Just saw on SwimSwam that it is controversial that Lochte was on his back for most of the underwater part of his SDK off the turn to start the freestyle leg and could have been DQd.Why??? It is freestyle!! That means any stroke. I know it has to be a different stroke than the first 3 strokes,but he wasn't swimming backstroke,he was swimming SDK.
I thought the rules on medley swims was that the 'freestyle' leg had to be a stroke other than the first three. Basically if you're on your back when you leave the wall you are doing legal backstroke, so I think there's a strong case for a DQ. Backstroke rules (aside from turns) are really amazing simplistic: if you are swimming on your back, it's backstroke. Lochte's swim may actually force a clarification on this rule.
Just saw on SwimSwam that it is controversial that Lochte was on his back for most of the underwater part of his SDK off the turn to start the freestyle leg and could have been DQd.Why??? It is freestyle!! That means any stroke. I know it has to be a different stroke than the first 3 strokes,but he wasn't swimming backstroke,he was swimming SDK.
I thought the rules on medley swims was that the 'freestyle' leg had to be a stroke other than the first three. Basically if you're on your back when you leave the wall you are doing legal backstroke, so I think there's a strong case for a DQ. Backstroke rules (aside from turns) are really amazing simplistic: if you are swimming on your back, it's backstroke. Lochte's swim may actually force a clarification on this rule.
