There has been a lot of discussion since Athens about foreign swimmers training in the United States. Most of them attend U.S. Universities, receive athletic scholarships, and compete at NCAA's. Some notable examples include Duje Draganja (Cal), Fred Bousquet and Kirsty Coventry (Auburn), Markus Rogan (Stanford), and the South African sprinters (Arizona). Some train in the U.S., but don't compete for a university (Inge de Bruijn). All of these athletes benefit from U.S. coaching, from training with U.S. swimmers, and in some cases, from financial support provided by U.S. entities (athletic scholarships). They all turn around and then win medals for other countries.
A couple questions: 1) What do you think about this arrangement generally? 2) Is it of benefit or detriment to U.S. swimming to have these foreign athletes training and competing here? 3) Should we be giving athletic scholarships, which are a scarce resource in swimming, to foreign athletes who will represent their own countries internationally instead of U.S.-born swimmers who will represent us internationally?
I'm sure there are other issues, but these come directly to mind.
Skip.......
What country won the gold in the 400m free relay at Greece while training a majority of its members at a US college?
The 400m free was one of the last "Americas Cup" achievements for the US. We don't take losing this event lightly.
When the US wins the 400m free relay in Beijing, I will hold my beer high in the air to salute.
Until then........ battles must be won. This is not about friendly international cultural exhanges on the blocks. This race (and the medley) demonstrate the depth, power and superiority of a country's cumulative swimming program. We need to take this event back and grind them into a fine powder.
End of discussion.
John Smith
Mr Goodsmith:
I will always admit that the USA got greased in Greece. And we can all go back and read those threads about healthy Hall and sick Crocker. I really think the USA was surprised at the last two Olympics and the key legs of those losses was the lead off swims. People seem to forget about Michael Klim swimming completely out of his mind and setting a WR of :48.18, which was the second fastest time in history up until 2002. In the individual event he went :48.74 so his margin was enough to get them over the top. I also read that Anthony Erving did not have a good turn and was off on his split just enough to make that small difference. Just think if he could have done the :48.33 which he did the next year at the 2001 Worlds in Fukuoka we might have not lost that relay. Roland Schoeman split of :48.17 put the USA in a two second hole in 2004 that was just about impossible to make up.
Now this year you have to give credit for the USA World Record effort of 3:12.46 which broke the record by .71 and beat South African time of 3:14.97 at the 2006 Commonwealth Games by 2.51 seconds. I don't know if this meets your "grind them into fine powder" but a margin like that isn't even close. And the relay had the same guys on it except Darian Townsend and he was replaced by Jonas Zandberg who was not any slower. The splits are as follows: Schoeman :48.65, Ferns :48.43, Zandberg :49.44, and Neethling :48.45. So they were not swimming that slow individually and they have there major work cut out for them if they even challenge at the 2007 Worlds. I hope they don't make the same lame excuse that they don't have enough guys to field a relay. The USA has thrown down the challenge and until these guys or anybody goes in the 3:12 range, I would favor the USA in 2008. Hopefully we won't have a collapse from the improvement being made in the last two years and have complete team unity which was lacking in 2004.
Skip.......
What country won the gold in the 400m free relay at Greece while training a majority of its members at a US college?
The 400m free was one of the last "Americas Cup" achievements for the US. We don't take losing this event lightly.
When the US wins the 400m free relay in Beijing, I will hold my beer high in the air to salute.
Until then........ battles must be won. This is not about friendly international cultural exhanges on the blocks. This race (and the medley) demonstrate the depth, power and superiority of a country's cumulative swimming program. We need to take this event back and grind them into a fine powder.
End of discussion.
John Smith
Mr Goodsmith:
I will always admit that the USA got greased in Greece. And we can all go back and read those threads about healthy Hall and sick Crocker. I really think the USA was surprised at the last two Olympics and the key legs of those losses was the lead off swims. People seem to forget about Michael Klim swimming completely out of his mind and setting a WR of :48.18, which was the second fastest time in history up until 2002. In the individual event he went :48.74 so his margin was enough to get them over the top. I also read that Anthony Erving did not have a good turn and was off on his split just enough to make that small difference. Just think if he could have done the :48.33 which he did the next year at the 2001 Worlds in Fukuoka we might have not lost that relay. Roland Schoeman split of :48.17 put the USA in a two second hole in 2004 that was just about impossible to make up.
Now this year you have to give credit for the USA World Record effort of 3:12.46 which broke the record by .71 and beat South African time of 3:14.97 at the 2006 Commonwealth Games by 2.51 seconds. I don't know if this meets your "grind them into fine powder" but a margin like that isn't even close. And the relay had the same guys on it except Darian Townsend and he was replaced by Jonas Zandberg who was not any slower. The splits are as follows: Schoeman :48.65, Ferns :48.43, Zandberg :49.44, and Neethling :48.45. So they were not swimming that slow individually and they have there major work cut out for them if they even challenge at the 2007 Worlds. I hope they don't make the same lame excuse that they don't have enough guys to field a relay. The USA has thrown down the challenge and until these guys or anybody goes in the 3:12 range, I would favor the USA in 2008. Hopefully we won't have a collapse from the improvement being made in the last two years and have complete team unity which was lacking in 2004.
