Monday, September 01, 2008
Next up: Rome 2009 - FINA World Championships of Swimming!
I predict the next flurry of news will be speculation as to who will swim and who won't: Will we see Laure Manaudou, Dara Torres, or Amanda Beard swim or are they finished? Will Michael Phelps start swimming more niche events or will he try for another 8 medals? Will we see a Phelps/Cavic rematch in the 100 'fly? Will swim suit rules change due to pressure within the swimsuit industry?
I am confident that we will see explosive growth in our sport in the next couple of years due to the "Phelps/Torres effect" and more media representation by way of Universal Sports and websites like Go Swim, Floswimming, and our reliable standby, Swimming World.
I know I will be swimming faster so my advice to you is to swim throughout the Fall and Winter and enjoy every second of it. Remember, if it is raining, you can't get any wetter. If it is snowing, who can resist an 80-degree-pool? Thus, when Short course yards season coincides with World Championships you will be fast, inspired, and ready to turn-and-burn and go hydrodynamic!
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I don't expect to see Amanda Beard or Dara Torres around. With Torres' latest shoulder operation she's clearly pushed herself to her limits and beyond to this point. Besides I'm sure her priority is to get the clock ticking on her stored blood samples. I do hope, however, that Laure Manaudou decides to soldier on and prove to the world she can be the best in the world yet again. I'm also pretty sure I disagree with your about the potential of a Phelps/Torres effect on swimming. Certainly there'll be a Phelps effect, but if there is one for Dara it will only be felt at the masters level. Frankly we might see a slight surge of new participants but it will quickly subside once they realize just how long and hard the road is to competition fitness and fast times.
Is it seven years till the tests are destroyed?
SCAQ pools have been filling up with 30-something swimmers, with a huger percentage of them female. The rest have been 20-something males now entering masters post college due to Phelps inspiration.
If Manaudou is going to to well in Rome, she has to start swimming by December at the latest.
Amanda Beard? Well, she hasn't transitioned into any other business yet such as acting or modeling but she is scratching the edges. If she is going to play up her sexualaity or party girl image some more, she has about four more years left but she will have to keep swimming.
Really? I'm not particularly surprised about the women because, as I've noted before, they seem to enjoy masters swimming and have always participated in greater numbers than we men. Do they say it was Torres who provided that final push out the door? Perhaps some good will have come out of Torres' efforts after all.
But the increase in twenty something males joining up does throw me. I cannot conceive of any similarity between Phelps' ability to swim and mine. Consequently I've a difficult time conceptualizing Phelps inspiring over-the-hill swimmers to get back into masters competitions. It would be like my going to the races and after being inspired by the horses thundering past deciding to get back into running.
P.S> It's a seven years restriction on destroying your records for income taxes; for taking back international titles and world records the statute of limitations is eight.
I, for one, have never been more excited about the sport than now. Count me as one of those 20-somethings who are streaming back to the pool -- albeit in an on-again, off-again manner ;-/
I love the attention and enthusiasm around the sport now. And, from what I've seen and heard around the web and this city, people who are either going back to swimming or just trying for the first time are commenting on just how ENJOYABLE it is to be in the water.
It is a great sport. Even so there are some practice sets I dread doing - it does take considerable dedication to do well in swimming (especially if you didn't swim competitively in high school and/or university). There's a lot which needs to be done all at the same time. We'll find out how well the newbies grind it out. On the other hand the beautiful thing about swimming is we have many, many years in the pool ahead of us to get it right.
If you think about it, everyone who has posted a comment to this thread can probably swim faster than 95% of the the whole world; actually, probably even higher.
Yet what we all have in common is that we think we all suck and so we all keep working harder to try and ascend to that mythical level of Valhalla or Avalon which in this world is called Regionals, Nationals, Worlds etc albeit on the masters level or USA Swimming.
But in fact we do suck at swimming don't we Tony? At least compared to a good twelve or thirteen year old competitive swimmer. Do we really want to compare ourselves to the average person watching the Olympics from their couch? Aside from a very few ex-Olympians we're all deficient in technique and conditioning and, I think, quite logically want to do better. I dare say most of us are a wee bit competitive too. Wasn't this the underlying reason most of us returned to the pool? We should delight in the fact that the achievement of swimming the perfect race is, for all of us, virtually an impossible task. The fun part is seeing how close we can get!
Isn't it interesting that it's almost always the most successful people who think they have the most to learn?
Humility, dedication, and an open mind really are keys to success in any endeavor. Swimming, I think, is one of those ideal forums in which one can test all of those principles simultaneously, with every stroke. The water will either be incredibly unforgiving and provide nothing but resistance, or it will be your best friend and work to move you even faster. It all depends on how you relate to it.
I'd like to see Phelps bust out a
great 400 free. After not getting out
of the heats in 2005, I think he goes
for it one last time. Beyond 2009,
I think it's all 100's and 200's for
Mr. P; especially backstroke!
A few months ago MichaelB I too thought that Phelps would make breaking Thorpe's awe inspiring 400 free WR his post-Beijing goal. Apparently, however, Coach Bowman says that isn't to be. He's leaving the 400s behind (I well understand his relief at not having to swim the 400 IM again) and concentrating as you say on the shorter distances. Bowman says that he will be putting more emphasis on his backstroke (his best stroke at the start of his career) while focusing on the 200 fly - aiming to better 1:50 in the event.
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