Former Olympian Matt Gribble RIP

"Steve Curtis" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Another sad passing:

swiminfo.com7042.aspOpen ↗

Steve Curtis

This is truly sad news Steve and I thank you for posting it,
but I am just heartbroken after reading this.

I was at nationals out in Clovis, CA in '83 I believe, and
watched Gribble break the WR in the 100 meter fly
interestingly enough, as I recall, just minutes after
someone else whose name escapes me had just broken the
record in the consol heat prior to the finals. A crazy turn
of events. My heart and prayers go out to Matt's family at
this time of grief.

snip

Quoted message said:

I was at nationals out in Clovis, CA in '83 I believe, and
watched Gribble break the WR in the 100 meter fly
interestingly enough, as I recall, just minutes after
someone else whose name escapes me had just broken the
record in the consol heat prior to the finals.

was that Pablo Morales? I remember him being a dominant
flyer in the early 80s.

"Sam Hain" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

snip

Quoted message said:

I was at nationals out in Clovis, CA in '83 I believe,
and watched

Gribble

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

break the WR in the 100 meter fly interestingly enough,
as I recall,

just

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

minutes after someone else whose name escapes me had
just broken the

record

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

in the consol heat prior to the finals.

was that Pablo Morales? I remember him being a dominant
flyer in the early

80s.

Yeah - it very well could have been. He was actually the
more dominant swimmer than Gribble at the time and I also
remember that it was a strange thing that the person that
broke it in the consols was swimming in the consols at all.
As I remember it now (cloudy memory of 21 years ago), it was
Morales and he had a bad qualifying swim which landed him in
the consols, but he broke the record in that heat only to
have it broken a few minutes later by Matt. I would love to
hear if any other lurkers on this board might have been
present there as well to clear up my memory of whether it
actually was Pablo or not.

I would love to hear if any other lurkers on this
board might

Quoted message said:

have been present there as well to clear up my memory of
whether it actually was Pablo or not.

SNIP

I wasn't there, but was following swimming actively as an
age grouper. Besides Morales and Gribble, Michael Gross
(west germany?) is the only person I remember that was a big
flyer back then, I think he won the gold in LA in 1984 and
had the world record, no?

"Sam Hain" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I would love to hear if any other lurkers on this
board might

Quoted message said:

have been present there as well to clear up my memory of
whether it

actually

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

was Pablo or not.

SNIP

I wasn't there, but was following swimming actively as an
age grouper. Besides Morales and Gribble, Michael Gross
(west germany?) is the only person I remember that was a
big flyer back then, I think he won the gold in LA in 1984
and had the world record, no?

Matt Gribble definitely set the world record at the 1983 US
Nationals. Gross wasn't there, since he West German, but
Gross did win the gold in the 100 Fly at the '84 LA Olympics
and also held the WR at some point, but I'm not sure when. I
just can't remember for sure if it was Morales that set the
100 fly record in the consol heat only to have it broken by
Gribble in the finals. Fuzzy memories....

I've been doing a little Google searching to see if I can
come up with the answer to the little trivia question that I
presented myself with and may have done so.

I found a site that lists world record progressions. Just
click the blue link of the event and it opens up a new page
with the progression.

swim-city.comrecords.php3Open ↗

On August 6, 1983, four world records are listed as having
fallen at the Clovis, CA, Nationals which is where I was
competing that day.

Matt Gribble 100 fly Steve Lundquist 100 breast Rick Carey
twice, both in 100 back. The Rick Carey thing was a WR in
the prelims, then beating it again in finals.

It was a heck of a day of really fast swims and was pretty
darn exciting to be in the same water with these guys even
though I wasn't the one breaking the records! Maybe I'm
wrong and am remembering Lundquist setting the 100 breast
WR, then Gribble setting the 100 Fly record later.

I really don't think this is the case because I distinctly
remember a record falling in the consols then being broken
in finals, but maybe I'm just getting old and not
remembering so clearly! :-)

This is too weird. I met Matt in 1983 at the conference
Championship in South Carolina. A friend/team mate of mine
knew their WR IMer, who was that? Can't remember right now.
But I got to meet him and I remember like it was yesterday
and my name is Matt so it was one of those weird Matt this
is Matt. He gave me the once over as though he were
assessing the competition. I just chuckled ( I almost
laughed out loud) because I turned a 54 point and he went 47
point, so there was no reason to asses the competition.

It is very sad indeed. Funny thing all these years I kept
his autograph as a reminder of meeting him.. It is very sad
his journey stopped so soon.

Matt Johnson "Steve Curtis" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:14589-4063278B-183@storefull-
3172.bay.webtv.net...

Quoted message said:

Another sad passing:

swiminfo.com7042.aspOpen ↗

Steve Curtis

"Matt Johnson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This is too weird. I met Matt in 1983 at the conference
Championship in South Carolina. A friend/team mate of mine
knew their WR IMer, who was that? Can't remember right
now. But I got to meet him and I remember

like

Quoted message said:

it was yesterday and my name is Matt so it was one of
those weird Matt

this

Quoted message said:

is Matt. He gave me the once over as though he were
assessing the competition. I just chuckled ( I almost
laughed out loud) because I

turned

Quoted message said:

a 54 point and he went 47 point, so there was no reason to
asses the competition.

It is very sad indeed. Funny thing all these years I kept
his autograph

as

Quoted message said:

a reminder of meeting him.. It is very sad his journey
stopped so soon.

Was that the old Metro Conference meet in Columbia?

Matt Johnson said:

This is too weird. I met Matt in 1983 at the conference
Championship in South Carolina. A friend/team mate of
mine knew their WR IMer, who was that? Can't remember
right now.

Matt's team mate who held the World Record in the 400 IM is
Jesse Vassallo.

We'll all miss Matt. What a fierce competitor, and great
guy. The guy was simply a stud who inspired us all at some
point in his great career. He was certainly fun to watch.