Asking for a friend :) If the person counting lengths next to you repeatedly questions your count in the 1650 and then reluctantly admits she's not sure if she's correct, is it OK to push her in the pool?
The top seed in the 500 at the Kentucky HS girls state meet stopped at the 450 because the official goofed and rang the bell at the 400.
swimswam.com/.../
Luckily they realized the error, encouraged her to swim another 50 and she finished fast enough to still make the final!
On a related note someone at Nationals was telling me his timers gave him the bell at the end of the race rather than with a 50 remaining. He had a moment of panic when he wasn't sure if he was finished or still had another 50 to go!
Whenever I've swum events that had a timer and a bell ringer they were different people. The timer was someone I selected (or who volunteered to help me), while the bell ringer was an official of some sort.
They were also at different ends of the pool.
Have they now combined the roles?
Not at the masters meets I've attended. Timers are usually volunteer AGers from the sponsoring pool and the bell ringer is usually the starter, I think.
A couple of years back at the Garden State Senior Olympics meet I finished the 200 fr and my timers told me I still had 50 to go. After arguing politely for about 10 sec. (me: "I swam this race about 1,000 times and know when 200 is over!), I swam the extra 50 just to be sure I got a place and wasn't DQd. I thought I might go to the senior's national meet that year. After swimming 250 I climbed out and requested that starter and officials check the Colorado timing system. They figured it out and assigned a time that I think made some sense.
Whenever I've swum events that had a timer and a bell ringer they were different people. The timer was someone I selected (or who volunteered to help me), while the bell ringer was an official of some sort.
They were also at different ends of the pool.
Have they now combined the roles?
Here's the wording from the USMS Rule Book:
103.8.7 Warning Signal—With the exception of relays, in events 500 yards or longer
the starter or a designee shall sound a warning signal over the water at the
finish end of the lane of the leading swimmer when that swimmer has two
lengths plus 5 yards or 5 meters to swim. As an alternative, a bell warning
signal may be given over each lane by a lane judge or timer in that lane.
At Nationals the alternative method was used with one of the lane timers ringing the bell.
On a related note someone at Nationals was telling me his timers gave him the bell at the end of the race rather than with a 50 remaining. He had a moment of panic when he wasn't sure if he was finished or still had another 50 to go!
Whenever I've swum events that had a timer and a bell ringer they were different people. The timer was someone I selected (or who volunteered to help me), while the bell ringer was an official of some sort.
They were also at different ends of the pool.
Have they now combined the roles?
