Why is that Swimmer magazine never mentions 1988 Olympian Kirk Stackle in its coverage of Nationals? His name was again conspicuously absent from the list of Olympians who competed in Mesa. He won both the 100 *** and the 100 IM, by the way. Congratulations, Kirk.
Coaching 3 times a day takes what, 6 hours? Not saying, just saying. I could be wrong, but I think the "target" is actually your coach's type A, I don't do anything unless I am the very (very) best at it; it is a self-imposed target.
I'm not sure how Type A he is now. He's very laid back but I can see him not wanting to get in and go too much slower than his glory days. As for coaching, he's on the deck at least 6 hours plus he has to maintain a pool that our team runs plus does all the meet entries. He's working, easily 10 hours a day.
Kirk (Stackle) trains hard and competes hard. He and Roque Santos had some close races in Clovis. My point was that his status as an Olympian should have been acknowledged. I appreciate Laura's response.
My memory may be playing tricks on me, but even if it wasn't acknowledged in SWIMMER, I think the announcer definitely mentioned it during at least some of Stackle's races in Mesa. If anything, I think that is probably more important than post-meet mentions in SWIMMER.
I am of two minds about the issue. On the one hand, I think USMS has to fight a little bit against the notion that it is only for elite swimmers, especially at a venue like nationals. I don't want members who started swimming as adults to think they aren't welcome, or fast enough. Also (as this thread shows) the logistics can be daunting: if you acknowledge one, you feel like you have to catch them all, or risk offending someone.
On the other hand, it can certainly create some buzz, particularly (not meaning to be "ageist") with younger studs like Ed Moses. It was a lot of fun to watch him swim in Mesa.
On the one hand, I think USMS has to fight a little bit against the notion that it is only for elite swimmers, especially at a venue like nationals.
The flip-side to this is it could be pretty cool for the novices competing at Nationals to know they are competing in the same pool as some of the all-time greats in the sport.
It may be too much to ask, but are there any efforts to identify Olympians from other sports? Looks like other countries in swimming are covered, if only from self identification.
Until his untimely death (at a swim meet) a few years ago, Perry O'Brien (56, 60, 64 shot put) was a regular in Southern Pacific and at Nationals.
The list of Olympians in USMS is being constructed and will be up on the web site asap. It does contain Olympians from other sports and Parry is included as well as Dwight Stones.
Kirk (Stackle) trains hard and competes hard. He and Roque Santos had some close races in Clovis. My point was that his status as an Olympian should have been acknowledged. I appreciate Laura's response.
Just a thought, but maybe some of them might prefer to fly under the radar?
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That's why my coach won't compete now. He says he has a big target on his back. He's too busy coaching 3 practices a day to get in any quality training and doesn't want to swim too slow :D. But I'm still working on him....
My memory may be playing tricks on me, but even if it wasn't acknowledged in SWIMMER, I think the announcer definitely mentioned it during at least some of Stackle's races in Mesa. If anything, I think that is probably more important than post-meet mentions in SWIMMER.
Some of our teammates spoke to the announcer in Mesa; Kirk is proud of his status as an Olympian but would not have done it himself.
The flip-side to this is it could be pretty cool for the novices competing at Nationals to know they are competing in the same pool as some of the all-time greats in the sport.
Heck, some of us might even try to see how long we can keep up with them. That was my thinking at a meet where I was in a lane next to Chris S. We were swimming the 100 backstroke. I thought it would be cool to see how long I could keep up with him during the race. That thought changed as soon as we heard the starting beep. Chris was goooooooooooooooooooooooooone!
