Swimming treated unfairly compared to Track & Field
Former Member
We have had this discussion before, but I've been watching US Trials in Track and getting indignant all over again over 3 competitors qualifying for Olys in Track compared to Swimming. Yes, I know the history of the limitation to 2 in Swimming, but the world has changed and there are certainly other countries that could send 3 world class competitors...anyway, compared to Track, we as a sport, are getting jobbed!
Allen is gotten the gist of this argument right. After the US and many other western nations boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games (opinion: for a specious reason), FINA (remember, the 100+ nation body with a one nation, one vote policy) proceeded to penalize the advanced swimming nations--most of whom boycotted those 1980 games--by reducing the number of individual competitors to two per event. This was done under the umbrella of "reducing the number of competitors". The IOC follows what its member federations recommend. Thirty-two years later, this rule is still in effect.
Personally, I think that an appropriate number of competitors per nation per event is three--equaling the number of medals--as long as each of the three competitors from one country achieves a high performance standard, much the way 'athletics' does. OK, this would be a compromise between maximum participation and giving smaller nations a chance, but I think that this is a feasible position. Given FINA politics, this is not feasible at all.
Allen is gotten the gist of this argument right. After the US and many other western nations boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games (opinion: for a specious reason), FINA (remember, the 100+ nation body with a one nation, one vote policy) proceeded to penalize the advanced swimming nations--most of whom boycotted those 1980 games--by reducing the number of individual competitors to two per event. This was done under the umbrella of "reducing the number of competitors". The IOC follows what its member federations recommend. Thirty-two years later, this rule is still in effect.
Personally, I think that an appropriate number of competitors per nation per event is three--equaling the number of medals--as long as each of the three competitors from one country achieves a high performance standard, much the way 'athletics' does. OK, this would be a compromise between maximum participation and giving smaller nations a chance, but I think that this is a feasible position. Given FINA politics, this is not feasible at all.
