I've often wondered why swimming doesn't have the equivalent of the decathlon in Track & Field. i.e 10 events swum over a 2 day period with points assigned to each performance. (For the women it's 7 events, but that's another story.)
If we were to construct such a decathlon, which events should be included and in what order? Note that these are all finals - no heats. (Unlike, track, I think that the women should swim the same 10 events as well.) Also, should we use only the pool swimming events, or should we include diving, open water swimming and, *shudder* synchronized swimming?
-LBJ
Parents
Former Member
Aquathalon format
This would be hard to do because track covers all of their skills, and then a selection of distances. The problem is that we have so many skills. For the strokes a 200 is a totally different beast than the 50/100s. (And drop dead sprinters would argue that the 50 is a totally different beast than 100/200).
From a distance swimmer's perspective I would propose the following 10 events.
400m free, 400m IM
200m Fly, 200m Br, 200mBk, 200m IM
100 Fr, 100 Bk, 100 Br, 100 Fl
I suspect the sprinters among us would propose a different partitioning. :=>
If this were held with the current crop of world class swimmers, the only thing keeping Phelps from victory would be if he fell of the blocks and broke his leg.
BTW I am not associated with NBAC or any of its members, so neither Phelps nor any of his coaches suggested this list to me.
Aquathalon format
This would be hard to do because track covers all of their skills, and then a selection of distances. The problem is that we have so many skills. For the strokes a 200 is a totally different beast than the 50/100s. (And drop dead sprinters would argue that the 50 is a totally different beast than 100/200).
From a distance swimmer's perspective I would propose the following 10 events.
400m free, 400m IM
200m Fly, 200m Br, 200mBk, 200m IM
100 Fr, 100 Bk, 100 Br, 100 Fl
I suspect the sprinters among us would propose a different partitioning. :=>
If this were held with the current crop of world class swimmers, the only thing keeping Phelps from victory would be if he fell of the blocks and broke his leg.
BTW I am not associated with NBAC or any of its members, so neither Phelps nor any of his coaches suggested this list to me.
