Roy Saari-Pioneering Olympic Silver and Gold Medal Winner

The world of athletic swimming recently lost one of its greats--Roy Saari.

Roy Saari won a silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley and a gold medal in the 4x200-meter freestyle competitions at the 1963 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He also finished seventh in the 1,500 meter freestyle and it is said that this ranking was due in part to the fact that Saari had a cold.

Today when he have someone like Michael Phelps who brought home not one gold and one silver, but eight gold medals, it may be easy to look at the accomplishments of someone like Roy Saari and say, "Oh, that's nice." But it is swimmers like Roy Saari, who swam with less fanfare and fewer guarantees of recognition or lucrative endorsements, that paved the way for their to be multiple gold medal winners like Michael Phelps.

Saari was known for his unusual and very unorthodox kicking style. He swam with fewer kicks and although it looked unusual to sports commentators of the time, it was quite effective, seeing as he managed to win both silver and gold medals at the same Olympics.

It was said that his swimming style made him seem quite the athlete when you looked at the part of him that was above the water. But when you looked at his legs in the water, you would question if he really knew what he was doing. Is that really a silver and gold medal-winning strategy? Apparently so because he did get silver and gold in the 1964 Olympics.. Perhaps Saari knew that by using fewer kicks, he could conserve energy and still come out a winner while other swimmers were fluttering and splashing around.

Later, the world of athletic swimming would see that other top notch swimmers started to emulate Saari's signature swimming style.

You may not be able to fashion a new style of swimming like Roy Saari or make a clean sweep of Olympic gold medals like Michael Phelps, but you can still reap the benefits of the gold and the silver that you have--whether it was awarded to you, given to you as gift or if you purchased it yourself.

You will feel like a winner when you sell silver or sell gold because you will get cash for silver or cash for gold. And you won’t even have to swim or set foot in the water.