At the U.S. Trials there was one official in every lane looking at the turns, so now that we're in Athens, how does Kitajima get away with that dolphin kick on his turn? It seemed clear to me from the above water shot, then was confirmed with the underwater. Other breaststrokers care to weigh in?
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Former Member
Actually, the injection of air into the lower colon is NOT an urban legend. The East Germans tried it in the 70's but found that it caused extreme discomfort and cramping. They also found that it didn't really seem to help, regardless of cramping. In order for it to help, it would have to lower the overall density of the swimmer. Since the mass of the swimmer doesn't change, the volume would have to become greater, but this would also increase the drag of the swimmer because of the greater volume. (Think of what happens when you inflate your lungs fully vs exhale fully.) Also, since air is compressible, if you put reasonable volumes into the lower colon, the body's mass has some resistance to deformation. You may feel bloated and, in fact, may have some overall volume change but in this case you get less out than you put in. (No snide comments.)
Source: When I was with the USOC, we had a *very* high ranking East German sport scientist/administrator visit in the mid-80's. In the interest of "openess" (what B.S.) we had a question & answer session with him regarding their sport science methods. One of our physiologists asked him about the air-in-the-lower-colon experiment and, despite the fact that he was a lying weasel S.O.B., he seemed truthful on the above answer.
Some of his other answers were so patently nonsensical or evasive that we basically called the session early.
-LBJ
Actually, the injection of air into the lower colon is NOT an urban legend. The East Germans tried it in the 70's but found that it caused extreme discomfort and cramping. They also found that it didn't really seem to help, regardless of cramping. In order for it to help, it would have to lower the overall density of the swimmer. Since the mass of the swimmer doesn't change, the volume would have to become greater, but this would also increase the drag of the swimmer because of the greater volume. (Think of what happens when you inflate your lungs fully vs exhale fully.) Also, since air is compressible, if you put reasonable volumes into the lower colon, the body's mass has some resistance to deformation. You may feel bloated and, in fact, may have some overall volume change but in this case you get less out than you put in. (No snide comments.)
Source: When I was with the USOC, we had a *very* high ranking East German sport scientist/administrator visit in the mid-80's. In the interest of "openess" (what B.S.) we had a question & answer session with him regarding their sport science methods. One of our physiologists asked him about the air-in-the-lower-colon experiment and, despite the fact that he was a lying weasel S.O.B., he seemed truthful on the above answer.
Some of his other answers were so patently nonsensical or evasive that we basically called the session early.
-LBJ
