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.
Former Member
That's cool that he went 1:02 at that age. I think that his time would have won the 100 meter breastoke at the 1972 olympics. Another older male is Chad Carvin the freestyler from Mission Viejo. He is the last swimmer at Mission to fair well in International competitions. Chad is now 28 years old.
I will not be at Cleveland. I'm going to a little meet in Tucson. Maybe next year I'll go to the Nationals in Tempa Arizona. I have not swam in a meet since 1977 at the Southern California Community College Championships. They did not have state for Women then.
Yes, I know about Carvin for years.
In recent years he is being outtouched in Olympics, World Championships, by a younger than him fellow countryman of mine, Romania, named Coman, albeit both are at an astronomical level of performance.
Cynthia, are you coming next month to compete Long Course in Cleveland, Ohio?
I will do that.
Ion made a comment about the prime age for male swimmers. But what about female swimmers. In the olden days, most people thought that female swimmers were wash up usually around 18 and 20 years old. Now some of them swim at a higher level longer than the men do at an older age. For example, the oldest woman on the pan-pacific team is Jenny Thompson at 29 years old. The oldest guy on the us sqaud is Chad Carvin at 28 years old. Yet, Jenny is still performing at a higher level than Chad is. She won the 50 meter freestyle at the pan-pacfics, while Chad only placed on the relay. So, is it possible that some woman especially at the masters level can compete at a higher level than men, just look at Laura Val who is over 50 years old.
I think it's dubious to take Jenny Thompson and Laura Val and use them to make generalizations about the performance of Masters swimmers, women swimmers, or any other swimming subset you can come up with. They are not typical swimmers by any stretch of the imagination. What both Jenny and Laura demonstrate is that someone who is an elite swimmer to begin with can remain an elite swimmer by continuing to train very hard long past the age when most people become couch potatoes. I am in awe of both of them, but we shouldn't use them as measuring sticks for everybody.
Originally posted by Ion Beza
4) I was smiling in the year 1999 when training in New York made me see this woman doing way more than 50% of her workouts on technique drills, and me less than 10% of my workouts on technique drills, yet I would be blazing past her in any straight swim.
Yeah..... nice. So... there is a lady doin some drills... and you're just kickin her ass? Right on. Dood... Either that lady was prolly on the Synchro team... or you blazed past somebody practicing a couple drills over in lane 1.
Shionb - out
I'm not talking about guys and gals beating each other in practice. I can beat a guy in his mid thirties in a public pool that I lap swim in and I'm in my mid-40's. But of course I swam as a teenager many years ago and he probably didn't swim on a team when he was younger. I'm talking about women who are doing good times for their ages compared to younger women. Jenny Thompson in elite USA swimming and people like Laura Val in masters. They are disproving the myth that women can not swim good times for them past 21 years old.
Whether it be Male or Female it all boils down to motivation, skill, and probably some technique drills. As I understand it Ion has been working on his stroke this summer. If he sticks with the stroke drills he will soon find that he will get better with age. If these drills aren't painful/macho enough he can always hold his breath.
I agree with you that Jenny and Laura are exceptions to the rule. But back in the 1970's women were thought to be in their prime between 16 to 19 years old. Few were on the olympic team past 20 years old back in those days. I think that if you and I had swam masters in our 20's, that we could have swam a time faster than we did as a teenager. But I quit swimming after community college and got a job. Also, at the time I stop swimming competitvely, masters swimming was 25 years and older. Also, there are exceptions are the men side as well. Michael Phelps isn't the only teenage youngster doing work class times before age 18 in the other strokes besides distance freestyle. There is a 13 year old boy from eastern europe that swims 200 meter breastroke under 2:20 and an american kid at 14 years old making nationals for 200 meter breastroke and is a boy.
Well, I don't know about Ion doing better,but since working out about an hour 4 to 5 days versus only workout for 2 to 3 days at 30 mintues, my stokes feel the best since age 20. It remains to be seen if I can swim better at a meet next time.
