Edwin Moses and Open Water Swimmers

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True Stories takes a look at the figures who shaped American life through the moments that defined them. True Stories posted this December 2nd article about two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion Edwin Moses (@edwinc.moses) who was subject of a recent documentary film called Moses Thirteen Steps:

Edwin Moses walked onto a dusty Ohio State track in 1976, set down his physics notebook beside the hurdles, and told his coach he was going to rewrite the rhythm of the race by taking thirteen steps between hurdles instead of the fourteen every expert insisted was physically impossible.

He was an engineering student, not a sports prodigy. He had no scholarship. He had no elite training. He ran workouts alone because there was no hurdling coach for him. Moses studied film like a scientist. He measured stride angles. He calculated force and drag. He scribbled equations on scrap paper and taped them above his dorm room desk. He believed the event followed predictable laws of motion and he could break them if he learned the math.

The experiment worked on his very first try. Moses glided through ten hurdles with control that startled teammates. The longer stride meant fewer adjustments. Fewer adjustments meant no hesitation. By spring he won the Olympic Trials. By summer he was in Montreal wearing United States colors that had been a fantasy months earlier.

Then he ran the four hundred hurdles faster than any human in history.

He did not stop there. After Montreal he built a training schedule with the same logic he once used for lab work. He timed every run. He tracked heart rate, fatigue, and oxygen levels. He studied race film frame by frame to eliminate wasted motion. When he returned to competition, he began a streak the world still struggles to comprehend.

Nine years. One hundred and twenty two consecutive wins. No false starts. No collapses. No excuses.

Competitors tried to match his stride pattern. They failed. Coaches tried to decode his rhythm. They failed. Reporters waited for arrogance. Moses gave them none. He spoke about discipline, spacing, timing, and respect for the craft. He believed mastery came from patience and relentless analysis, not talent alone.

Even at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, with the weight of a nation on his shoulders, he lined up with the same quiet expression. He ran his race, held the thirteen step pattern, and crossed the finish with daylight between him and the field.

Edwin Moses did not dominate through force.

He used clarity, intelligence, and perfect rhythm to turn an event into a system only he understood.

Edwin Moses and Open Water Swimming

What does Moses have to do with open water swimming?

After over the four decades while writing over 20,000 article about open water swimmers, I found Moses’ character, his sense of purposes and fairness, and his innate humility to be mirrored time and time again when talking with open water swimmers. I had the pleasure to get to know Moses during the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Moses is introspective, reserved, disciplined, focused, analytical, calm, humble, and intellectual. And those are characteristics that I see many (most) open water swimmers possess.

There are exceptions, of course. Some swimmers are extroverted and eloquent. Some swimmers are humorous and happy-go-lucky. But most are reserved and introspective. They are certainly disciplined and focused. Many are (at least outwardly) calm and respectful of the people around them (volunteers, pilots, support crew). Most are extremely humble – but, frankly, with a lot of internal self-confidence. Many were top students and have advanced or professional degrees.

It is quite a community to follow and write about.

Thank you very much. Keep up your great work and incredible achievements.