ethiniticity

Wow flashback to the dolphin kick posts for Kosuke Kitajima --bad memories man, bad memories... Some of the best swimmers have been on the smaller side, Janet Evens for example, most of her record breaking swims were done before she actually hit her major growth spirt. Asian countries have not really hit it too big in swimming in the past few years --lets say 10 years, unless it was for controversy for steroid use in the women's sector. Is "competitive” swimming a cultural thing and therefore HUGE in some countries like Australia or US and not such the rage like in Africa or the Middle East? Granted the last Olympics (2004) we saw some really awesome races from countries that no one thought would be competitive. Do athletes train in one country and represent in their homeland have better results (yea I kinda think so after seeing some of the Olympic athletes who train in the US or swim in US colleges and place awesome in the Olympics for their homelands!) However, I tend to think that the US is a very wealthy country and swimming is a sport that requires families, the individual to foot a big bill for the enjoyment of the sport (club fees, USA swimming membership, travel, meets, suits goggles, caps, training tools, etc) and it is not until a swimmer hits a certain time zone/cut that the national team will pick them up for sponsorship/scholarship. Maybe some other countries don't subscribe to this type of athletic system and therefore the athlete has to pick up the financial burden in other ways in addition to training. But after all this rambling, does it matter what ethnicity some one is in regards to how they will perform as a swimmer? No way! Genetics plays a part in one's physical attributes and talents, but the environment can play a bigger role and compensate for genetics. Most important is the desire and enjoyment of the swimming.

Wow flashback to the dolphin kick posts for Kosuke Kitajima --bad memories man, bad memories... Some of the best swimmers have been on the smaller side, Janet Evens for example, most of her record breaking swims were done before she actually hit her major growth spirt. Asian countries have not really hit it too big in swimming in the past few years --lets say 10 years, unless it was for controversy for steroid use in the women's sector. Is "competitive” swimming a cultural thing and therefore HUGE in some countries like Australia or US and not such the rage like in Africa or the Middle East? Granted the last Olympics (2004) we saw some really awesome races from countries that no one thought would be competitive. Do athletes train in one country and represent in their homeland have better results (yea I kinda think so after seeing some of the Olympic athletes who train in the US or swim in US colleges and place awesome in the Olympics for their homelands!) However, I tend to think that the US is a very wealthy country and swimming is a sport that requires families, the individual to foot a big bill for the enjoyment of the sport (club fees, USA swimming membership, travel, meets, suits goggles, caps, training tools, etc) and it is not until a swimmer hits a certain time zone/cut that the national team will pick them up for sponsorship/scholarship. Maybe some other countries don't subscribe to this type of athletic system and therefore the athlete has to pick up the financial burden in other ways in addition to training. But after all this rambling, does it matter what ethnicity some one is in regards to how they will perform as a swimmer? No way! Genetics plays a part in one's physical attributes and talents, but the environment can play a bigger role and compensate for genetics. Most important is the desire and enjoyment of the swimming.