Ahead of USA’s 250th Birthday, Olympic Champion Wendy Boglioli Reflects on Celebrating 200 Years
In a recent Facebook post, Olympic gold medalist Wendy Boglioli reflected on the Golden Anniversary of the start of her Olympic experience, when she and her United States teammates prepared for the upcoming 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. The year marked the 200th birthday or the United States, and as the U.S. approaches its 250th birthday this week, Boglioli eloquently wrote about her memories.
Here is what she said:
“I watched America turn 200 from inside the U.S. Olympic Team at West Point. This week, we turn 250.
“Fifty years ago this summer, I stood and watched the Tall Ships sail in.
“I was 21 — a brand-new member of the U.S. Olympic Team.
“It was the summer of 1976. America was turning 200.
“Our U.S. Women’s Olympic Swimming Team was at training camp at West Point — the final stop before Montreal. And on a perfect July night, the United States Army Band played at the water’s edge while the great Tall Ships of the world glided in to celebrate the Bicentennial.
“I will never forget it.
“A girl who learned to swim in a 17-yard hotel pool, in a town of 600 — standing shoulder to shoulder with the best swimmers in the country, the whole nation celebrating 200 years of itself right there in front of us.
“That summer was a season of firsts. We were the first U.S. women’s Olympic swimming team ever to train at West Point. And just weeks before we arrived, the first women cadets in the Academy’s history had marched through those same gates. The country was turning 200 — and right there at West Point, doors were opening. For the nation. For those young women in gray. And for us.
“We trained in Crandall Pool — named for Robert Crandall, Class of 1939, captain of the Army swimming team, killed in action in Italy in World War II. Every length we swam, we swam in water that carried the name of a young man who had loved this same sport, who stood where we stood, and who gave his life for the country we were about to represent.
“We took our team photo at the base of Battle Monument — the great column at Trophy Point, crowned by the winged figure of Victory, raised to honor those who gave everything for this country. A team of young women, about to swim for that same country, standing at the feet of Victory. I don’t think we understood it then. I do now.
“Because here’s what I have loved every single day of the fifty years since: our Olympics weren’t just ours. They were America’s 200th. We weren’t only swimming for ourselves — we were swimming in the year the whole country was celebrating itself. That made it so much more than a race. It made us part of the story of America.
“Days later, we left for Montreal.
“This Saturday, America turns 250.
“And in a few weeks, our 1976 team gathers in Colorado Springs — together again for the first time in half a century.
“200 and 50. Then and now. The country has come full circle. So have we.”
