{"id":414274,"date":"2020-02-07T10:40:41","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T17:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=414274"},"modified":"2020-02-07T22:23:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-08T05:23:02","slug":"when-swimming-culture-called-in-lane-4-6-1-20-instead-of-legend-leisel-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/when-swimming-culture-called-in-lane-4-6-1-20-instead-of-legend-leisel-jones\/","title":{"rendered":"When Swimming Culture Called “In Lane 4, 6.1.20” Instead Of Legend Leisel Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2020s Vision: Swimming Culture.<\/strong> On a day when Denmark apologised to its swimmers for the harm caused by practices including weigh-ins<\/a> at which girls and young women athletes were called fat and humiliated in front of their teammates, including boys and men, we take the moment to reflect on lessons learned from history.<\/em><\/p>\n

Revelations from Aussie breaststroke legend Leisel Jones<\/strong> are what we focus here but the issues she raised on her way to the International Swimming Hall of Fame<\/strong> are universal.\u00a0Both coaches cited in the report of the investigation into Danish swimming today were coaching, including roles in Australia, at the time Jones was excelling.<\/em><\/p>\n

There has been a shift in swimming culture since but if the darker side of what you read below is familiar to you today, you’ll know it’s wrong. As you read, consider the nature of what’s wrong: it isn’t measuring weight for weight, like angles of buoyancy and much else, does matter in performance swimming. Rather it’s down to how and in what circumstances weight is measured and what happens next.<\/em><\/p>\n

We start with memories of the fine outcomes, the stuff that unfolds with smiles and tears under bright lights – before we peak behind the curtain at what was endured alongside the hard word and good guidance she also received.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lethal Leisel – A Champion … and Survivor Of Practices Long Past Their Sell-By Date<\/h3>\n
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Leisel Jones on the cover of Good Weekend Magazine in Australia when the publication plunged Into the Depths of swimming culture – Photo Courtesy: Good Weekend<\/p><\/div>\n

‘Lethal’ Leisel Jones<\/strong>\u00a0glided on to high plinth in the Pantheon when she entered the International Swimming Hall of Fame<\/strong> (ISHOF) as a member of the Class of 2017.<\/p>\n

There was so much to celebrate. When she raced at her last Games, at London 2012, Jones\u00a0became the first Australian swimmer to compete in four Olympic Games and, alongside Ian Thorpe<\/a>,<\/strong> holds the record for the most Olympic medals (9) won by any Australian. There were also seven golds at the World Championships and six long-course world records in the mix, three over 100m and three over 200m breaststroke.<\/p>\n

Leisel Marie Jones<\/strong> was born on August 30, 1985. As a ten year-old Brisbane school girl, she watched Samantha Riley* <\/strong>win the bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Less than four years later, she ousted her idol from the Australian Team by winning the 100m breaststroke at the 2000 Australian Olympic trials at the age of 14.<\/p>\n

The ISHOF citation includes this: “Soon after her fifteenth birthday, she wowed a home crowd to claim\u00a0silver medal in the 100m breaststroke and added another silver in the 4 x 100m medley relay at the Sydney Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

“For the next eight years, Liesel was the most dominant woman\u00a0breaststroker in the world. Named world swimmer of the year in 2005 & 2006, the pinnacle of her career came with her individual gold medal in the 100m breaststroke, silver medal in the 200m and a second gold medal in the 4 x 100 medley relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The cover of Liesel’s book “Body Lengths” -Penguin Books<\/p><\/div>\n

Nicknamed “Diesel” and “Lethal Leisel,” she candidly recounts in her 2015 autobiography, Body Lengths<\/em>, that her achievements were not without their challenges. In her book she tells what it was like to be thrust into the limelight so young and under constant pressure from an early age to be perfect \u2014 from coaches, from the media and from herself. Despite the highs of her swimming stardom, she suffered depression, and at one time planned to take her own life. In London, she was criticized in the media for her weight, but she handled herself with great composure.<\/p>\n

“She has emerged with maturity and good humor, having finally learnt how to be herself and live with confidence. She also hopes that by telling her story, other female athletes will understand they are not alone.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From The Archive – How Lethal Leisel Showed The Way<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Leisel Jones on the cover of Good Weekend Magazine<\/p><\/div>\n

Jones<\/strong>, honours stretching to three Olympic golds among nine medals, seven world-championship golds among 14 global long-course medals, 10 Commonwealth golds and six world long-course records over 100 and 200m breaststroke (3 each), entered\u00a0the\u00a0Sport Australia Hall of Fame<\/strong> in 2015.<\/p>\n

Australians got a glimpse of her before the world saw a 15-year-old claim silver a whisker from gold in the 100m at the Sydney 2000 home Olympic Games. The racing ended at London 2012, a fourth Games and the end of a period in Jones’ life that brought both elation and depression.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just a really nice cherry on the top of what has been a pretty terrific ride,\u2019\u2019 Jones told the Herald Sun.<\/p>\n

Jones’s nine Olympic medals matched the record tally of\u00a0Ian Thorpe<\/strong>\u00a0for the most medals won by an Australian at a\u00a0Games. Her highlight was the Olympic 100m crown at Beijing in 2008.<\/p>\n

\"leiseljonesbodylengths\"It was far from plain sailing. Reading extracts from\u00a0her new book “Body Lengths<\/em>“<\/a>, you might well think the title could\u00a0have been Body Blows.<\/p>\n

It was back in 2006 when Jones first revealed that she had suffered depression as a result of the pressure on her from a young age. She was 20 and at a social function she said:<\/p>\n

“I just hated the person I was when I was 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 – being thrust into the limelight and being told to grow up now was incredibly hard.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Earlier that year, on March 20, she rewrote the pace of women’s breaststroke with a 1:05.09 world record. Talk of\u00a0axes, shattering, smashing and sledgehammers was the order of the day, while the gap between Jones and those chasing was starting to take on swimming’s equivalent of Biblical proportions.<\/p>\n

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How all rivals saw Leisel Jones for several seasons at the height of her career – by Patrick B. Kraemer<\/p><\/div>\n

The time would have won the world title in\u00a0Kazan, 2015, almost a decade on.<\/p>\n

It came off a 30.83sec split, which at the time would have won her the silver behind her own gold in the 50 metres straight at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Jones, after screaming at the scoreboard, padded over to we the media deckside with a beamer of a smile on her face and said:<\/p>\n

“I was going for the world record . . . but I wasn’t feeling my best all week, so it was hard to determine what would happen.\u00a0I could not believe it. I went into shock. I’m still in shock. I don’t think I’m unbeatable – nobody is.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The time did not withstand the excesses of shiny suits but in textile survived four years until the 200m Beijing champion,\u00a0Rebecca Soni<\/strong>\u00a0(USA) became the first to crack 1:05, with a\u00a01:04.93 at the Pan Pacific Championships in 2010. Since then,\u00a0Ruta Meilutyte<\/strong>\u00a0(LTU), 2012 Olympic champion, has moved the pace on to 1:04.35.<\/p>\n

Jones was coached by\u00a0Stephan Widmer<\/strong>, of Swiss origin, for much of her elite career, and also worked with Rohan Taylor<\/strong> – who described her as a “once-in-a-generation type of athlete who’s exceptionally gifted in her event” – on the way to Olympic glory. She\u00a0perfected the art of reducing the dead zone in breaststroke to a negligible level.<\/p>\n

It took time to get there.\u00a0Emerging from her 1:05.17 victory by more than a body length at Beijing in 2008, she said: \u00a0“It’s been a long journey, a long eight years.”<\/p>\n

Even before Jones qualified for her first Olympic team, her first elite coach\u00a0Ken Wood<\/strong>\u00a0had told her she would be the world’s best breaststroker, but the way to her destiny was harder and more circuitous than she or anyone could have imagined.<\/p>\n

Jones pressed the button of timewarp on breaststroke in the 2006-07 seasons, here a fine example of her pace, power and smoothness of skill:<\/p>\n