of the furore that besieged the Olympic movement around the 1976, 1980 and 1988 Olympic Games – as she tries desperately to see justice done.
Michelle Ford, Olympic Champion – Turning The Tide is a must read for all – but particularly swimmers, coaches, and any aspiring Olympians – a compelling tale of a girl who was never ever going to give up on her dream.
BIRTHDAY GIFT: Michelle Ford celebrates her 18th birthday with Misha The Bear the Moscow Mascot. Photo Courtesy Russ McPhedran (Michelle Ford Collection).
And in fact, a book for any Olympian, who one way or another have all overcome their own hurdles to achieve their goals as they continue to strive for their Olympian status – if they had not known of Michelle Ford’s story – they could well be gob-smacked by her steely determination let alone some of her “crazy” training sets.
And her reflections have some stern messages, writing that the GDR doping scandal was life-changing, especially for those frightened female athletes throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
“It is disheartening to know that it (the doping issue) also sent a message to athletes that if they wanted a chance of winning in international competitions, they would have to cheat,” writes Ford.
“My intent for this book is to bring attention to this era. But more so, it is my most sincere hope that the IOC and the International Sporting Federations, hopefully led by World Aquatics, acknowledge the injustice done to these women who were mostly innocent victims of a state-sanctioned doping regime that created a playing field which was inconsistent with Olympic ideals.
“With the Olympic Games of Paris 2024, Los Angeles 2028, and Brisbane 2032 upon us, I call upon the IOC and the International Sporting Federations to reallocate the medals through the ‘Olympic Medal Reallocation program’ and re-establish the record books from the Montreal 1976, Moscow 1980, and Seoul 1988 Olympic Games.”
And remarkably it’s a book with The Forward written by none-other than the president of the International Olympic Committee himself, Thomas Bach – such is the relationship that Michelle has with the former German fencing gold medallist – now one of the world’s most powerful sporting leaders.
Thomas Bach writes: “Michelle is a force of nature. Like so many Olympians her athletic journey is an inspiration. It is a story of how an individual’s sporting perseverance and eventual triumph carries a much wider message for us all in how the human spirit can overcome adversity.
“Michelle’s sporting record speaks for itself, but her continued fight against the iniquities of doping, particularly her continuing fight to right the wrongs of the era in which she competed highlights her amazing tenacity and the fighting spirit, which was the foundation of her incredible performances as a young athlete.
“This book of her life shows her battles and her Olympic triumphs, and it also shows a remarkable character whose Olympic journey did not end when she stopped competing.”
STANDING PROUD: Michelle Ford today proudly wearing her Olympic gold. Photo Courtesy Michelle Ford Collection.
You get the feeling and hope the tide will be turning again in the long-awaited reallocation of medals after the story of a single-mind Australian girl who beyond all odds would conquer the world and tell the story that still remains unfinished today.
Michelle Ford, Olympic Champion – Turning The Tide may well be published but there is still has an unfinished final chapter that now remains in the hands of the IOC to set the medal record straight from sport’s darkest chapter in Olympic Games competition.
Nothing is off the table in this revealing account of what it was like to come face-to-face with her East German foes and their deep voices who it was later proven were fuelled under the control of a drug-induced superpower, taking on the blue suits head on to reach swimming’s holy grail.
Unveiling how she overcame a time in Australian Olympic sport that had been relegated to the sporting backblocks in so many ways and what goes into achieving greatness against all the odds in your life.
Importantly never forgetting those who had influenced that life and those at times insurmountable challenges. PART 2 to Follow. A Grandfather’s Inspiration…
Michelle Ford, Olympic Champion – Turning The Tide (With Craig Lord) Fair Play Publishing.
Ian, you’ve been covering our sport so well since I can remember. I used to race with Michelle (3rd at trials in the 800) and she is indeed a true champion . I remember all this at the time, drugs (and politics) have done no favours to sport, and this all was indeed, inconsistent with Olympic ideals