By Phillip Whitten<\/p>\n
TWO weeks after Holland\u2019s Inge De Bruijn streaked to four barrier-breaking world swimming records in three days at the Speedo Grand Prix in Sheffield, England, the waters of world swimming are still churning with controversy over whether the flying Dutchwoman achieved her marks legitimately.<\/p>\n
"Inky," as she is known to her many friends worldwide, did nothing less than dismantle some of the toughest marks in the record book. First she swam 25.64 for the 50 meter butterfly\u2014almost a full second faster than any other woman. But the 50 fly is a newly recognized event, and not contested in the Olympics, so the record was considered soft.<\/p>\n
But what de Bruijn did in the following days was anything but soft, described consistently by swimmers and coaches around the world as "amazing" and "incredible." She lauched her crusade by equaling the world mark of 24.51 seconds in the 50m free set in 1994 by China\u2019s Le Jingyi, a mark almost universally regarded as drug-tainted and one no one had approached since it was set.<\/p>\n
Then, a week ago Saturday, De Bruijn uncorked a performance that Scott Volkers, the Australian coach of Susie O\u2019Neill, world record holder in the 200m butterfly, characterized as "very close to impossible. I can\u2019t imagine how you can get a girl to swim that fast." <\/p>\n
What the Dutch star did was clock 56.69 for the 100 meter butterfly, hacking an enormous 1.19 seconds off Jenny Thompson\u2019s world mark of 57.88 set only last August. What makes Inky\u2019s time even more phenomenal is this: when Thompson set her record at the Pan Pacific Championships, she erased a venerable, 18-year-old mark set by Mary T Meagher by a mere 5-hundredths of a second. In 19 years the mark had progressed by only five-hundredths, then De Bruijn took off 1.19 seconds\u2014two percent.<\/p>\n
De Bruijn herself was amazed. "I was hoping to do in the high 57s," she said. "Seven is my lucky number, and my goal was to do a 57.77. When I finished the race and looked at the scoreboard, I thought it said \u201957.69.\u2019 Then I looked again and saw it was 56.69. It was like a humungus dream\u2026and I was scared to tell [her coach, Paul Bergen.]." I thought, \u2018my God, I don\u2019t know how I did that." <\/p>\n
Neither do a large contingent of coaches and swimmers around the world. Jon Olsen, a co-captain of the American team, commented: "I\u2019ve known Inky for a long time. She has a beautiful stroke, a strong body and has always turned a lot of heads. But a 56? There\u2019s no way. Now she\u2019s going to turn a lot of heads for another reason."<\/p>\n
Mike Bottom, associate coach of the University of California men's team, a coach who has developed a string of world-class sprinters, and a member of the 1980 US Olympic Team, says simply: "I wouldn't want to race her."<\/p>\n
Regardless of what these coaches and swimmers think, Inky's dream continued last weekend at the Dutch Olympic Trials, where she lowered the WR in the 50 free to 24.48, erasing le Jingyi's name from the record book. Inky also swam a 57.97 100m fly–ho-hum after her 56.69, but still the fifth fastest performance in history. In fact, of the five sub-58 second performances in the 100 meter fly, the blond Dutchwoman with the picture-perfect stroke owns three of them.<\/p>\n
The first man to break 57 seconds in the 100 fly was Mark Spitz in 1967. (Spitz eventually lowered his WR to 54.27 at the 1972 Olympics.) But Spitz, who has been outspoken on the drug issue, had another view of De Bruijn\u2019s performance: "I think that when Jenny [Thompson] finally broke Mary T\u2019s record last year, it changed the entire psychology of the event. Once that barrier was broken, it opened up the possibility to swim much, much faster, and Inge took advantage of that psychological opportunity.<\/p>\n
Her coach, Paul Bergen, of the Tualatin Swim Club in Oregon commented: "I knew she was ready to swim a time in the mid-57s, but I\u2019m surprised by the 56. That\u2019s what we planned for Sydney."<\/p>\n
De Bruijn swam in the controversial sleeveless Speedo "Fastskin" swim suit, and Bergen said the suit deserves at least some of the credit for the swim. "We\u2019ve done over 300 trials with 10 swimmers, comparing the Fastskin to a regular suit. The difference is four- to five-tenths of a second per 25 meters. Of course, it would be less if the swimmers in the regular suits had been shaved. But still you\u2019re probably talking about seven or eight tenths of a second difference per 100 meters. That\u2019s a lot."<\/p>\n
After the 100 meter butterfly in Sheffield, De Bruijn had one more event: the 100 meter freestyle. Before the race, she described Le Jingyi\u2019s 1994 mark of 54.01 as "impossible to beat." But beat it she did. Swimming the first 50 meters in 25.87 seconds, 8-hundredths slower than Le, she roared back on the second lap to touch in 53.80.<\/p>\n
"I am truly, truly shocked," she said, tears streaming down her face. "I don\u2019t know what\u2019s wrong with me."
\nThere\u2019s nothing wrong with her agree U.S. co-captain Josh Davis and Australian super-star Grant Hackett.<\/p>\n
" I know Inge fairly well," said Davis, "and there\u2019s no reason to believe her times are tainted. She has great starts and turns and a beautiful stroke. Just looking at her you can see she has a genetic ability above and beyond most world-class swimmers. Her maturity and confidence are finally paying off. When everything comes together, it\u2019s not unrealistic to do those kinds of times. It\u2019s nothing like Michelle Smith in \u201896, or the Chinese in \u201994.<\/p>\n
Hackett, the world champion in the 1500 meter freestyle, agrees. "Good on her," he said. "That was absolutely magnificent. She\u2019s incredibly fit and technically nearly perfect. I just turned 20 and I think what she did is inspirational. It makes me hopeful I can keep improving as I get into my mid-20s."<\/p>\n
Most coaches and athletes take a wait-and-see approach. John Leonard, executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, is one of those: "There are as many reasons to think Inge\u2019s performances were legit as there are to question them. Despite their similar ages, this is a very different case that of Michelle Smith-De Bruin. <\/p>\n
"Inge was always a world-class swimmer but never at the highest level. Her improvement coincides with her getting serious about her swimming and training, half the year, under Coach Bergen, who has developed many Olympic champions, including Tracy Caulkins. I also believe that you are stronger in your mid-twenties than you are in your teens or early twenties. And, of course, the suit helped her as well. Still," he murmurs, "56 is off the charts."<\/p>\n
De Bruijn, 26, who won two European titles last year and ranked first globally the last two years in the 50 meter freestyle, now appears to have the inside track on Olympic gold in three events: the 50 and 100 meter freestyle, and the 100 meter butterfly. But she knows she doesn\u2019t have a lock on any event. <\/p>\n
Sweden\u2019s Therese Alshammar, who obliterated the short course 50 and 100 meter freestyle sprints in March, has yet to swim a big race over the 50-meter course used in the Olympics. And Americans Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Amy Van Dyken are sure to respond at the U.S. Olympic Trials. <\/p>\n
Still, the Flying Dutchwoman appears to have opened up a whole new set of possibilities in women\u2019s swimming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Phillip Whitten TWO weeks after Holland\u2019s Inge De Bruijn streaked to four barrier-breaking world swimming records in three days at the Speedo Grand Prix in Sheffield, England, the waters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[69,6376,6377,6382,176,38,1503,6379,185,4496,351,2468,3512,104,4970,114,364,616,951,624,1962,931,124,2142,3412,6381,2410,599,500,87,142,45,4158,238,6380,3731,272,6374,165,62,320,6375,6378],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz","tag-amy-van-dyken","tag-associate-coach","tag-associate-coach-of-mens-team","tag-beautiful-stroke","tag-california","tag-china","tag-co-captain","tag-co-captain-of-the-american-team","tag-coach","tag-dara-torres","tag-executive-director","tag-grant-hackett","tag-inge-de-bruijn","tag-jenny-thompson","tag-john-leonard","tag-jon-olsen","tag-josh-davis","tag-mark-spitz","tag-mary-t-meagher","tag-michelle-smith","tag-michelle-smith-de-bruin","tag-mike-bottom","tag-netherlands","tag-oregon","tag-paul-bergen","tag-picture-perfect-stroke","tag-scott-volkers","tag-sheffield","tag-sweden","tag-swimmer","tag-swimming","tag-sydney","tag-the-1972-olympics","tag-the-olympics","tag-the-world-swimming-coaches-association","tag-therese-alshammar","tag-tracy-caulkins","tag-tualatin-swim-club","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-university-of-california","tag-world-swimming-coaches-association","tag-world-class-swimmer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n