Practicality of Total Immersion Technique

I recently attended a TI workshop. It was very enlightening and I greatly improved my stroke over a weekend. During the class, the instructors emphasized that they were having the students exaggerate the movements (e.g. amount of rotation), but that the principles were proven effective and adhering to them would be the most efficient way to swim (longer, easier and faster). When I got home, I reviewed my slow-motion videos of freestylers from the Sydney Olympics. Hardly any of the top swimmers (regardless of distance) were swimming on their sides or using "front-quadrant" swimming. Also, they slide their recovering arm into the water much further in front of their heads than TI advocates. Now I'm scratching my head. Is TI only designed to make mere mortals swim faster or is it useful for strong collegiate, masters and other swimmers as well? If the principles are so sound, why don't the best swimmers use them? Is it worth my while to try to swim the TI way (which involves A LOT of muscle re-training), even though my masters coach is giving me puzzled looks because my technique no longer resembles the rest of the team? Any comments are appreciated -- especially from those who have taken and followed the TI methods, or who have taught them (Emmett, etc.). Thanks.