August 1981 - August 16, 1981 (Sunday)

August 16, 1981 (Sunday)

• Three days after setting the mark at 100 meters, Mary T. Meagher set an even longer lasting record for the 200 meter butterfly. Her time of 2 minutes, 5.96 seconds stood until May 17, 2000, when Susie O'Neill recorded 2:05.81.
• The Inkomo Barracks, main arsenal for the Zimbabwe National Army, was destroyed by South African engineers in a series of three explosions over a period of four hours.
• Died: Ervil LeBaron, 56, convicted murderer who had founded the Church of the Lamb of God, died at the Utah State Prison. On the same day, his brother and successor as the church's leader, Verlan LeBaron, 54, died in an auto accident in Mexico City.