olympics and age-ism

Originally posted by Rob Copeland Since Dr. Ron’ 2:04 is below the US Olympic Trials qualifying time of 2:06.99, he could swim the 200 IM at US trials in Long Beach. I guess I had thought of him going to the US olympic trials to try and qualify for the Polish olympic team. Interesting concept. Hope he makes it.

My point exactly. We all seem to only recognize Ron as a masters swimmer and no one else. In spite of the fact that many of them (not all) have competed in USMS meets throughout the years.

This is nothing against Dr. Ron, but why is he considered a masters swimmer and Josh Davis, Jenny Thompson, Gary Hall, Sabir Muhammad, Dara Torres, et. al. are never mentioned in the same light. Just because he has swam in masters meets and holds masters records is that the criteria? The way I look at it, he trains much like these individuals do, has the talent and deserves the accolades. These folks are doing/have done even more amazing things than Ron has at adavanced ages. Just a thought...

Originally posted by Howard It looks like there are many more women than men. 403 to 286. The oldest person is a male and youngest is female. That's pretty typical I think. I take it Karnaugh is the 37 year old. Do you know who the 35 year old woman is? A couple other thoughts: - pretty staggering that 3 15 year old boys made a cut. Those cuts are tough! - Looks like the women's time standards weren't as tough, since there are so many women entered.

Here's some stats on age about the entries at the trials. Apologies for the formatting. Line up the headings with the numbers. It looks like there are many more women than men. 403 to 286. The oldest person is a male and youngest is female. That's pretty typical I think. >half are still 20 or less. 389 in that category. I thought there would be more over 25. Just 32 swimmers over 25. Anyway, I'm a geek for this kind of information. It would be interesting to compare to the last trials. The vast majority(just over 80%) could be registered as masters.It would be interesting to know how many have ever swum in a masters meet. Regardless of gender Count mean min max 689 20.12 13 37 gender mean min max Count F 19.26 13 35 403 M 21.32 15 37 286 agegrp mean min max Count 10-15 14.63 13 15 41 16-20 18.34 16 20 348 21-25 22.20 21 25 268 26-30 27.64 26 30 25 31-35 33.00 31 35 6 36-40 37.00 37 37 1 agegrp gender mean min max Count 10-15 F 14.60 13 15 38 10-15 M 15.00 15 15 3 16-20 F 18.13 16 20 235 16-20 M 18.76 16 20 113 21-25 F 22.13 21 25 121 21-25 M 22.27 21 25 147 26-30 F 26.80 26 28 5 26-30 M 27.85 26 30 20 31-35 F 33.25 31 35 4 31-35 M 32.50 31 34 2 36-40 M 37.00 37 37 1 age Freq Percent 13 3 0.44 14 9 1.31 15 29 4.21 16 38 5.52 17 52 7.55 18 94 13.64 19 81 11.76 20 83 12.05 21 95 13.79 22 89 12.92 23 35 5.08 24 31 4.50 25 18 2.61 26 6 0.87 27 6 0.87 28 7 1.02 29 3 0.44 30 3 0.44 31 2 0.29 33 1 0.15 34 2 0.29 35 1 0.15 37 1 0.15

Originally posted by Sam Perry My point exactly. We all seem to only recognize Ron as a masters swimmer and no one else. In spite of the fact that many of them (not all) have competed in USMS meets throughout the years. I think the answer lies in the frequency of times you've seen Ron at a masters meet compared to the others. Ron has been to many masters meets. Some have been nationals and others more regional. Out of sight, out of mind. If they paid the fee and have a USMS number then they are masters swimmers.

Originally posted by Howard Swimmers in the Mastes top 10 that are in the trials. 117 Foschi, Jessica Long Island Aquatic Club MR F 23 138 Gross, Peggy North Coast Aquatics SI F 35 144 Hansen, Erika Germantown Academy Aquatic Cl MA F 34 199 Komisarz, Rachel Lakeside Swim Team KY F 27 289 Price, Keiko California Aquatics PC F 25 292 Radke, Katrina Swimcraft PC F 33 351 Stone, Tammie Longhorn Aquatics ST F 28 352 Stowers, Julia Pilot Aquatic Club - Knoxville SE F 22 27 Busse, Greg Irvine Novaquatics CA M 25 35 Ciarla, Aaron Auburn Aquatics SE M 26 75 Flores, Bayani California Aquatics PC M 25 95 Greenwood, Scott Unattached PC M 26 101 Hall, Gary California Aquatics PC M 29 121 Karnaugh, Ronald Tualatin Hills Swim Club OR M 37 175 Muhammad, Sabir California Aquatics PC M 28 176 Mull, Cameron Santa Cruz County Aquatic PC M 27 198 Plank, Gregory Scottsdale Aquatic Club AZ M 26 226 Schumacher, Bradley Irvine Novaquatics CA M 30 Some good names in there. I've got to send out a "good luck" to my hometown (Lansing, MI) boy Cam Mull! He's young enough that I never really swam with him, but I swam a lot with his older bros (or maybe I should say they swam circles around me a lot!). Another person I'd like to see make the team is Rachel Komisarz. I know nothing about her, other than she's a late bloomer! At 27 she still seems to be improving, and she's very versatile. She must be using VO2 Max shampoo :)

Swimmers in the Mastes top 10 that are in the trials. 117 Foschi, Jessica Long Island Aquatic Club MR F 23 138 Gross, Peggy North Coast Aquatics SI F 35 144 Hansen, Erika Germantown Academy Aquatic Cl MA F 34 199 Komisarz, Rachel Lakeside Swim Team KY F 27 289 Price, Keiko California Aquatics PC F 25 292 Radke, Katrina Swimcraft PC F 33 351 Stone, Tammie Longhorn Aquatics ST F 28 352 Stowers, Julia Pilot Aquatic Club - Knoxville SE F 22 27 Busse, Greg Irvine Novaquatics CA M 25 35 Ciarla, Aaron Auburn Aquatics SE M 26 75 Flores, Bayani California Aquatics PC M 25 95 Greenwood, Scott Unattached PC M 26 101 Hall, Gary California Aquatics PC M 29 121 Karnaugh, Ronald Tualatin Hills Swim Club OR M 37 175 Muhammad, Sabir California Aquatics PC M 28 176 Mull, Cameron Santa Cruz County Aquatic PC M 27 198 Plank, Gregory Scottsdale Aquatic Club AZ M 26 226 Schumacher, Bradley Irvine Novaquatics CA M 30

Thanks for the info. Howard. I liken the *older* athletes to The "SeaBiscuits" of the sport. Certainly they'll bring some positive attention to Masters Swimming. Aside from very respectable times, I think many people will be impressed with the youthful appearance of most masters competitors, especially the elite. It would be interesting to see a survey on how many USMS members get confused for looking much younger than their actual age. Perhaps the realization will soon be made that the fountain of youth has black stripes on the bottom and stinks like chlorine.:)

As I was looking at the entrants I started to wonder if Masters should have a booth at the trials. Too late this time. We could increase awareness and also start to recruit some of the older swimmers that may be ending their USA swimming careers after the trials.