Darian Townsend entered a masters meet in Mesa over the weekend and broke five world records in the 25-29 age group. This was Townsend's first masters meet. For those of you who are not familiar with him, Townend is a three-time Olympian and gold medalist from South Africa.
Swimswam.com posted a story about Townend's incredible meet. Here's the link: swimswam.com/.../
I found the comments quite interesting especially this one by "HMMM":
I have no problem with athletes making money off of Masters but why have a separate division called Masters if there are no rules or restrictions? None of the sponsored people you mention in their 50′s are training for Rio are they?. Most people in Masters believe they are swimming against recreational swimmers which is why there is a separate Masters division and those records are set by recreational/retired swimmers. If Phelps remains retired and wants to swim Masters, well there goes a few records in his age group but none of us in our club would have a problem with it. We discussed that very subject this morning after practice and Phelps, like Rowdy Gaines is retired and would welcome him. Many of us have swam against and met Rowdy and it is a true honor to share the pool with him in a Masters meet. But our entire team would have a huge problem if Lochte decides to swim a Masters meet while he is still fully training for the Olympics and blows all the records out of the water. If Lochte swims 12 events, he is going to walk away with 12 records. Why have a separate record book? If he can do that, you might as well just call us all USA swimmers and do away with the Masters division. There are meets where fully training pros swim and they are called Grand Prix’s, Nationals, and Worlds. Call us old fashioned, call us Masters swimmers, but we all think Masters should be separate from the training pros..
So I'm curious what the rest of you think. Should someone like Darian Townend or Ryan Lochte be allowed to swim in masters meets when they are professional swimmers who are training full-time? And maybe "allowed" is a poor choice or word. The bottom line is do you think they have any business swimming masters meets?
I do. I just disagree.
I get it and I feel her pain - I broke the 400 free National record that stood at the start of the 2009 SCM season, but a certain former German Olympian went even faster. Yes, we were both 40-something at the time, but I could argue that his former training as a member of the German National Team disadvantaged me and advantaged him. In fact, I'm sure it did. But, it still doesn't matter - he was faster at 40-44 than any registered USMS swimmer had ever been -- and I don't think it should matter at any age. In my opinion, we should not exclude a certain class of members from our sport just because they are at a certain stage of their training and/or how they are pursuing their living at a certain age in their lives.
I agree with your post partially.
You talk about a former German Olympian. I don't think you can distinct "former" elite athletes or National Team members/Olympians for life from anything.
That's why I set the only criteria as currently being on a National Team.
Both my parents are Olympians: does that mean that my mom's 100 free SCM time of 1:40+ in the 55+ age group shouldn't count?!
I think the discussion we are having is a really interesting one and obviously goes far beyond the original question if "elites in full training mode should compete in master meets".
Maybe we need to open a new thread for the records/TT discussion to really take off. Would be interesting to see what other people that were actually directly affected by this have to say.
I do. I just disagree.
I get it and I feel her pain - I broke the 400 free National record that stood at the start of the 2009 SCM season, but a certain former German Olympian went even faster. Yes, we were both 40-something at the time, but I could argue that his former training as a member of the German National Team disadvantaged me and advantaged him. In fact, I'm sure it did. But, it still doesn't matter - he was faster at 40-44 than any registered USMS swimmer had ever been -- and I don't think it should matter at any age. In my opinion, we should not exclude a certain class of members from our sport just because they are at a certain stage of their training and/or how they are pursuing their living at a certain age in their lives.
I agree with your post partially.
You talk about a former German Olympian. I don't think you can distinct "former" elite athletes or National Team members/Olympians for life from anything.
That's why I set the only criteria as currently being on a National Team.
Both my parents are Olympians: does that mean that my mom's 100 free SCM time of 1:40+ in the 55+ age group shouldn't count?!
I think the discussion we are having is a really interesting one and obviously goes far beyond the original question if "elites in full training mode should compete in master meets".
Maybe we need to open a new thread for the records/TT discussion to really take off. Would be interesting to see what other people that were actually directly affected by this have to say.
