hello!! im new to these boards, and was wondering what y'all thought. Most of the time in the Olympics the ages of swimmers seem to be between the early teens to about early 30s. (pardon me if im wrong on this.) Is there some sort of age cap here? it seems that way to me. I am 23, LOVE swimming and still dream about what if i had devoted my time to my olympic dream. what if i started now, would I be at that level. I beleive you are the age u feel u are. its just a number. what do YOU think? :)
Parents
Former Member
At the upcoming Olympic Trials, there will be many Olympic swimmers in the 30s (Thompson, Krazelberg, among many others). I think either in Swim or Splash magazine about 6 months ago there was an article discussing the myth that swimmers pass their prime in the early/mid 20s. It discussed that until a few years ago, there was so little sponsorship and funds available so most swimmers had to give it up and go into the non-swim working world to make a living. Some of these 30-something Olympic swimmers are still just as good as they were in their teens and 20s. The Olympics in Athens will be very interesting to see how swimmers of all ages.
On a Masters note, I went to the Oct. 2002 World Masters Games in Melbourne, Australia and was absolutely blown away when I witnessed many of the top elite Masters swimmers with near Olympic time were all swimmers in their 40s. Although I'm a slow 36 year old swimmer still, it was awe inspiring to see such performance.
At the upcoming Olympic Trials, there will be many Olympic swimmers in the 30s (Thompson, Krazelberg, among many others). I think either in Swim or Splash magazine about 6 months ago there was an article discussing the myth that swimmers pass their prime in the early/mid 20s. It discussed that until a few years ago, there was so little sponsorship and funds available so most swimmers had to give it up and go into the non-swim working world to make a living. Some of these 30-something Olympic swimmers are still just as good as they were in their teens and 20s. The Olympics in Athens will be very interesting to see how swimmers of all ages.
On a Masters note, I went to the Oct. 2002 World Masters Games in Melbourne, Australia and was absolutely blown away when I witnessed many of the top elite Masters swimmers with near Olympic time were all swimmers in their 40s. Although I'm a slow 36 year old swimmer still, it was awe inspiring to see such performance.
