Manaudou versus France and Italy

An European eccentricity I don't understand: The Laure Manaudou controversy.

Laure Manaudou falls deeply in love with an Italian swimmer name Luca Marin. She decides to leave her French coach who states that she left because she is lazy and feels that he is working her to hard. Well, Is it love or coaching? Who cares, she jets off to Italia to train and be with her lover.

The coach feeling jilted flames her new Italian coach and his training methods by insinuating how "fearful" he is that they will turn her into a "Frankenstein-like pharmaceutical experiment." The Italians look the other way and take the political high ground.

The Italian Swim Federation is worried that the French Federation will feel a French Olympian training in Italy is unacceptable and could lead to bad blood. They say, we won't train her unless the French agree or she changes her nationality! [Link]

Blam! Drama! Drama! Drama! Some negotiation , some wine, maybe a little French cheese and all is good. Laure will swim under the French flag and race for her [former] French club Canet-en-Roussillon! [Link] [More]

In America, American swimmers can train wherever they want. The "patron saint" of this blog, Natalie Coughlin, who we often make fun of but appreciate greatly trains in Australia from time-to-time. Ian Thorpe trained in America briefly. German Olympian, Erik Hochstein, trained at USC. We currently have Chinese swimmers, Turkish, South African, British, Brazilian swimmers training in the United States and USA swimming has no problem with an American swimmer interchanging ideas with coaches from other countries.

The exchanging of information and knowledge for benevolent purposes should have no border, boundary or law preventing it. The French and Italians should realize this and embrace it.

USA Swimming has an article on Gary Hall

Gary Hall talks about swimming and his financial endeavors in a USA Swimming article: [Link]

Gary Hall Jr. has been to three Olympics and medaled in all of them. Gary has 10 medals total, 5 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze. (Sprinters can do that. Their shelf life is far longer than a distance or middle distance swimmer. Mark and I joke that a warm up for a sprinter is just a long hot shower.)

He and his father also founded the Race Club where he trains and coaches. What is revealing is that Gary Hall not only has the Race Club as a business endeavor but that he is a financial planner as well. One of his financial vehicles is buying "Stock Warrants" for his clients.

An example of buying a stock warrant: Let's say we have a company called Tony Bologna Steel. Let's say that Tony Bologna was a publicly traded company on the stock exchange but it went bankrupt, thrown off the stock exchange, and is now in the process of reorganizing so as to pay off it's debts. Once this is accomplished, Tony Bologna Steel plans to come out of bankruptcy and be relisted as if it were a brand new company. Now, before Tony Balogna can do that, it needs to pay off it's debts utterly and completely. So, here is what it does: it goes to family member or a friend and even a stranger and says, "I need one-million-dollars to pay off all Tony Bologna debts, Once my debts are paid I will be relisted on the stock market for $30 a share, I will allow you to purchase right now 3-million dollars of that stock for only 1-million and I will give you a "promise receipt" called a "stock warrant" to guarantee that sale! Once I am out of debt and back on the exchange, 3- million-dollars worth of stock is yours and you can sell it any time you want."

Gary Hall has a variation to this where he purchases stock warrants of companies BEFORE they were EVER listed on the stock exchange. In other words companies that have not gone bankrupt. Keep in mind this is speculative investment that relies primarily on trust.

By the way, the little kid in the picture "owned" Gary Hall in a 200 LCM. ;-)

These points of interest represent all the cities and towns of all the individuals who came to the blog today!

You can click on the picture to make it bigger.

By 7:00 PM today the blog had nearly 500 visits. These points of interest represent all the cities and towns of all the individuals who came today thus far. The blog had visits from all over the United States and from almost every continent as well. Then there was the USA Today link to the site which was a total surprise.

WOW! Consequently, I was so overwhelmed and so flattered that I could hardly work today. As a result I will try to make this blog much more, much better, and much different because of you!

Stay tuned!

I'm shocked! - "USA Today Sportscope" linked to us

USA Today Sportscope linked to us today. Remember that "snarky" post I did about Amanda Beard posing nude in Playboy? Well, USA Today Sportscope decided to talk about it:

• - Tony Austin, Southern California Aquatics Swim Club: No one's arguing that the photos will hurt women's sports, but we're arguing that they'll distract attention from Kate Ziegler, Natalie Coughlin, Katie Hoff and other clothed swimmers. Austin also isn't buying the notion that people will buy Playboy because she's a swimmer. [Link to USA Today Sportscope]
  

Scroll down and look for the picture of Amanda Beard and you will see my paraphrased take.

Swimming World: Pair of Masters Relay Records Set by Team TYR

Swimming World has the article but we have the video of the 800 SCY Freestyle Relay Record! It is the very last swim featured on the video below. Here is a write up about the national records they set: [Link]

I have never set a record; have you? Must be profoundly exhilarating. :-)

In the UCLA Bruins Swim Meet video below, Dan Wegner, Scott Hubbard, Christopher Beach, and Erik Hochstein, in that order are the swimmers.

When I began swimming about three years ago I purchased two swim instruction DVDs: Swimming Faster Freestyle by David Marsh and Eddie Reese on Freestyle. Each DVD featured minor differences in opinion on technique but each had a defined style a swimmer should try and emulate. To Eddie Reese's credit he did mention that you should try to learn the classical form first before experimenting. Sort of like Picasso learning how to paint classically before painting in abstract form.

Each of the swimmers below grab and kick the water differently. To me all of them have created individual freestyle solutions to suit their strengths. Scott Hubbard, the second swimmer, uses his right arm like a "Venician Gondolier" uses a oar for leverage and momentum. Christopher Beach has a very symmetrical stroke and it is very harmonious and graceful; I like his rotation too. Erik Hochstein's kick makes a distinct "thumping noise", He has a long reach and nice glide phase. I bet he could kick a 50 faster than I could swim one.

I now believe that freestyle should not be a "cookie-cutter" type of stroke when one style fits all but rather a stroke that is designed for the particular individual's strengths.

UCLA Bruins Master Swim Meet Movie

UCLA Bruins Masters Swim Meet
Uploaded by groovydoo

'The UCLA Bruins Master Swim Meet' movie is completed and I am now rendering a final version for uploading

Spent all evening on the "title" and "backplate" but the video is finished. As I type this the film is rendering out to a Quicktime file for uploading to both You Tube and Daily Motion. The uploads will take about 2 hours and I will try to have this up before noon tomorrow; emphasis on the word try.

Erratum: There will be only one national record being set on this video since the first was incomplete. Another issue, I refused to put my race in this video but two particular people in my life insisted so I compromised; I am in the video for 2 seconds.

Also, "I PROMISE I WILL USE A TRIPOD NEXT TIME." I am so tired of trying to make chicken poop into chicken soup that I will never shoot a race again with out a tripod. It's not fair to the person your filming who wants to study their technique and it makes me look bad.

A rerun of the Hayden/Magnini tie in the 100m free at 2007 World Championships

Look at the ferocity of this swim; you would think they were swimming just 50 meters.

Aaron Perisol likes to body surf!

I bet Aaron's coach gasped in horror when he saw this at the GoSwim site or perhaps something along these lines: "Me Money! There goes me money" -- Mr. Krab from SpongeBob SquarePants

The Laure Manaudou "drama" extends into the 200 Backstroke event.

Laure Manadou has left her French coach back in France and has adopted an Italian coach in Italy. (If you have saw the earlier post where I discuss him, you will not that he is a snappy dresser) Her nationality remains French but her training ethos is Italian. Ultimately this is the moral equivalent of South African swimmer, Roland Schoeman, training in the United States. It no big deal to me and I wish him well for it reflects well for my country.

I don't know what the French think of this but according to Swim News Online that Laure Manaudou has avoided swimming the 200 back because her former training partner, Esther Baron, swam that event. Now that Manaudou is free from the socio/politico issues with her former coach, Philippe Lucas, she will challenge the 200m backstroke world record at the behest of her new coach and snappy dresser, Paolo Penso. This record was set in 1991 by Krisztina Egerszegi in a time of 2:06.91 Let it be known that Laure Manaudou has a sub one-minute 100m Backstroke. Article snippet:

Paolo Penso, the new coach of Laure Manaudou, has thrown the gauntlet back at former coach Philippe Lucas: On June 1 in Modena, the world and Olympic champion freestyler will extend her repertoire to 200m backstroke, over which former Canet teammate and friend Esther Baron is European champion.

The move, announced in L'Equipe today, comes a day after Lucas cast doubts over the ethical welfare of his former star and suggested that he was ready to "destabilise" Manaudou in time for the Beijing Olympic Games by helping other women swimmers match her speed and tactics on freestyle. [Link]

The UCLA Bruins Master Swim Meet video is done but I want to add a swanky title graphic and nice bumper

The movie will probably go live Monday evening California time. I want to make an opening title and a closing bumper for it and that is the hold up. There are many more swimmers in this video than the last video and I include a a national record setting swim by Team TYR in the 800 Free relay.

What is so frustrating is that I spent hours syncing my edits to specific beats in the song I picked but after it gets on You Tube or Daily Motion I know the extreme video compression will make the sound go out of sync after the first minute or two. I wish I could hand all of you a high resolution DVD.

Back from the pier-to-pier swim with Anthony - That was a hard swim

Anthony stormed it! He beat me to the beach by 2-minutes-plus; the guy has a "Ferrari" for a heart. It was a difficult swim today; foggy, moderate swell and a high tide.

We started off with a pod of other swimmers, some wearing L.A. Tri caps so I figured we would drop them since triathletes focus their attention on three sports rather than one. Two-miles later when I was coming into shore I switched to an occasional backstroke to make sure a surprise wave wouldn't overtake me. As soon as I go into backstroke-mode I see that same pod of swimmers a body length behind me. When I get to the beach it turns out several of them were SCAQ swimmers; I didn't recognize any of them since SCAQ is a huge club, but Anthony did.

I brought my camera but I forgot to take pictures.

Pier-to-pier this morning with Anthony

This picture was taken at 6:17 AM this morning. Hermosa Pier is on the left and Manhattan Pier is on the right. Look at all the moisture in the air. That means spotting landmarks is going to suck. Photos brought to you by "watchthewater.org" which features web cams on most or all of L.A. beaches.

Anthony and I will swim the two-mile length this morning as a training swim for Alcatraz Sharkfest swim that we will be doing in June. I will wear a wet-suit but Anthony won't. Side note, Mark told me he saw Anthony on a re-run episode of Seinfeld; he was Elaine's boyfriend.

I have edited 1:27 of the UCLA Masters Swim Meet Movie so far

I am hopeful for Monday morning but only hopeful. When it is finally posted you will see two national records set by Team TYR.

A brainless editorial over at FOX Sports regarding Amanda Beard posing naked for Playboy

Article Title: The naked truth: Beard not hurting sports by Michael Rosenberg [Link]

The author sets up a "straw-man" argument stating that critics believe Amanda Beard is hurting women's sports by posing nude. Then the [...] author knocks his "straw-man" down with an anemic conclusion which summarily concludes that since Amanda will not be the prettiest model in Playboy, individuals will buy the magazine because Amanda Beard has been a sports star for the past 11 years, ergo, her sport is the focal point not her nudity.

I am one of the few out in the wilderness of public opinion who feel this is nothing short of a "skanky" business decision on her part. I think it will distract attention away from Kate Ziegler', Natalie Coughlin, Katie Hoff' and other US Olympians in 2008 since the focal point in Beijing will be Amanda Beard's nude body in Playboy rather than the accomplishments of the US Women's Swim Team.

[...]

"The Vanderbilt Y Masters" blog has entered the building

I found the coolest blog; well actually, the coolest blog found me. This site covers swimming in the New York area and has some really good event info on local aquatics stuff. Such as: They are building a yummy indoor pool in Queens that features a post modernist feel. Snippet from the blog:

• The building is uniquely designed with a cable supported roof system that will allow for potential expansion to a larger venue...The pool and diving tank will be on the second floor with dramatic views of the park. The movable floor makes the Olympic-sized pool very flexible, creating the potential to have recreational swimming and competitive events simultaneously. An outdoor terrace will be accessible from the pool deck." [Link]

The post references a New York Magazine article as well.

Bookmark The Vanderbilt Y Masters blog: [Link]

Check out this floating pool in New York

The boat pictured above has be christened The Floating Pool Lady by it's owners, The Neptune Foundation. This foundation was founded in 1999 by Ann Buttenwieser to created a transportable water front to serve low income communities.

This concept is so generous and so vital since most drownings occur in underserved neighborhoods due to a lack of property tax revenue or engaged voters.

It will be moored in Brooklyn on July 4th.

The original heads up and posting can be seen on Vanderbilt Y Masters blog.

Laure Manadou has switched coaches and here is a look at what he is having her do

Can you do a set of 400s LCM on the 4:40? Laure Manaudou is. She also has a nutritionist hooking her up with a diet, something she never had in France. She will be lifting weights with a football team in Turin, Italy and she will train in both in long course meters and short course meter pools.

The SCM pool with be used for technical work which really means starts and turns. Turns is what Laure could improve if she wants to do a sub four-minute 400. At World Championships she breathed off every turn. Maybe this is good but Michael Phelps has redefined the freestyle making it a hybrid event now with butterfly being the dominant underwater stroke.

Snippet from the article:

• Alongside Manaudou in a technical training set in a 25-metre pool in the morning were Chiara Boggiatto and relative unknowns, Erika Buratto, Alice Gianesini, Roberta Ioppi. No-one, in effect, who might challenge Manaudou. "At the moment, Laure will do the same sessions as the other girls," said Penso. ...

• Penso is then quoted as saying something rather curious: "She swam all the 400s crawl today in less than 4:40. That's very positive." 4:40? I have personally witnessed Manaudou undertaking a set of multiple 400s in times much, much, much faster. Maybe he meant in the context of making up for lost time, Manaudou having broken her season with a 5-6-week break that must surely have set back her preparations for Beijing 2008 - that's a few weeks less training than Ziegler, Shibata, Jêdrzejczak, Hoff et al. It may all count for much in the end. [Link]

Former open water star Susie Maroney Beat Cerebral Palsy Through Swimming

I endorsed this story as credible. I have seen kids with CP nearly relax their afflicted body part after getting out of a pool.

• Susie Maroney, the Australian open water medallist who holds the fastest time ever for a double crossing of the English Channel, today revealed that she and her twin brother were born with cerebral palsy but fought the condition and won using swimming as their biggest medical weapon.

• Now 32, Maroney told Australian reporters that she had kept the condition a secret in her youth for fear of being ridiculed.

• "You'd be winning at a school swimming carnival but you'd still get picked on. So I've never talked about it," says the swimmer in a widely reported magazine article. [Link]
  

Both Susie and her brother went on to become Ironman triathletes

Philippe Lucas, Laure Manaudou's former coach, insults Italy, Manaudou, and a Dutch football team in one breath

Philippe Lucas coached Manaudou and made her the champion that she is. He deserves that credit utterly and completely. However, his histrionic rants regarding Laure Manaudou's integrity and the ethical nature of Italian doctors borders upon the irrational. Snippet from Swim News:

• In comments that will go down like a lead balloon in Turin, Lucas, asked by L'Equipe if he was worried for his former charge, he said: "Frankly? It drives me mad. I'm worried for one sole reason: ethics. Laure has always been a self-conscious girl. And there (in Turin), at the medical level, there's an air of danger when ... you see the doctors who will be watching over her (the French newspaper then places in parenthesis the words 'the old medicine of the football club Juventus'). The structure is unclear. We can't tell where this will lead her. She doesn't even know herself who will coach her. That's alarming!" [Link]

Manaudou's comments were more measured reassuring the public she wasweight training and swimming and that all was good.

My money is still on Kate Ziegler due to all of this drama surrounding her.

Was on jury duty today hence the lack of postings

Forty-eight jurors were called into the court room with I being one of them and then the process of selecting twelve jurors and three alternate jurors began. It's astonishing to me what people will enter into the public record to get out of jury duty. Today three people admitted they were racist, two admitted they couldn't understand English despite an amazing vocabulary, and at least 4 people said that it is perfectly acceptable to slug someone if a conversation goes bad. I suspect none of the people mentioned above believed a single word they said yet they all got dismissed. I hope one of them tries to run for congress someday and this public record gets outed.

As each crowd of liars was dismissed I wanted to stand up and shout to Judge Stone of the Beverly Hills Court and all the lawyers therein, "Dude, you guys deal with liars all day long and these guys were the worst set of actors I have ever seen. Don't let them get away with this bologna!" But then they would call another 6 people from our pod of jurors and each time I barely missed getting picked as a replacement. By the end of the day they had their jury set and I along with 10 people left from our pool of forty-eight potential jurors were allowed to go home.

Kates Ziegler breaks water

Kate Ziegler will be both the new Laure Manadou and Grant Hackett in Beijing. I think she is unbeatable in the 1500, and the 400. I don't know what her third event is; the 800?

I found out today after asking a coach who knew Janet Evans as to how much yardage she put in. He replied 10k a workout. Then he clarified that she did doubles. That's right, 20k a day. Laure was asked to do 15 to 17 a day and she felt that was to much. (I do too.)

This Jason Lezak photo is stunning!

This guy has beaten Cullen Jones. Note that his elbow is higher than his hand, he is looking up instead of down and there is little wake turbulence. From his website photo gallery: [Link]

Meet the new Laure Manaudou, the one in the middle standing next to the old Laure Manaudou

Her name is Kate Ziegler and she is the new Laure Manaudou. Laure Manaudou will zero out her aerobic ability to that of an average mortal in three months time if she doesn't keep swimming. I suspect it would take weeks for her move her stuff, get the coach she wants, a pool she likes, and a routine that is as productive as it needs to be to perform at that level.

If she didn't move for love, then she should have come to Los Angeles and trained with me... err, or Dave Salo at USC. No one would have cared who she was and the focus could have been more centered.

For now the new number one women's distance swimmer is Kate Ziegler. Here is her bio from US Swimming: [Link]

This is my RSS news feed URL

For those of you that know what an RSS news feed is here is my URL: http://scaq.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default You can copy/paste this into your newsreader news page at Google or Yahoo. (That is an RSS icon to the right)

For those of you that don't know what RSS is, please read this explanation from "What-is-RSS-Dot-Com: [Link]

RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.

An RSS newsreader is:

Feed Reader or News Aggregator software allow you to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them for you to read and use. [You can look at headlines from all the news source feeds tyou have collected all on a single news page such as My Yahoo or a your personalized Google page. I use both sites]]

A variety of RSS Readers are available for different platforms. Some popular feed readers include Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows - integrates with Outlook). There are also a number of web-based feed readers available. My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader are popular web-based feed readers.

RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site's email newsletter. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is growing rapidly and includes big names like Yahoo News.

The "real reason" why Manaudou left for Italy

Manaudou gave an interview to an Italian newspaper. Suddeny it is not about love; (Yeah right), and now it's about workout intensity:

• "...La Stampa quoted Manaudou as saying the training sessions had become too much for her.

• "Physically I could not take Lucas' training sessions anymore. I was about to explode," the Frenchwoman told the Italian newspaper.

• Manaudou, who is the reigning Olympic champion over 400m freestyle as well as world record holder in both the 200m and 400m freestyle, would swim between 15km and 17km a day under Lucas regime. ..." [Link]
  

Swimming that far each day is the aerobic equal to running a marathon every single day? I suspect that the heart can only get so strong and then swimming becomes superfluous and produces negative attitudes. I heard that Janet Evans "only" swam 10k a day.

Small pro bono piece for my swim club - I will edit the UCLA movie some more tomorrow

It will be a small ad the size of a business card placed in a parenting magazine called the Daisy Chain.

Cool Pool Artwork

I found Robert Vogland's work on Drawn.ca. The Finding Nemo characters were commissioned by the President of Pixar, Dr. Ed Catmull’s, for his very own pool. Here is a link to all of the Finding Nemo pool characters: [Link]

Scary headline out of Australia: "Everybody out of the pool, cricket has bowled us over"

Cricket is now the the favorite sport of Australia. Snippet:

• According to a nationwide survey, cricket has engaged the hearts of 59 per cent of the population, surpassing swimming at 57 per cent and Australian rules with 56 per cent.

• The latest edition of the Sweeney sports report revealed that for the first time in the survey's 21-year history, cricket eclipsed swimming, which has been rated as the most popular or equally most popular sport (with Australian rules) since 1991. [Link] [More] [Even more] [Still more]
  

The ice skating fan base has dissipated so much that world championship events can barely find sponsors to advertise or even venues to skate in. Contrast this to how well the sport was adored in the previous decades where champions like Dorothy Hamill, Oksana Baiul, Michelle Kwan, and Scott Hamilton were household names; the public has lost interest. This is even effecting such sports as tennis, hockey and even running. I would hate to see swimming go under the radar in Australia.

This planet needs a "Youth Olympics" to get kids intersted in sports, away from the TV and socializing in "real life" rather than 2nd Life. Here is a link to an article that states a Youth Olympics may take place in 2010: [Link]

More Manaudou drama: A private jet, a lawyer and a French coach who wants to talk

Here is a link to a Swim News article with a fast, gossipy, paragraph about it: [Link]

Here is a Eurosport article regarding her pledge of allegiance to France and her desire to swim for France and only France: [link]

Imagine how much trouble our swimmers, or our Olympic team for that matter, would get itself into if our athletes had the same media scrutiny that France and Australia put on their athletes? Tons of trouble.

Two hours ago Laure Manaudou said in a press conference that she is moving to Italy to train and be with her boyfriend thus leaving her coach as well. Looks like Kate Ziegler is the Olympic favorite in any event she swims. [Link]

Spent 1 hour on 5 seconds of footage

I am using Apple's iMovie to edit the UCLA Bruins Master Swim Meet video and I am really pushing the program father than it is suppose to go. I am going to have to take this film into Adobe After Effects or Final Cut Pro if I want to get the presentation the way I would like.

Though my hand was more steady this time than last time and that I filmed from better viewpoints, I am not satisfied yet with the product. Presentation is everything; I learned that 12 years ago, and I want this film to be leaps and bounds better than the first.

Two National records will be included and more SCAQ swimmers than last time though I did miss Steve but next time I will film him for sure.

"Amanda Beard Jumps the shark!" - Will pose for Playboy

The term, jump the shark is a metaphor that was originally coined after the character Fonzie, in the TV show Happy Days, jumped over a shark while water-skiing in a fresh water lake. When a TV show does something this ridiculous, it usually denotes that the show has lost it's way creatively and has now become a waste of time to view. The metaphor works for other endeavors as well.

And speak of the devil, here comes one of those endeavors now: Amanda Beard is going to pose in Playboy magazine and I doubt she is doing it for art's sake but rather for George Washington's sake.

With Nationals just a year or so away, it appears to my cynical eye that she is leveraging as many financial opportunities as she possibly can in the short term for if she can't make the US Olympic team in 2008, or fails to medal if she does, she will have a lot less equity with Speedo or whoever else she is signed with. Hence, "jump the shark", make the quick buck, and exit with a bang seems to me to be the motive.

I think this behavior; (putting sensational publicity and financial obligations in front of one's training), indicates that she may not make the Olympic team. However, if she does make it, the United States will have a Playboy Bunny representing us in the breaststroke. How apropos! [Link]

Breaststroke articles and explanations

Breaststroke Breakthrough - Terry Laughlin. This article is a bit dated; circa 1999. I believe breaststroke has gone through some more changes excluding the new dolphin kick turn. Lots of step-by-step photos here. [Link]

Here is the most in depth article I have ever seen on a particular stroke. It has several videos, illustrations, measurements, statistics, charts and a detailed bibliography. It's called: Diagnosing and Estimating the Best Breaststroke Style for each Swimmer Based on Physical Characteristics -- K.U.Leuven. [Link]

Here is a Science related article about the breaststroke, A new index of flat breaststroke propulsion: A comparison of elite men and women. Guess what? Men are faster in a sprint. [Link]

Manaudou soap opera continues: "Manaudou Wants Marin's Baby"

Now it's getting multinational in that Italy can't or won't train her unless... Snippet from Swim News:

• Marin's coach and Italian head coach Alberto Castagnetti, one of the world's leading swim mentors for many years, has already ruled out adding Manaudou to his charges and has called on common sense to prevail. "Our federation categorically wants to avoid any problems with the French federation and I am totally in agreement with that," he said. "If on the other hand Manaudou takes Italian nationality, that would be different." [Link]
  

Remember that Manadou is the French swimmer that broke Janet Evans' 400m record so she is considered a French national asset.

This "soap opera" is like Romeo and Juliet, The Hatfields' and the McCoys', and Tristan and Isolde all within a lane line.

"UCLA Bruins Masters Swim Meet" is now being edited

I imported the UCLA Bruins Masters Swim Meet footage into the computer tonight and I am happy to say that I successfully filmed 2 national records therein. Everybody's swims came out well. Dan Leonard filmed me swimming a 50 free and after seeing myself on a starting-block I will consequently start starving myself tomorrow. (I got even by filming his 100 fly.)

I picked a song for the video called Rapture by the band iio. It's off of their album Poetica. It works well and you can get the song on iTunes.

Swim music is a lot of fun to look for.

Tsunami time map

Hypothetical: You want to do an open water race in the Southern California area such as the Pier-to-Pier swim, the Play Del Run, maybe the La Jolla Rough Water Swim. Perhaps you live as far away as Australia and you too have a swim lined up.

However, a nasty earthquake occurred in Alaska 3 hours before your event and a subsequent tsunami is heading towards your town. So, you really want to do this race but how many hours of racing can you get in before you have to run to higher ground? Well, this Tsunami time map from Moon River will tell you: [link]

More historical tsunami time maps and explanations: [Link]

Manuadou drops coach, moves to Italy! Coach is pissed, insults her integrity in public

Laure Manaudou, perhaps the greatest female distance swimmer of all time if she can beat Ziegler, is in love with an Italian swimmer named Luca Marin. So much so that she has split with her coach and moved to Italy to be with him. That's Manaudou to thge right wearing her boyfriends Italian cap during the European Short Course Meters Championships. (She is French and sponsored by TYR whereas her boyfriend is sponsored by Arena. Needless to say there was some dram when she raced with it) From Eurosport:

• The 21-year-old, who won two golds, two silvers and a bronze at the World Championships in Melbourne last month as well as being named the outstanding female swimmer of the championships, is expected to make a statement about her future on Tuesday. [Link]

Swim News qoutes coach and swimmer:

• "She said goodbye to me," said Manaudou's friend and teammate Esther Baron. How long will that friendship last, one wonders: if Manaudou decides, the legendary best of Egerszegi will come under threat over 200m backstroke, let alone the high standard achieved by Baron, European champion for France last year. Assuming, of course, that Manaudou's march to the pantheon continues without Lucas.

• Lucas is reported to have said to Manaudou: "She has no head for swimming because of her personal problems". [Ass! You don't say that in public!- Tony] Link

Shakespeare's take on Manaudou: " Love goes toward love."

George Bernard Shaw's take on Manaudou: "Youth is wasted on the young."

Swim workout links

Swim.net Workout Archive: Link
Go Swim Practices: Link
Swim World find a workout: Link
Swim Workouts by Olympic Champions: Link
Swimming World - Swim Workouts and Technique: Link

Nicolas Sarkozy will allow Manaudou to swim in Beijing

Nicolas Sarkozy, dubbed "The American" by his critics, has been elected the President of France. France will send an Olympic team to Beijing and there will be no French Olympic boycott as meekly suggested by his opponent Segolene Royal.

I suppose calling a presidential candidate in France an "American" is a slur. I never got European insults. When they would call Ronald Reagan a "cowboy"; I am sure many people in this country took it as a sublime compliment.

Go jury duty! Go Directly to jury duty! Don't go to work! Don't collect $200

I have been summons by the City of Beverly Hills to report for jury duty on Monday, May 7th. I have a feeling this is going to be a terrible experience and knowing my luck I will probably get pick to sit on either a death penalty case or a tragic, tabloid, rape case. Like I don't have enough drama in my life. Monday will be a slow blog day for me.

Pier to pier swim went well

I wore a wetsuit this morning but Anthony didn't. I shiver more when I get out of an 80-degree-pool then he does when getting out of a 61 degree ocean. (Hermosa Beach stats for today: [Link])

We swam side-by-side and each of us thought we were holding the other back so we kept swimming like it was a descending interval. Ultimately, I personally swam pier-pier faster than I ever have; something like 45-50 minutes. (My surf skills got me to the beach first but I was in a wetsuit.)

We will be there next Sunday!

I am swimming from Hermosa Pier to Manhattan Pier this morning

I will be meeting another SCAQ swimmer there named Anthony. I am so sore from doing all those sprints yesterday at the meet too. I feel like the Marque de Sade gave me a Swedish massage with a KGB era truncheon.

To the right left is a picture of Hermosa Beach Pier and to the left right is the Manhattan Beach Pier taken this morning at around 6:30 this morning. I got the images at watchthewater.org which features web cams along with surf/water info including air temps for just about every beach in Los Angeles: [link] Now fill in 2 miles of water in between these pictures and that is my workout for today.

What a meet: Team Tyr stormed 2 national records and SCAQ did great!

UCLA Bruin Masters Meet short recap: Team TYR; (this blogs favorite brand), set two National records in both the 400-yard freestyle relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay. After I filmed the 400 relay, I turned to a girl with strawberry-blond hair sitting behind me and I ask if they broke the record, she relied, "Yes, by 8 seconds." I am deaf in my left ear so I asked her to repeat it and she said, "8 seconds." When your deaf you get yelled in an exasperated fashion if you ask people to repeat something too many times so I cheerfully acknowledged and walked away thinking I must have heard one-eighth-of-a-second since 8 seconds is HUGE!

When I bumped into Dan Leonard I asked him if they broke the record by an eighth-of-a-second, he said, "No!, it was 8 seconds." ...That's HUGE!

Michael Phelps, Amanda Beard, and Ian Crocker are signed with Team "Speedo." However, Michael Phelps swims in Michigan, Amanda Beard at USC, and Ian Crocker in Texas with Eddie Reese. There is no Team Speedo pool where they all get Speedo coaching and swim inside Speedo water. The same goes with Team TYR.

I can say with certainty that these Team TYR members: Dan, Erik, and Scott, swim, and/or coach at my swimming club, Southern California Aquatics. I appreciate their accomplishments, their advice and it was thrilling watching them do it.

I didn't get to meet "the 17th man" but I did see his 100 fly time and his 100 fly beat my 100 free time by a second. Go look at his blog for details including his insane workouts. Support swim blogs by visiting their sponsors too.

My personal times were slow today, I blame it on a lousy warm-up and a couple of silly mistakes. I still had fun though.

A UCLA Bruin Masters Meet movie is coming!!!

I am posting this again as a reminder how much fun swim meets are

2007 SPMA Regionals at Santa Clarita
Uploaded by groovydoo

Here are some swims from the 2007 SPMA Regionals swim meet. I am not happy with the compression quality of these "video sharing sites" so I am going to post a much cleaner, more clear version to one of my own sites in the next day or two. For now, this is a sample of how the day went. Enjoy. :-)

UCLA Meet Tomorrow! Just go and be there before 10:00!

Directions & Parking: UCLA Student Activity Center (formerly The Men’s Gym Pool) on the UCLA campus, is an outdoor, 8-lane competition pool with a warm-up area. Take the 405 Freeway to Sunset Blvd. east. Take Sunset approx. one mile to Westwood Plaza . Turn right into the campus to parking kiosk and inquire about parking. Ask for best lot to park in for Men's Gym. The pool is located across from the campus food court and bookstore. NOTE: Parking enforcement does ticket on weekends! [Link]

Triathlons are biased towards runners and biased against swimmers

I did the the Ironman in 1983 in Kona, Hawaii; (Thank you Julie Moss). After the race, Valerie Silk, the official Ironman race founder, told me that the first ever Ironman was a race between friends to settle a bet as to which athlete was the most superior: The swimmer, the cyclist or runner? (the swimmer won.) With that concept in mind or keeping with the spirit of the race, the distances in a triathlon should be calculated in terms of time/distance for fairness.

A fair triathlon would have the following distances or distances determined by using these proportions: 1.5 kilometer swim (1 mile), 25 Kilometer bike (15 miles), 5 Kilometer run (3.2 miles)

An elite athlete in any of these events could finish in a time of around 15 minutes. Ergo the race would require all around athletes rather than running and biking specialists. This to me would improve the sport of triathlon greatly. It would be a fair race and make the finishes much more exciting with racers much closer together throughout a competition. It would also determine which sport produces the greater athlete. But readers of this blog all ready know the answer to that: The swimmer would win.

Sigh! Our sport, among many others, is awash in dope

WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) to target drug suppliers. From Sports Illustrated:

• ... Howman praised Operation Gear Grinder, in which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005 shut down eight companies illegally producing anabolic steroids in Mexico. The DEA has since been working with WADA and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Howman said. [Link]

From a link I found on, Timed Finals, to The Daily Telegraph which mentioned that Australian swimmers have be warned about some "fishy" levels of testosterone in their bodies:

• In a significant development in the Ian Thorpe drug investigation, The Saturday Daily Telegraph has learned the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency issued warnings to star athletes over high testosterone levels. [Link]

This article breaks down how the Conte/BALCO steroid ring was broken up with a reference to, Matt Biondi, who NEVER doped, but endorsed BALCO in the 1980's after taking their magnesium supplements only. His endorsement brought early fame to the group who later used his endorsement for credibility concerns.

In the 1990's BALCO morphed into a de facto steroid ring hiring a chemist back east to create a steroid called the "The Clear" which was undetectable till a syringe was found and sent to WADA so the chemical therein could be cataloged and deciphered.

• Moriarity traces the beginning of the end for BALCO to August 2002 when cyclist Tammy Thomas was busted with so much extra testosterone racing around in her system that she had a 5 o'clock shadow, a hint of an Adam's apple and chest hair.

• But what was really surprising was the presence in her test of a steroid called norbolethone, which was not then being marketed by legitimate commercial labs. [Link]

An article about Ian Thorpe controversy from FOX News Australia and a direct quote from Dick Pound, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency regarding Chinese testing:

• Thorpe has been asked for a "please explain" by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority on abnormal levels of testosterone after a sample taken 12 months ago. ...

• "In Australia, which has 20 million inhabitants, they did 8000 tests during 2005 and China did about the same number," Pound said. "Proportionately, our view was that was not adequate on the part of the Chinese." [Link]

*The pictue above is a model of a testosterone molecule

Swimming Students Learn Strokes From Machine Teacher (Nov, 1931)

Didn't the first Frankenstein movie come out in 1931? This "thingy" looks like a prop from the movie Saw! [Link]

Scott Hubbard Sprint Workout

Dimitriy asked me not to post any of his "secret sauce" workouts anymore when I swim at VNSO or Santa Monica City College. So, these workouts are taken from the the SCAQ library. I am swimming with bronze medalist, Erik H. on Saturdays afternoons after this upcoming meet and I will post his workouts and advice.

Sprint 3,600 LC Meters
Designed by Scott Hubbard
4/27/07 Culver City

Warm Up (900):

• 300 free
• 300 (100k/100stroke/100free)
• 300 (100 easy/50 fast),

Main Set (2700)

• 6 x 200 @ 3:00/2:50/2:40/2:40/2:50/3:00
• 6 x (50 fly @ :40/100 free @ 1:40)
• 6x100 @ 2:00 "rabbit races"

• On the last 6 100's, the lane reverses order and the last person goes first every time. The goal is to catch the person in front of you!

Psyche Sheets for 2007 Short Course National Championships have been posted

Yes, the psyche sheets depressed me too. Above is where the meet will take place.

• Psych Sheets are available below for all individual events. All events except for the 400 IM and the 500, 1000 and 1650 Freestyle will be pre-seeded and heat sheets will be available here by May 7 for pre-seeded events. The heat sheets for the deck-seeded events will be available at the pool deck for swimmers after the check-in deadlines. [Link]

UCLA Bruin Masters Meet May 5th.

UPDATE: Erik noted that "... There is a second Warm-up after the 500 Free (which is the first event). The deck entries close at 10:00 AM - so anybody arriving at 9:30 will still be able to sign up and warm up for the meet. ..." Be there and I will video you if you would like.

Warm up 8:00 AM (Ouch!) - Meet starts at 9:00 a.m. Deck entries okay.

Directions & Parking: UCLA Student Activity Center (formerly The Men’s Gym Pool) on the UCLA campus, is an outdoor, 8-lane competition pool with a warm-up area. Take the 405 Freeway to Sunset Blvd. east. Take Sunset approx. one mile to Westwood Plaza . Turn right into the campus to parking kiosk and inquire about parking. Ask for best lot to park in for Men's Gym. The pool is located across from the campus food court and bookstore. NOTE: Parking enforcement does ticket on weekends!

My events:
50 SCY Free: 26.8
50 SCY Fly: 35.99 - (I need a lap counter, a bell ringer, a compass and some directions, please?)
100 SCY Free: 59.8
100 SCY IM: 1:19.34 - ( I need a Tom Tom GPS system, a canoe and water wings, please?)

Details at SPMA: [Link]

Ian Crocker keeps his elbows high and leads with his head

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]

Avoiding shoulder pain

Every now and then I develop some shoulder pain in my right shoulder. I breath to the left side mostly and shoulder pain is usually due to a technique deficit like crossing over in front of your head or other circumstances.

I had Clay Evans; founder of SCAQ, watch me swim and he said that when I get tired I put undue leverage on my right shoulder by pushing water down instead of back. He said I am pushing the water down like a fulcrum to facilitate a breath rather than to facilitate moving forward.

I told him I am going to put this on the blog and he said he would look at anyone's stroke if they come to one of his workouts. This includes non-SCAQ swimmers as well. (310) 390-5700

Will Manaudou swim at the Olympics?

The French election is this weekend I believe. In France they have one guy on the right; (Nicolas Sarkozy), who his critics have dubbed "the American"; which I suppose is considered to be a nasty insult in France. Then you have Segolene Royal, who is easy to look at but actually praised the efficiency of the Chinese legal system and said it with a straight face. [Link]

As of now, Segolene is still considering a boycott of the Olympics and she is gaining in the polls. [Link]

Update: This from the debate coverage, "I don't think the French choose a president on the lone impression that they'll have after a two-hour debate," Hollande told France-Inter radio Wednesday before the television appearance.

[Tony's take: Americans do it the "American Way"! We take 2 minutes if it is a really good TV commercial.]

Swim News - World Rankings

Swim News is a site I go to at least a couple times a week. I am trying to get a news feed from them to put into this blog.

If you go to this page, just click a button in your favorite event and see who is king or queen. I clicked the men's 50m LCM and Wildman Tobriner is rated number one followed by Cullen Jones. Now, isn't Wildman a great name for a 50 free swimmer? [Link]

I did a sprint workout last sunday and I learned a cool start drill

I have fast reflexes but when I dive into the water my body resembles a starfish more so than a tight streamline. (That is me to the right.)

Bonnie Adair, the head coach of LMU Women's swimming, had me do a start drill so as to improve my streamline. She had me dive into the water with a pull buoy between my legs and the object was not to let it fall out. If you do it right you will maintain a tight streamline with your legs, pressed together and hydrodynamic. If you do it wrong, and you are a man... Well; I will phrase it this way, it could bump into your $1.50 if it flies out. Ultimately you are rewarded if you streamline and unrewarded if you are not.

I love serendipity: Look what I found

When looking for an image of Ian Thorpe for the post below, I found this deconstruction of Ian Thorpe's stroke. [Link]

Article: "How to Swim With Your Body - Not With Your Arms" by Terry Laughlin

"Whoops-a daisy": edits ahead in the fifth paragraph!

I am convinced that swimming is both an art and a science and what is ironic is that I have a; er..., "sketchy" stroke and I am about to give an opinion regarding freestyle.

Over at Timed Finals there is an article on Freestyle by Terry Laughlin discussing how to swim with your core. Snippet:

• Consider this… as the core is rotating so that the right shoulder is rising, it is pulling the upper arm along with it. The upper arm is pulling the forearm and hand through the catch. It is NOT the hand that initiates the pull or the propulsion, it is the CORE. If that is the case, should not the kick be timed to assist the core rather than the hand? When the timing is right, not only does the core drive the extensions called arms… it drives the extensions called legs. ALL of the body becomes involved in the stroke if it comes from the core. [Link]
  

After reading this article and then Erik Hochstein's comment, I remembered in one of my art anatomy books; (Art Anatomy by William Rimmer 1877), there is a page where 12 different body types, all of them male, were illustrated. Each body type varied from longer torsos and curved spines to more linear figures that you would see in a ballet rather than a 100 meter dash.

Also noted is that women have proportionately longer legs than men but proportionately shorter arms. That females also have less elongated torsos because they have one less rib. [Boy is my face red. Both men and women have the save amount of ribs but the floating ribs on a woman are much smaller and placed closer together. The extension a man has is what frames the male torso.] (That floating rib that men have truly frames their core strength.) Refference: [Link]

With all that in mind, if you compare Janet Evans', Laure Manaudou's, or Kate Ziegler's, stroke to that of Grant Hackett or Ian Thorpe you will notice that there is no Glide phase in these women's strokes but rather constant motion. You will see that they swim with a windmill or kayak stroke whereas Grant or Ian use their longer arms and perhaps core strength to glide.

Subsequently I am convinced that each body type swims in a different way and that no "official technique" can be imposed but rather modified to that person's needs and abilities.

Jazz is a perfect example. Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz and John Coltrane all played the tenor sax. All played with perfect pitch but all have a different sound.