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Lance Larson, Who Lost a Disputed Olympic Swim Race, Dies at 83

Related Topics: Lance Larson, John Devitt, Max Ritter

He had the fastest time in the 100-meter freestyle final. But after a corps of judges couldn’t choose a winner, the chief judge declared one. It wasn’t Larson.

The swimmer Lance Larson celebrated when he thought he had won the 100-meter freestyle final at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He would soon learn otherwise.Credit...Associated Press

Lance Larson, a champion Southern California swimmer whose apparent victory in the 100-meter freestyle race at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome was snatched away within minutes by the chief judge, died on Jan.