![]() ![]() “It was a post-Olympic year and a lot of us were hopefuls for the 1976 Olympic Team,” Kirkpatrick-Reno said. Kirkpatrick-Reno was a promising 16-year-old swimmer from the Santa Clara Swim Club who trained with George Haines. The swimmers were Nancy Kirkpatrick, Michelle Mercer, Anne Brodell, Sandi Johnson, Tom Szuba, Tim McDonnell, Steve Tallman and future Olympic gold medalist Mike Bruner.Ī birthday celebration for one of the swimmers prior to the Chilean coup d’état . #NAG RECORDS SWIMMING PLUS#Montrella’s group included eight swimmers, plus chaperone and assistant coach Jill Griese from Ohio. Three teams were selected to travel to South America while the first and second-place finishers went on to the World Championships in Belgrade.” “The team was selected from the National Swimming Championships held in Louisville, Ky. “The trip to Peru and then Chile during a coup was a stand-alone event 47 years ago,” Montrella said. ![]() They found themselves in the thick of the coup led by Augusto Pinochet that ousted Chilean President Salvador Allende. The swimmers were led by a young coach from Lakewood Aquatics in Southern California named Jim Montrella. Of her travel trip, Kirkpatrick-Reno said, “We all came home with PTSD.” ![]() “We saw people’s heads blown off, were shot at, and saw bombs planted on bridges.” Part of a group of young swimmers representing the United States, Nancy Kirkpatrick-Reno travelled to Chile in September 1973. The US Ambassador to Chile (center) with Jim Montrella and Jill Griese (seated) and swimmers (standing.) ![]()
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