www.swiminfo.com, in an article about 27-years old Olympic Algerian sprinter Salim Iles who two days ago in France set a new African record in 100 meter freestyle in a 50 meter pool at :49.00, claims that age 29 is now considered the "prime years for male swimming".
One day ago, Franck Esposito (Fra.), age 31, swam 1:54.62 in 200 meter butterfly in a 50 meter pool, second fastest time in history, marginally behind Michael Phelps (US) 1:54.58, age 17.
(As a side note, Esposito is not a giant like 6' 7" Tom Malchow (US), or tall like Phelps' 6' 3", he is 5' 11").
Alex. Popov (Rus.), Mark Foster (GBR), John Miranda (US), Ron Karnaugh (US), Sven Lodziewski (Ger) are clear Olympic-level calibers for male swimmers past the age of 30.
So, age 29 is now considered within the "prime years for male swimming" in this sport that is physically fitness-driven.
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Originally posted by SupaFly
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So I'd think that one person's body at 29 (for ex.) is not necessarily in the same physical strength as another's.
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True. Saying now that age 29 is prime years for male swimming, is a general statement; it is a new stereotype for many competitors, knocking-out the former stereotype of age 22; it is not an individual statement.
In line with my previous examples illustrating that in swimming the physical conditioning triggers improvements, before technical improvements start to matter, I read in the book 'Swimming: Character and Excellence' by Mike Gosman this paragraph written in page 46 by the US sprinter Matt Biondi:
"My loss to Michael Gross in the 200 free at the 1986 World Championships was another big disappointment. But after that loss I became a different swimmer - a better swimmer. I became more dedicated in training. I hadn't been in condition to swim the 200 meter free; I had been training 12,000 meters a day. Losing gave me the inspiration and desire to train harder. Instead of training 12,000 meters a day, I began training 16,000.".
This example tells me the bulk of improvement in swimming is physical conditioning, while technique is fine-tuning. I think physical conditioning as way of improving most does apply to breastroke too, the most technical stroke amongst the four strokes.
Swimming is foremost a physical conditioning activity rather than a technical skill activity, and the emphasis in the 90s on 'technique' talk, to me it was a scam.
Originally posted by SupaFly
...
So I'd think that one person's body at 29 (for ex.) is not necessarily in the same physical strength as another's.
...
True. Saying now that age 29 is prime years for male swimming, is a general statement; it is a new stereotype for many competitors, knocking-out the former stereotype of age 22; it is not an individual statement.
In line with my previous examples illustrating that in swimming the physical conditioning triggers improvements, before technical improvements start to matter, I read in the book 'Swimming: Character and Excellence' by Mike Gosman this paragraph written in page 46 by the US sprinter Matt Biondi:
"My loss to Michael Gross in the 200 free at the 1986 World Championships was another big disappointment. But after that loss I became a different swimmer - a better swimmer. I became more dedicated in training. I hadn't been in condition to swim the 200 meter free; I had been training 12,000 meters a day. Losing gave me the inspiration and desire to train harder. Instead of training 12,000 meters a day, I began training 16,000.".
This example tells me the bulk of improvement in swimming is physical conditioning, while technique is fine-tuning. I think physical conditioning as way of improving most does apply to breastroke too, the most technical stroke amongst the four strokes.
Swimming is foremost a physical conditioning activity rather than a technical skill activity, and the emphasis in the 90s on 'technique' talk, to me it was a scam.
