My children swim competitively. In relays they have the rule that the 2nd-4th swimmer may not leave the blocks until the preceeding swimmer touches the wall. I was swimming in junior and senior high school in Broward county Florida in the 60's. I'm certain that we swam to the rule that we could not touch the water until the preceeding swimmer touched the wall. Therefore, we always anticipated and left the blocks as the preceeding swimmer was in mid-stroke with about 12 inches to go before touching the wall. Were we violating the rules or have they changed since 1967?
I don’t have any old AAU swimming rule books from the 60’s to confirm this, but even back then the swimmer was not allowed to leave the block before the previous swimmer touched the wall. As mentioned before, the swimmer on the block was allowed to move and only had to have a toe on the block when the swimmer in the water touched the wall.
Back then we had relay take-off judges who would place their pinkie finger next to the little toe of the swimmer on the block and watch the swimmer touch the wall. If they felt the toe leave before the swimmer touched, the relay would be disqualified.
I don’t have any old AAU swimming rule books from the 60’s to confirm this, but even back then the swimmer was not allowed to leave the block before the previous swimmer touched the wall. As mentioned before, the swimmer on the block was allowed to move and only had to have a toe on the block when the swimmer in the water touched the wall.
Back then we had relay take-off judges who would place their pinkie finger next to the little toe of the swimmer on the block and watch the swimmer touch the wall. If they felt the toe leave before the swimmer touched, the relay would be disqualified.
