Memories of the 1972 games: a party planned in the summer pool

Created: 06/01/2022, 10:50 am

Advertisement for the festival: Antje Feser from the Gauting swimming club and Franz Jaquet from the board of directors of the Sommerbad development association with a poster from the Olympic Games 50 years ago.

©CC

The summer pool development association and swimming club are in the midst of preparations for the “50 Years of Olympia” festival at the beginning of July.

We are still looking for memorabilia from 1972.

Gauting – The people of Gauting are proud of this: Their summer pool with the heated 50-meter sports pool, diving tower and swimming channel was a training facility at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

On Sunday, July 3rd, there will be a big celebration from 11 a.m.: the municipality, the Sommerbad development association and the Gauting swimming club invite you to the “50 years of the Olympics” anniversary with free admission.

The program includes swimming championships, fun relays, dwarf swimming, grilled delicacies and the auction of donated devotional items from the 1972 Olympics, reveals Antje Feser from the swimming club.

"Apart from Fürstenfeldbruck, we were the only ones in the S-Bahn area in Gauting that had a 50-meter sports pool," remembers Franz Jaquet from the association.

That's why the National Olympic Committee (NOC) chose the summer pool as a training facility for the Munich Games, says the current treasurer.

Franz Jaquet knows the history: he grew up on Margaretenstraße, practically "around the corner" from the bathroom.

There "I learned to swim".

Jaquet believes it is a rumor that the legendary US swimmer Mark Spitz, who won seven gold medals in 1972, trained in Gauting: the national teams from what was then the Eastern Bloc trained in Gauting.

The fact that Gauting became an Olympic training site at all was thanks to the initiative of the then mayor Josef Cischeck.

According to local chronicler Karl Mayer, Cischeck, even as a non-partisan municipal councilor, campaigned for a 50-meter sports pool with a diving tower and a teaching pool to be built on the former Karl Doppelhammer bathing site on Reismühler Weg.

On June 25, 1966, the sports and leisure facility, built for 750,000 marks, was officially inaugurated.

In 1972, the training pool was supplemented with an extension: the Olympians reached the warm-up changing rooms directly via the then newly built swimming channel.

The heating system was also added - all "largely financed" by the NOC.

"From next Friday until September 3rd, the large pool in the outdoor pool will be closed",

On Sunday, July 3, from 11 a.m., "50 years of the Olympics" will be celebrated in Gauting in all weathers, says Antje Feser, head of the swimming club (SC).

The support association, which was only founded in 2021 around chairman Stephan Ebner, has already set up a program.

With free entry, financed by the municipality, open swimming championships with three-generation fun relays, award ceremonies and the traditional dwarf swimming take place.

Volunteer "Grill-Masters" from the association will be on duty on the sun terrace and will also sell drinks.

The plan is to auction posters or other memorabilia such as the mascot “Waldi” from the time of the 1972 Summer Olympics. Half of the proceeds will go to the summer pool development association and half to the swimming club.

"We can't cover the six-figure deficit of our outdoor pool," sums up Franz Jaquet.

But the club, which currently has 60 members, will use the income from the festival to increase the attractiveness of the summer pool.

For example, the purchase of an awning over the newly built water playground is planned.

cc

Anyone who can contribute original memorabilia for the auction should contact Ebner, info@foerderverein-sommerbadgauting.de.