I have been so busy with the XI FINA Masters World Championships, I have not been able to report some of the other things that I learned at the FINA Bureau meeting in Dubai last month.
One of the great things about going to the meetings is the ability to develop personal relationships with the members of the Bureau. On Saturday afternoon, the Bureau meetings were finished. I was walking through the lobby of the beautiful Fairmont Dubai, at one table was Cornel Marculescu, FINA Executive Director, Bill Matson and Dale Neuburger, our FINA rep.
I got called over to them and we talked about the championships to be held at Stanford. After a couple of glasses of wine, somehow the conversation got on the topic of evening out the competition. I told them that when I was in high school in San Francisco, they had a system of exponents for teams and a person could have no more than x amount of points (points were given for age, height and weight). This way you could have a basketball team of people of about like physical ability playing the game.
Bill Matson said that FINA Masters Committee was looking at differenciating the records. The FINA Bureau wants to be more inclusive and the ability to have more records. When you have different types of records more people can go after them.- it will create more excitement and maybe more people will want to swim Masters As FINA is divided into different geographical segments North America, South American, Europe, Asia and Pacific the FINA Masters Committee will be recommending that the records be kept for those areas. (I thought I heard that this was being proposed by the French who wanted there swimmers to be able to get international recognition – there best women Masters swimmers are in the same age group as Laura Val).
Dale said that the US is been opposed to this and that he and June Krauser have been working to keep it in committee, but it looks like he does not have the votes to keep it there. The US thinks that there should be only one set of records and in the current format.
He also said that there is going to be “super category” of Masters records. Masters Masters (age 40-59) and Senior Masters (60+). Cornel said that Walt Reid, who keeps track of all the International Masters Records, while initially opposed to the idea, has developed the software to handle all the new data that will be coming in.
Dale said FINA Masters will be recommending that the Federations have new categories for swimmers who were not age group swimmers (he thought this was marketing than from the competition committee). I laughed and said yea – right – the next thing you would do is to keep records on the BMI (Body Mass Index Scale). Cornel said that was considerd but they would like to see some other changes made first.
Bill said that all that is left to do is that it has to pass the FINA Masters Committee. They will be meeting in Riccione, Italy just before the X FINA Masters World Championships. (Dale thinks that the French and Europeans have the votes to get it through). After it passes there, it will go the the FINA Congress (In past years, it met at the same time as the Olympics, but starting with this Congress, it will meet at the World Championships).
Anyway, that is what I learned at Dubai. And thought you might like to know.
michael
Yes, yes, yes... think of all of the categories!
Rich, poor, tall, short, gay, straight, fat, thin, obnoxious, nice, stupid, smart, high VO2 Max, no VO2 Max... this would be right up our Romanian friend's alley.
This reminds me of the No Child Left Behind federal legislation. Yes, it's a happy, warm, fuzzy idea, but it's not the real world.
Come on. (whiny sounding)
I think what separates most of us from Ion is a sense of pride and personal responsibility. When I muff a race, I can pretty much tell you the exact spots in the race I screwed up - bad turn, poor form, not enough rest, etc. Ion seems to think the cards are stacked against him - late bloomer, V02Max, USMS not honoring him. Anyone who grinds out his kind of yardage yet sees only minute improvement in times must feel compelled to blame it on others, not look inward.
I swim because I love it and I imporove or get worse of my own doing. Ion, you'd probably be much happier if you'd take a more pleasant and enjoyable view of swimming and all it does for you. As it stands now you come across as angry and jaded at an organization that really exists solely to benefit you and improve your overall fitness. No one seems exactly sure why you are so bitter against USMS. What have they done to you other than host meets, give you this forum for your rants and enabled to you compete in a sport you allegedly love?
Originally posted by Ion Beza
My posts in this thread are mainly about challenges of others.
Yes, in this thread, Beza, it is mostly you backtracking on your insults of other.
On every other thread you subject us to, all you do is talk about yourself. After all, how do we know that you are a late bloomer, suffer horrid V02MAx, came from Communist East Bumbleflink, worked 38 jobs, now work at Intel, swam in MD, IL and now CA, etc? All you do is is promote your own silly excuses, lame jabs and blatant lies.
I know more about youon this forum than anyone else. The irony is I desire to know less about you than any others. You are no source of inspiration, you are a source of perspiration, an angry jaded man who feels because he grinds out a lot of yards he deserves special USMS recognition. If you ask me, based on the responses you are getting, you might finally be receiving something of value from USMS now - namely, a lesson in humility.
Back off, Bubba.
Originally posted by dorothyrd
Ion, taking Tom's question to you with a different slant. You seem to dance around this question. What do YOU want USMS to do to better serve YOU. What are you missing from them?
There has never been an easier question to answer.
Ion wants USMS to call him a great swimmer, not due to his actual swimming, but due to his unrealized perceived potential as a great swimmer.
To be fair:
1) A lot of people were baiting Ion in this thread, before he replied. While it was done in humor, I wasn't surprised when it came back to bite you all in the backside. ;)
2) Ion has posted (in a thread from last fall) what he wanted Swim Magazine to print. About half were of personal interest to him, the other half were points which I believe Swim magazine has covered in the last few months. (As a counterpoint, getting Ion to produce the list, instead of more insults at USMS/Swim magazine, was like pulling teeth. :) )
3) I think it is fair to say that stories about people losing weight, do not interest Ion. He has stated many times about how most swimmers are "lazy and fat". He probably feels there are too many stories about these sort of people, instead of "slim and strong" people like himself.
I do find it interesting that Ion assumes that, just because someone has an advantage of swimming in age group, that they are lazy.
Mattson:
I will bet you $5 and a new speedo that Ion will quote you no less than 60 times in the next year. He tends to adopt any support of him and use it as ammo to insult others. Then, he'll decide maybe he doesn't like you anymore. See posts he's co-opted from gull80 and Ellison.
Taking up with Ion is bad news for you. Kind of like what we used to call beer goggling or the coyote in college.
