How many here are sprinters and how many long distance swimmers?

This reply is in response to an earlier post about Tom Dolan. He is a great guy, an unbelievably competitive workout swimmer (saw him go under 9 minutes in practice for a 1000), and one of the all-time greats. But Tom NEVER, and I mean NEVER, would consider himself anything remotely close to a sprinter. The thing is, if you can go a 1:33 in the 200 free, then you can split a 19 on a relay by default. I would guess that there are 1000 people who could beat tom in a 50 if not more and he certainly never recorded on of the fastest times ever. We sprinters have to protect out turf! Oh, and keep in mind, if there is a little kid drowning in the pool - the mother doesn't stand up and say, "quick, someone swim 66 laps and then save my poor child!" Or even worse, "Quick, someone swim breaststroke out to my drowing kid!" In your time of need, you want a sprinter - you NEED a sprinter. All in good fun of course (unless your drowning that is!).

This reply is in response to an earlier post about Tom Dolan. He is a great guy, an unbelievably competitive workout swimmer (saw him go under 9 minutes in practice for a 1000), and one of the all-time greats. But Tom NEVER, and I mean NEVER, would consider himself anything remotely close to a sprinter. The thing is, if you can go a 1:33 in the 200 free, then you can split a 19 on a relay by default. I would guess that there are 1000 people who could beat tom in a 50 if not more and he certainly never recorded on of the fastest times ever. We sprinters have to protect out turf! Oh, and keep in mind, if there is a little kid drowning in the pool - the mother doesn't stand up and say, "quick, someone swim 66 laps and then save my poor child!" Or even worse, "Quick, someone swim breaststroke out to my drowing kid!" In your time of need, you want a sprinter - you NEED a sprinter. All in good fun of course (unless your drowning that is!).