Rada Owen

I randomly found this at YouTube. Check out how fast her turn is.

I ran into this nausiating quote by Olympian, Summer Sanders! - I contrast it with a Michael Phelps quote.

Summers Sanders is an Olympian who participated in the Barcelona games in 1992. She won gold, a silver, and a bronze in primarily butterfly, IM events, and a relay. She parlayed her medals into sports media work working on such "seminal" broadcasts as Skating with Celebrities and a reality TV show that lasted barely a year. Anyway, she certainly is no Rowdy Gaines.

Here is Sanders on her athletic talent and the disabled: "I was lucky. Like, suppose my father had put in a tennis court instead. I can't play tennis at all. I'd be in some retarded league right now instead of going to the Olympics."

In the image to the right, Johnny Knoxville actually starred with Special Olympians and featured them in a positive light within the movie. Sanders seems to feel they are well below her standards.

-- •• --

Michael Phelps is Michael Phelps in the same way that Mark Spitz is Mark Spitz. To win a gold medal means you are great; but there is a level above that, and you can count all of the people in that Pantheon on one hand. Names like Johnny Weismuller, the first swimmer to break a minute in the 100m free with no flip-turn and a wool swimsuit. Duke Kahanamoku who not only has three golds and a couple silver but invented or rediscovered a billion dollar sport called surfing. Then there is Janet Evans who still has the longest standing records in the sport of swimming, each lasting through four Olympic Games.

Here is Michael Phelps on the disabled: "I was talking to some of the paralympians who came over from Iraq -- they were soldiers over there," Phelps said. "One of them said to me, 'It's really great what you do. We love watching you.'

"I said, 'Are you serious? What I do is nothing compared to what you guys do.' "

Phelps said his conversations with the military paralympians inspired him. [Link]

Mark Spitz's muse

Jerry Heidenreich won 2 golds, a silver and a bronze at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Mark Spitz won 7 gold medals but Mark Spitz also feared Jerry Heidenreich and credited Heidenreich for making him the best swimmer in the world . From the article:

• After winning his fifth gold medal in Munich, Mark Spitz considered withdrawing from his final individual race. One reason was that he felt he needed rest for the 400-meter medley relay. Another was that Spitz – whose father, Arnold, often said, "Swimming isn't everything; winning is" – didn't believe he could beat U.S. teammate Jerry Heidenreich in the 100 freestyle."Six gold medals is better than six golds and a silver," Spitz said. But Spitz's coach, Sherm Chavoor, called him a chicken and warned that he might be left off the relay if he didn't swim the 100. Spitz swam, setting a world record in 51.22 seconds. Heidenreich was second in 51.65. [Link]

Post Olympics Heidenreich had a bad second act due familial tragedies and issues with alcohol, among other vices, ultimately leading to stroke and then suicide. Besides his Olympic accomplishments he left behind his personal swimming creed called the: 21 Top Laws of Swimming. [Link]

I found these articles at About.com [Link]

The New York Times did an article on Parry O'Brien

Here is a snippet from the NYT listing just some of his accomplishments:

"... O’Brien’s success with his new style was stunning. In 1954, two days after Roger Bannister was the first to run the mile in less than four minutes, O’Brien became the first to put the shot 60 feet. That came in the middle of a victory streak of 116 meets.

From 1953 to 1966, he broke the world record 17 times, starting with 59 feet ¾ inch and raising it to 63-3. He won 17 American titles in the shot-put and one in the discus.

In the Olympics, he won gold medals in 1952 and 1956 and a silver medal in 1960. In 1964, after he carried the American flag in the opening ceremony, he finished fourth.

In 1959, he won the Sullivan Award as the United States’ outstanding amateur athlete. He was elected to the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974 and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 1984. ..."

From the New York times: [Link]
From Swimming World Magazine: [Link]
From NPR from August 2004: [Link]

Swim homework assignment for the next few weeks

1) Go to Erik Hochstein's sprint workout on Sundays at LMU. (Erik is a former Olympian from Germany who won the bronze medal in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay at the 1988 Summer Olympics. I was once swimming with him at a workout at Santa Monica where we did a 200 as part of the main set; Erik was swimming in the fastest lane and I was like 4 lanes down from him, he swam a 1:46 and I did a 2:24. He lapped everybody in the whole pool.)

2) Swim at Santa Monica on Wednesdays with fins to loosen up and improve my ankle flexibility.

3) Push-ups and crunches on workout-free days and stretching every day to gain more shoulder and hamstring flexibility.

4) Do a freestyle technique clinic with Bonnie or Jamie to check out my stroke. (When I sprint I have a tendency to be choppy.)

5) Swim more 100s for time and focus on pacing.

6) Start swimming 5 days a week rather than 3-5