Are you coming to the 2004 Short Course Nationals in Indianapolis?
I will race there.
Also, on the Olympic front the first bang will be this month from the Australian Olympic Trials.
(The U.S. Olympic Trials are this year three weeks before the Olympics because the NCAA coaches who voted for this date are selfish about preserving the NCAA first;
a better timing is in the case of the Australian Trials, held five months before the Olympics.)
Thorpe entered 200, 400 and 100 free.
I wish that Klim would have been healthier and more competitive the past two years, so that he can make the Australian Team and peak in the Olympics.
Of course the other argument used by coaches is the close spacing between Trials and Olympics allows them, personally, to train their swimmers for as long as possible. Of course the flipside of this is you then have a team that only trains together for a couple weeks and doesn't have the team cohesiveness there could be with Trials several months before the Games.
Something that comes to mind that isn't exactly the same, but somewhat similar, is conference meets vs. NCAAs for college swimmers. Many swimmers perform better at their conference meet than they do at NCAAs. The thing is there are many factors at work: a "double taper" within a few weeks time, not having your whole team working out and supporting you at NCAAs (except for the few elite teams), and perhaps just the mental strain of getting up for two major meets within a few weeks time.
I think it's safe to say it's not a black and white issue.
EDIT: Oops, just saw the post above about conference versus Nationals. Some people go faster at NCAAs, many go slower.
Of course the other argument used by coaches is the close spacing between Trials and Olympics allows them, personally, to train their swimmers for as long as possible. Of course the flipside of this is you then have a team that only trains together for a couple weeks and doesn't have the team cohesiveness there could be with Trials several months before the Games.
Something that comes to mind that isn't exactly the same, but somewhat similar, is conference meets vs. NCAAs for college swimmers. Many swimmers perform better at their conference meet than they do at NCAAs. The thing is there are many factors at work: a "double taper" within a few weeks time, not having your whole team working out and supporting you at NCAAs (except for the few elite teams), and perhaps just the mental strain of getting up for two major meets within a few weeks time.
I think it's safe to say it's not a black and white issue.
EDIT: Oops, just saw the post above about conference versus Nationals. Some people go faster at NCAAs, many go slower.
