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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I definitely agree that swimming is mostly conditioning. To be right there at the TOP takes both, but otherwise conditioning still goes most of the way.
I bet that if Thorpe were asked to swim head-up freestyle holding rocks in his hands he'd still go ridiculously fast, even though swimming with the head up is technically very wrong, and so is holding clenched fists. I heard that he can kick a :56 for 100 meters. Sure the ankles are flexible and he has good kicking technique but it's essentially just huge power.
There were some guys in the Olympics who came off of their turns "Superman style" with terrible streamline and hardly even kicked before surfacing. No matter, they're still in the Olympics! It seems to me that they're just extremely strong in the water from awesome conditioning.
I definitely agree that swimming is mostly conditioning. To be right there at the TOP takes both, but otherwise conditioning still goes most of the way.
I bet that if Thorpe were asked to swim head-up freestyle holding rocks in his hands he'd still go ridiculously fast, even though swimming with the head up is technically very wrong, and so is holding clenched fists. I heard that he can kick a :56 for 100 meters. Sure the ankles are flexible and he has good kicking technique but it's essentially just huge power.
There were some guys in the Olympics who came off of their turns "Superman style" with terrible streamline and hardly even kicked before surfacing. No matter, they're still in the Olympics! It seems to me that they're just extremely strong in the water from awesome conditioning.
