pwb, your avatar is working! :applaud:
swimnews.com/.../9587
Back in 2009, USA Swimming shelved a campaign to replace the 800m with 1500m out of respect for Adlington and the 2012 hosts after the swimmer made it clear that she would want the chance to defend her 800m crown at home. But as the clock stops on August 3, Americans will press the IOC to call time on "gender inequality" in the pool in favour of bringing the race schedule for men and women in line for the first time since the fairer sex made its swimming debut at Stockholm in 1912.
They're tried a couple times now to get the men's 800M and women's 1500M free added, but keep hitting up against the IOC's desire to keep a tight hold on the total number of athletes invited to the Olympics. I think FINA might have had to even carve out the open water slots from the pool swimmer quota/hard cap.
A substitution of events is probably far more likely to get passed by the IOC than something that might open up the door to more athlete slots in a specific sport.
Any idea why they want to cap the no. of swimmers and other athletes? Seems counterintuitive to me, isn't the olympic concept to create worldwide harmony thru sport - inclusion and not exclusion would seem the better choice. Suppose the logistics and cost could be the reason.
They're tried a couple times now to get the men's 800M and women's 1500M free added, but keep hitting up against the IOC's desire to keep a tight hold on the total number of athletes invited to the Olympics. I think FINA might have had to even carve out the open water slots from the pool swimmer quota/hard cap.
A substitution of events is probably far more likely to get passed by the IOC than something that might open up the door to more athlete slots in a specific sport.
Any idea why they want to cap the no. of swimmers and other athletes? Seems counterintuitive to me, isn't the olympic concept to create worldwide harmony thru sport - inclusion and not exclusion would seem the better choice. Suppose the logistics and cost could be the reason.
