Call me an old fashioned cynic, but Gary Hall's oh so exclusive "Race Club" seems to generate more amusement than intimidation. To review the bidding for those with real lives, Mr. Hall announced a few months ago his intent to form his own club dedicated to elite swimming. It has a fabulous location and training facility in the Florida Keys. It will cover travel, training and living expenses. (I'm tempted to ask who is fronting the money, but I won't denigrade Mr. Hall's ability to raise funds.) If you want to join them, send in a resume; don't call us; we'll call you. Let us look over your accoplishments and decide whether you are worthy.
Hmm, great facilities, don't have to share pool time with the non-world class members (i.e. 99%) of a Swim Club, just about all expenses paid. Unless you have your own lucrative endorsement deal, what swimmer wouldn't want to join this team?
Well, the initial members of the "Swim Club" were announced last week. www.swiminfo.com/.../6097.asp Eight Olympians sounds real impressive. But then you look at the list a little more closely. Eleven swimmers, and although I have not googled everyone of them, all of the ones I have googled are in their late 20's or older. Or in other words, 3 of the 11 swimmers are chronologically at the back end of their careers, and they have not yet made their nation's Olympic Team. Closer scrutiny reveals 10 of the 11 are men. Just about all of them swim the 50 free or 50 fly, and few of them seriously compete in anything other that the 50 or 100 free or fly. In contrast to the lack of age, gender and event diversity, the team does have members of many nationalities and ethic backgrounds. However, the most telling stat of all is that roughly half of the members I checked are not currently ranked in the World Top 20 Rankings, LCM or SCM, in any event.
Overall, the "Swim Club" sort of reminds me of the kind of team a rookie fantasy league coach would assemble--there are a lot of names you would recognize, but their most productive years may be behind them. To be fair, all of these folks are amazing, world-class swimmers. Their careers to date have been awesome, and they remain extraordinary today by any standard, except arguably World Rankings. In contrast, I am an opinionated loud mouth. I would be delighted to see them find new speed and light up the scoreboards next year with medals and records, and make a complete monkey of me. As of right now, I think may the "Swim Club's" gloss may have exceeded its actual capabilities.
Matt
Parents
Former Member
Check out http://www.garyhalljr.com/ He lists 4 Gold on his bio.
Notice the women in the photo, would have to be a backstroker:D Way too much resistance to do any of the other three strokes.
You really have to agree the media people behind Gary have done a great job packaging him. More swimmers should have professional help packaging their images to the public. The web sites and the clinics are all professionally done. Amy Van Dyken will always be remembered negatively for the spitting. Getting positive images out there is great for swimming.
lefty, not arrogant. Just a perfectionest. At least I knew it was Jon, and it was 4 Golds. I have looked at the finishes of the 1996 Olympics hundreds of times:mad:
I just get very upset when our swimmers get beat by swimmers from other countries. I really believe it is because of the World Cup swimming. Many of our swimmers have started doing World Cup, and all seem to get better because of it. I call it geting RACE hardened, being able to win on any given day. Amanda Beard is the best example in my opinion of american swimmers doing world cup and getting beter because of it. The times produced in short course meters is amazing. starts and turns become very important when $5,000 rides in them. And $25,000 for a world record or swimmers of the meet is not chump change. Great swimmers can set world records while in heavy training, or in practice (Mark Spitz), the hardest thing in competition is training for many years, tapering and being able to produce on that one day in the Olympics.
And yes, he could have swam better and could have won two individual Golds in 1996. Popov became the greatest sprinter by putting his head down and beating Gary Hall Jr. in 1996. I will say Gary did not make the same mistake in the 2000 Olympics.
Perhaps you forget, Gary did not come back from the 1996 Olympics a great hero. But he learned from the Russians and his coaches and came back from the 2000 Olympics a great hero, overcoming diabetes.
Mark Spitz did not do so well in the 1968 Olympics, learning from our mistakes and having a second chance is wonderful. I hope Ed Moses will meet all his potential at the 2004 Olympics.
I wish Gary Hall Jr. well for the 2004 Olympics. He will have Popov back, a true race of champions.
Check out http://www.garyhalljr.com/ He lists 4 Gold on his bio.
Notice the women in the photo, would have to be a backstroker:D Way too much resistance to do any of the other three strokes.
You really have to agree the media people behind Gary have done a great job packaging him. More swimmers should have professional help packaging their images to the public. The web sites and the clinics are all professionally done. Amy Van Dyken will always be remembered negatively for the spitting. Getting positive images out there is great for swimming.
lefty, not arrogant. Just a perfectionest. At least I knew it was Jon, and it was 4 Golds. I have looked at the finishes of the 1996 Olympics hundreds of times:mad:
I just get very upset when our swimmers get beat by swimmers from other countries. I really believe it is because of the World Cup swimming. Many of our swimmers have started doing World Cup, and all seem to get better because of it. I call it geting RACE hardened, being able to win on any given day. Amanda Beard is the best example in my opinion of american swimmers doing world cup and getting beter because of it. The times produced in short course meters is amazing. starts and turns become very important when $5,000 rides in them. And $25,000 for a world record or swimmers of the meet is not chump change. Great swimmers can set world records while in heavy training, or in practice (Mark Spitz), the hardest thing in competition is training for many years, tapering and being able to produce on that one day in the Olympics.
And yes, he could have swam better and could have won two individual Golds in 1996. Popov became the greatest sprinter by putting his head down and beating Gary Hall Jr. in 1996. I will say Gary did not make the same mistake in the 2000 Olympics.
Perhaps you forget, Gary did not come back from the 1996 Olympics a great hero. But he learned from the Russians and his coaches and came back from the 2000 Olympics a great hero, overcoming diabetes.
Mark Spitz did not do so well in the 1968 Olympics, learning from our mistakes and having a second chance is wonderful. I hope Ed Moses will meet all his potential at the 2004 Olympics.
I wish Gary Hall Jr. well for the 2004 Olympics. He will have Popov back, a true race of champions.
