Guest editorial by John Craig
PHOENIX, Arizona, August 3. AFTER having been glued to the Internet and TV for the past week watching the meet, here are the impressions of one fan, in no particular order:
* I'm sick of the new suits. But I'm even sicker of hearing about them. Lost in all the publicity over the suits were a host of spectacular performances.
* If the women's 200 free had been scheduled right before the men's 200 fly on Wednesday, rather than right after, the gap between the two world records would have been less than a second for the first time in 23 years. There have been two times in history since butterfly records have been kept (starting in 1959) that the women's 200 free has been faster than the men's 200 fly WR: in 1960, when Dawn Fraser went 2:11.6, the men's WR was 2:16.4 by Michael Troy. Fraser's record stood for six years, while the men's fly record progressed fairly rapidly. By the time Pokey Watson broke Fraser's record with a 2:10.5 in 1966, the men's fly WR was already 2:06.6 by Kevin Berry.
When Kornelia Ender went a 1:58.26 in 1976, she was behind the men's fly record by only .03. When Barbara Krause went a 1:59.04 in 1978, she pulled ahead of the men's WR, then still a 1:59.23 set by Michael Bruner in 1976. (Ender and Krause, of course, have a very big metaphorical asterisk after their records.) Cynthia (Sippy) Woodhead then took the record down three more times, culminating with a 1:58.23 in 1979, staying ahead of the men. She was the last woman to occupy that position. Since then, only Kristin Otto and Heike Friedrich of the GDR, in 1984 and 1986, respectively, and both also with big asterisks, have even been within a second of the men's record. But had Pellegrini swum her 1:52.98 15 minutes earlier, she would have been within a second of Michael Phelps's 1:52.03 from Beijing. As it was, Phelps had just swum a 1:51.51.
* Gary Hall Jr. once said that as many great sprinters as there are at any given time, and as close as they seem to be, it always seems to be the same people who end up winning at the biggest meets. There has never been an era with more incredible male and female sprinters than now, but between Beijing and Rome, Hall's statement has been borne out by Cesar Cielo and Britta Steffen.
* After what must have been a very disappointing final for Therese Alshammar in the 50 fly, not even medaling after setting a WR in the semis, she bounced back nicely in her 50 free to get second in 23.88, a time that would have been a WR if not for Steffen. That showed a certain psychological resilience. Rebecca Soni showed similar resilience, breaking the existing WR in the 50 breast (and also getting second) after failing to medal in her best race, the 200 breast. (Who knew Soni had that kind of speed in a 50?)
* Marleen Veldhuis and Fred Bousquet swam well, but both seem to have hit their peaks earlier this year. A greater percentage of swimmers do seem to be able to swim fast all year round these days, much more so than, say, two decades ago. This probably has a lot to do with the advent of more dry land training and less yardage for sprinters and middle distance types.
* I've never seen anyone look more as if he were just warming up for the first two-thirds of a race than Sun Yang did during the first 1000 or so of his 1500. Not sure what it is about his stroke that makes him look that way, but it does seems to work for him, as he won the bronze.
* Paul Biedermann looked awfully strong. His un-tech suited equivalent time does not put him on a par with Thorpe in the 400, but it does put him right with Phelps' best 200.
* Aaron Perisol has always played it very cool in the heats and semis, and it was bound to come back to bite him sooner or later. He did come back to swim the perfect race in the 200 back though.
* If Ryosuke Irie ever gets his underwater dolphin together he will be hard to beat in the 200 back; at this meet he was beaten badly off every wall.
* What will Sarah Sjostrom's second Olympic event be? Given how dominant she was in the 100 fly, she must have potential in either the 100 free or 200 fly. (Her stroke actually looked more like a 200 flyer's stroke than a sprint flyer's stroke to me.) And how fast could she go with a good start? In both semis and finals she seemed to be last off the blocks and a good body length behind the leaders when she came up.
* Speaking of 15 year olds, Liz Pelton is probably still a year away from being a real force. Watch out for her IM; two years from now she will be in contention for that title. I suspect that meet will be her real debutante party.
* A number of the 400 IMers seemed to be tired by the end of the meet. Ryan Lochte, for instance, set a WR in the 200 IM, but was off his own best time in the 400 IM. Stephanie Rice and Laszlo Cseh also set personal bests in the 200 IM, but could not produce equivalent 400 IM's. (Tyler Clary, on the other hand, did save his best for last.) It may be harder to hold one's taper for the longer event; perhaps the order of the two events could be reversed next time around.)
* Bob Bowman knew about the new suits – and their effect -- coming into Rome, and he knew that Phelps would be wearing a LZR beforehand as well. I have the highest respect for Bowman as a coach – in another piece for Swimming World I had expressed the hope that Laure Manaudou would make a comeback and train with him. But that outburst right after Phelps lost the 200 free came across like a hissy fit. Bowman should have made his statement about the suits either at the beginning or end of the meet.
* I never felt that Milorad Cavic said anything that really crossed the line, but to the extent that it was perceived as trash talking, it was probably good for swimming (on the theory that any publicity is good publicity.) Of course, Cavic's words were also good for Phelps' race, which turned out to be one of his best ever. (Perhaps next time around Mr. Cavic will have learned his lesson and will simply say beforehand what an honor it is to be in the same pool as the greatest swimmer of all time.)
* Phelps still has a much faster 200 fly in him. If his goggles hadn't filled with water in Beijing, he probably would have gone a 1:50+ there. And after six months of training following six months off, he couldn't have been in his best shape here.
* Rowdy Gaines is a huge asset to our sport. He's intelligent, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, modest, and likable. No other network swimming commentator has ever been able to combine all those qualities.
* The Roman crowd was as large and as enthusiastic as any within memory. That they were willing to brave the 100 degree temperatures to watch the meet says something about the current popularity of swimming. The New York Times sports section actually had swimming on its first page virtually every day this past week, which has never happened before in non-Olympic years.
* Look for a slew of "last chance"-type meets later this year, before the polyurethane suit ban goes into effect. Expect more records in November and December.
* Swimmers and coaches have learned that compression works, for both battling muscle fatigue and streamlining. Although next year's models will have restricted profiles, look for swimmers to wear suits a size or two too small for them, incorporating textile materials with less give (such as old-fashioned nylon).
Reaction Time Comments
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August 3, 2009 Thank you very much for the great insights, observations and information. From my observations of the open water events in Ostia Beach, there was much less talk of the swimsuits and a focus on simply racing mano-a-mano (as records have much less relevance in open water swimming).
In Ostia, the open water community was stunned when Melissa Gorman of Australia just touched out Olympic 10K champion and 8-time world champion Larisa Ilchenko of Russia in the women's 5K - and when she pulled out of the 10K. The local Italian crowds were estatic when Valerio Cleri won the men's 25K under incredibly tough conditions. And USA Swimming was rightly proud of its up-and-coming duo of Andrew Gemmell and Fran Crippen, both competing for the first time on the world's stage, who earned a silver and bronze in the 10K.
Just as the pool swimming community is gearing up for the 2012 London Olympics on the exploits of Michael Phelps and the other swimming superstars, the open water community is anticipating continued growth over the next few years with several countries in position to medal at the Olympics (9 different countries medaled in Ostia).
But, expectations will ride highest in Great Britain where hometown fans will be pulling for 3 swimmers (David Davies, Keri-Anne Payne and Cassandra Patten) to medal again in the Olympic 10K in Hyde Park. Submitted by: Munatones
August 3, 2009 Good stuff, John. With the notable exception of the Australian, Brenton Rickard, the Jozsef Nagy-created "Wave" Breaststroke seems to have been abandoned in favor of a lower, flatter, and narrower stroke ...just as Nagy predicted would happen, two years ago.
(And how much pain were YOU in watching the end of the Women's 200 Breaststroke!) Submitted by: timeguy
August 3, 2009 One thing that has come about because of the new suits is that you have to swim a World Record just to make it look like you had a decent swim to win an event. It becomes almost a letdown if the world record is not broken in any specific event. Why even swim it then? Submitted by: fever
August 3, 2009 Sorry, there's a typo in the article: Kornelia Ender went a 1:59.23, not a 1:58.23.
John Craig Submitted by: halfbreed
August 3, 2009 Why don't the manufactures start their own "Rome Games" with the hi tech suits each year. Prize money can be given and many more swimmers would gain some financial support rather than just a few as it stands now. The "Fast Suits" would generate a lot of media attention and may become the new wave to swimming. A lot of swimmers would enjoy getting back into the suits. That way, they can challenge the WR that have an **** The only thing the swimmer will lose is the opportunity to say they are the World Record holder.
FINA can still have their outdated system. Think about this the next time you're sitting in front of the TV and there are two swim meets on, one with the fast suit and the other with the 1996 swim suits. I'll say 90 will tune into the fast suit meet because of the excitement. Boring doesn't sell... Submitted by: speedboat
August 3, 2009 Why don't the manufactures start their own "Rome Games" with the hi tech suits each year. Prize money can be given and many more swimmers would gain some financial support rather than just a few as it stands now. The "Fast Suits" would generate a lot of media attention and may become the new wave to swimming. A lot of swimmers would enjoy getting back into the suits. That way, they can challenge the WR that have an **** The only thing the swimmer will lose is the opportunity to say they are the World Record holder.
FINA can still have their outdated system. Think about this the next time you're sitting in front of the TV and there are two swim meets on, one with the fast suit and the other with the 1996 swim suits. I'll say 90 will tune into the fast suit meet because of the excitement. Boring doesn't sell... Submitted by: speedboat
August 3, 2009 How does someone who trained for 6 months go a second faster in the 100 fly than they did at the Olympics?? Perhaps in a new Jaked01...hmmm nope must have been motivation or??? someone explain it to me. Submitted by: wade
August 4, 2009 Wade: for Beijing Phelps had prepared the 100 & 200 fly, the 200 free and the 200 & 200 IM. For Rome he dropped both breastroke and backstroke (no IM) and put the focus on fly, as simple as that. If Phelps would only swim 1 or 2 individual events, his results would be much better.
Submitted by: max argie
August 4, 2009 Wade: I think I can explain that!
For Beijing Phelps had to train for 100 Submitted by: max argie
August 4, 2009 Wade,
Phelps swam in a Speedo, not a Jaked, like everybody else did. Submitted by: mario2007
August 4, 2009 Why doesn't Swimming World do a "poll" asking if one agrees or disagees with the FINA ruling. It would be interesting or some may not want to see the true results. About 100 of the swimmers I've talked to have said "its the stupids ruling they've seen"....Do a poll a Swimming World Submitted by: speedboat
August 4, 2009 "It's the stupids ruling they've seen...." Is it really so hard to spell-check 3 short sentences?
I also seriously doubt many of us 'may not want to see the true results' because the over-whelming majority of people I know and have talked to are relieved to see the ban come, especially after they were going to further post-pone it (over-whelming majority as in EVERYONE). I think the only major complaint I've heard about the ruling is that the ban isn't coming into effect sooner. Submitted by: jessem
August 5, 2009 I had suggested a poll many months ago to Swimming World however I have revised my opinion on the benefit of having one. Remember a similar poll for world swimmer of the year last year?
However a poll would have to have carefully crafted questions:
Do you want the best swimmer to win?
Do you want some swimmers to have artificial aids to help their speed?
Do you think less talented swimmers should be allowed to wear performance enhancing suit to make up the difference?
etc etc
jessem you are right Submitted by: scotswim
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