Former Swimmer Reflects on Olympic Experience

As the 2012 Olympics come to a close, it is easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of it all. Even former Olympians, like Mineola-born Lillian “Pokey” Watson Richardson, can’t help but be emotional watching current Olympians and reflecting on their own time in the games.

Pokey Watson was born in Mineola, but moved to San Francisco at the age of five for her father’s job. This was not the last Mineola – or Long Island – was to see of her, though.

“Every summer we took a road trip there,” she said in a telephone interview from her Hawaii home. “Before I was twelve I’d been to all 48 continental states.”

Her grandparents and cousins had remained throughout Long Island, so they would return and see other states on the way back.

Watson’s talent was discovered at random at the age of ten.

“I did the summer swim league because I had friends who were doing it,” she said.

After watching her break several national age group records, her coach John Williams suggested she go to Santa Clara Swim Club.

“It was the best program in the world,” she said. “And it was right down the road.”

Watson followed a strict regiment, swimming 30 minutes before school, two-and-a-half hours after school and 3 hours on Saturdays. Schoolwork was done on car rides and her friends were mostly fellow swimmers.

“It was the tremendous sense of humor that made practices fun,” she said. “And there was a lot of camaraderie on teams – it was part of life that you were pursuing or completing your dream.”

Surprisingly, Watson felt getting on the team was more competitive than the actual games.

“I missed making one of the teams, the 100 meter backstroke in 1968, by one one hundredth of a millisecond,” she said.

Watson took home her first gold at her first Olympics, the 1964 games in Tokyo. At age 14, she became the youngest swimmer to win gold with her win in the 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay. She would compete again in the 1968 Mexico City games, taking gold in the 200 meter backstroke.

“It’s a unique environment,” she said. “Since you’re all at an elite level, there’s a common understanding and respect for everyone.”

There was a common understanding, also, that during the games there was no time for frivolous things like sightseeing.

“You’re very focused on what you’re trying to accomplish. You can enjoy the (Olympic) village, but that’s it.”

The Mexico City games were her last, as she chose to go to college rather than continue swimming. She attended UCLA for history and interior design, but continued to coach other swimmers. She became the first woman coach at the University of Southern California. In 1971 she married Alan Richardson, whom she had met through Santa Clara Swim Club. She coached swimmers from 1973 until 1979, when the two moved to Hawaii so that he could pursue his orthopedic practice.

They started a family in Hawaii, but she came back to Long Island again a few times when her daughter attended college at St. John’s in Queens. Unfortunately, she lost her husband to cancer in 2003 and has remained in Hawaii since.

She, as well as numerous other former Olympians, have never lost their Olympic spirit, attending alumni reunions at the Olympic trials, where they reminisce and admire the next generation of Olympic athletes.

One thing Watson noted, though, was how different everything is today.

“It’s like apples and oranges,” she said. “There wasn’t the media hype there is now. It’s wonderful to see kids being able to make money now and get scholarships through this.”

Watson was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1984, which she says is where her gold medals will probably end up.

And as for the nickname, “Pokey,” she said that her father “called me that as an infant and the name just stuck. But no one remembers where it came from.”