No Whining Pledge

in hindsight he was definitely being an ass.I don’t know; it could just be a case of setting goals different than what the public expects, then showing disappointment for not achieving his goal. I believe his goal was a world record and that gold was a foregone conclusion. When he looked up to see he not only missed the record, but didn’t break 2:00, he honestly showed his disappointment. I’m sure in hindsight Rick would like to have appeared more gracious in his failure to achieve his goal. If you watch the Olympic Trials this June, look at the reactions of the third place finishers. Most will have just swum one of the fastest 20 times in the world, but almost everyone (except in the 100&200 Free) will have the same look of disappointment after failing to reach a goal as Rick.

I believe his goal was a world record and that gold was a foregone conclusion. I think the gold being a foregone conclusion was part of the problem. I agree with what Chris Stevenson said. You always need to remember that your disappointing time is probably faster than most people will ever swim.

Why do we whine? A little pity party for one when we don't do as well as we think we could have? I'm still young (compared to jadams, anyways :afraid:), and I am trusting more that sometimes, whether in swimming/work/family/life, the outcome is maybe more determined before my efforts are made than as a result of them. I still contend that that it is normal for us to evaluate our performances, and try to determine if there are areas that we can improve. I'm not convinced that this is whining, and actually might serve a more beneficial purpose in allowing others to tweak their own efforts. I agree that any disappointment we experience should not take away from the fact that we train and then show up at the start of the race. Show up. Swim fast. Have fun. :groovy:

I think the gold being a foregone conclusion was part of the problem. I agree with what Chris Stevenson said. You always need to remember that your disappointing time is probably faster than most people will ever swim.I completely agree. I’m just suggesting many folks aren’t that wise at 21.

Does anyone remember Rick Carey's reaction after winning an Olympic gold medal-but not breaking his own world record? He was obviously very disappointed immediately after the swim and took huge rafters of grief from the press for not suppressing those emotions. As I recall, the moment he touched the wall and practically before he even had time to look at the scoreboard the commentator said something like, "Oh, he's not going to be happy with that." And of course he wasn't. And then everybody jumped on him for not being graceful in his victory (even though nobody was surprised he was disappointed with his time).

I resolve not to whine about not being ready for the meet(inadequate training,inadequate taper,inadequate sleep,etc.) I resolve to not whine about feeling sick,hurt,sore etc. I resolve that no matter what I think about my swim,if someone says "good swim" I will graciously thank them. I resolve to be grateful to have the time and the money and the freedom to get to the meet at all. I resolve to be grateful to be healthy enough to finish my chosen events. If the event is a 400 IM, 200 fly, or 1500/1650, I resolve to be extra grateful! Life is good! If I don't hit my target time, I will allow myself a moment of disappointment, but I resolve to get over it before I get out of the pool.

Yes, I remember the Carey incident well. And it has its parallels in the masters world. I think maybe 10 years ago after someone came up to me after a swim and said something like "great job" and I grimaced and expressed something about how slow the swim was for me. Then I realized that I was far faster than the person attempting to congratulate me, and I was almost certainly acting like an arrogant so-and-so. If I thought my own swim was slow, I could imagine him wondering, his swimming ability was probably beyond contemptible in my view. So I do my best to smile and accept congratulations (and give them) gracefully no matter the result of the swim. Because, really, there are many many things in life that are worse than swimming more slowly than you expected.

Because, really, there are many many things in life that are worse than swimming more slowly than you expected. Amen to that. Skip

Y Because, really, there are many many things in life that are worse than swimming more slowly than you expected. Yes, so true. We get caught up in our little hobby but often fail to realize when we whine and complain it could be categorized as a first world problem.

As I recall, the moment he touched the wall and practically before he even had time to look at the scoreboard the commentator said something like, "Oh, he's not going to be happy with that." And of course he wasn't. And then everybody jumped on him for not being graceful in his victory (even though nobody was surprised he was disappointed with his time). I remember this well and I think Carey was so rapped up in lowering his WR from the Olympic Trials that he almost was beaten and could have been the victim to one of the great upsets in Olympic history. His prelim time was a 1:58.99 and he had just barely broken John Naber's Olympic record of 1:59.19 and was expected by his standards and others to break his own WR at 1:58.66 in the Olympic final. There was a swimmer in the finals named Fred Delcourt of France who had never gone under 2:04 and went 2:02.59 in the prelims to qualify second. This guy was not even ranked to make the consolation heats and he beat a lot great swimmers to be where he was. He swam for Florida and he placed 23rd in the 200 Back at the 1984 NCAA Championships and was about 5 seconds from the winning time which was by Rick Carey at 1:44.82 and nobody expected this guy or anyone to be with Carey in this race. Before the race, the TV commentators were wondering how much he would lower his World Record. At the start of the race, he got off to about a half a second lead on the first 50 and was a little off his WR. On the second 50, he actually lost ground to Delcourt but was still ahead of his pace for the WR. Carey expected to bury Delcourt on the 3rd 50 but actually was out split again was clinging to a .02 lead and out of the turn these swimmers were even until about 10 meters to go and Delcourt kind of died but still managed to drop to a 2:01.75 and Carey went 2:00.23 and he had to swim the race of his life and as hard as he could on the last 50 as he ever had because he was in complete shock of Delcourt. His last 50 was not that far off but his third 50 was 1.5 seconds slower than his WR swim. I have this race on tape and Jim Lampley and Mark Spitz were saying on the last 50 that he better quit worrying about setting a WR and just try to beat this guy for the gold medal. I think that is the reason why he was so upset because this unknown almost beat him and this is no way to start out the Olympics. Because of his actions in not acknowledging the crowd and walking around the with his head down during the ceremony and the deck walk, he was actually booed by the home country LA crowd. If you did not see this race and judging from the actions of both Carey and Delcourt, you would have thought Delcourt would have won. He did not swim as well as he wanted in the 100 Back but still won by a half second over David Wilson at 55.79 but was short of his World Record of 55.19 and the Olympic Record of 55.49 by John Naber. He led off the 400 Medley Relay in the prelims and went 55.60 and in the finals he finally went under the Olympic Record of 55.49 with a 55.41 for his lead off split. Rick Carey actually swam in the 1989 USMS Nationals and had won of the classic races of all time. Early in the meet, he won the 50 back by one tenth over his old teammate from Texas, Clay Britt. I remember at the meet they announced the last heat of the 100 Back in the 25-29 age group and Carey and Britt were side by side. All of the crowd got on there feet and it reminded me of when Hall and the Race Club swam in the 2004 Nationals. This race was tight all the way and this time Britt won by one tenth of a second. I remember when Britt got out of the pool, he had a long beard and I thought to myself he had extra drag and still won. Carey was gracious in defeat and was nothing like 1984.