{"id":435486,"date":"2020-06-12T09:57:36","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T16:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=435486"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:30:52","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:30:52","slug":"will-2020-be-the-first-year-without-world-swimming-records-since-1896","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/will-2020-be-the-first-year-without-world-swimming-records-since-1896\/","title":{"rendered":"Will 2020 Be The First Year Without World Swimming Records Since 1896?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The prospect of 2020 becoming the founder member of the “No World Swimming Records Club<\/strong>” has grown with every passing COVID-19<\/strong> postponement and cancellation in sport.<\/p>\n

There has never been a year without a world swimming record of some kind since the inaugural 1896 Olympic Games. This might be it.<\/p>\n

In terms of long-course records, 2010, the first year of the ban on shiny bodysuits, was the first in which there were no long World records since the 50m pool became the only official measure of global standard in 1956. Before that, there had only been three years in which no global marks were established in Olympic events since the first Olympic Games in 1896 (and since FINA first registered ‘worlds (sic) records’ after its foundation in 1908).<\/p>\n

In each of those three years of meagre harvest – 1913, 1917 and 1945 – World swimming records were, in fact, established in events made obsolete long ago, including the likes of 300 yards and 500 yards freestyle, 1,000m freestyle 400m backstroke, 400m and 500m breaststroke and 3×100 yards and metres medley (before the birth of butterfly as the court stroke).<\/p>\n

For a number of reasons, the modern era could be said to have begun with the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games<\/strong>. Before that, counting the prevailing and current Olympic swimming programs, the ‘missing years’ were 1913, a year after the Stockholm Olympic Games and on the cusp of the First World War; 1917, the last full year of the war; \u00a0and 1945, the last year of the Second World War, VE (Victory in Europe) Day marked on May 8, the world in rehabilitation for some years afterwards.<\/p>\n

In that context, shiny suits topped both World Wars when it came to swimmers struggling to swim pioneering times. Going into the World short-course Championships of December 2010, no World swimming records had fallen. In Dubai, three records fell, in the 400m medley, courtesy of a 3:55.50 from Ryan Lochte; and the men’s and women’s 4x200m freestyle standards, to Russia and China, respectively.<\/p>\n

Those latter two nations, coincidentally, top of the league of doping offences in swimming, all-time, notwithstanding the GDR and its record of no positives officially but plenty registered in internal tests at the Kreischa laboratory in Saxony accredited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)<\/strong><\/a>. The results were recorded to hide not to reveal State Plan 14:25<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Michael Phelps – Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

Among men, 10 World swimming records set in shiny suits remain on the books 10 or more years on. Among women, who retain body\/torso suit coverage and compression, albeit with textile apparel, the count is just two, both among times that look extremely resilient yet in the league of the toughest non-textile nuts to crack.<\/p>\n

The list, with four Michael Phelps<\/strong> entries (he set a record 39 world records \u00a0– 29 individual, 10 relay – in his career) of surviving shiny suits standards in full:<\/p>\n