Monday, April 30, 2007

Cynthia "Sippy" Woodhead

I watched Sippy Woodhead swim yesterday at workout. She swims similar to Laure Manaudou and she makes swimming look effortless. She utilized no glide-phase to her stroke unlike what you see in a Grant Hackett or Ian Thorpe. Instead her arms paddled "kayak-style" like Janet Evans, or my favorite swimmer, Laure Manaudou .

But who is Sippy Woodhead? Here is an article about her and how the 1980 boycott effected her swimming career. French politicians should read this article too. [Link]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My coach has been introducing us to the Sippy Woodhead freestyle flip turn. I am not able to process the turn without having a visual image. Do you have any contact information available for Sippy Woodhead or could you direct us to any video footage of her swimming. My coach used to have an 8 mm film of her flip turn technique, but wore it out many years ago. Can you help me out?

Tony Austin said...

I have never been introduced to Sippy Woodhead personally. I have swam a couple lanes down from her on one or two occasions but that is it.

There is a 1984 Olympics VHS tape out there somewhere with her on it. I will see if I can find it.