Can a woman beat a man in swimming?

Frank Thompson, You bring up an interesting dual.... Rich Abrahams in the 50 free age 60 against a collegiate female in her 20s. I like this one even better. The spread of 40 years vs. the male female factor....... yes...... this is a good one. Except, Rich is too nice to play the Bobby Riggs persona. We'd have to switch it out and find a meaner Amy Van Dyken figure for the women.... :-) John Smith

Mr Goodsmith: It looked like Rich Abrahams came pretty close to Kara Lynn Joyce in the 50 Free. His time of :25.54 against hers at Montreal at :25.36. What is interesting is that he would have beat the 8th place women from Montreal WC. That time was :25.56. When he does the 50 Fly we will see if he can place in that as well.

Originally posted by jswim I wish more people in this world were as mature as this! How True! You hit it on the head, descrimination against people for their gender orientation, looking different, etc.. is extremely childish behavior! well stated. :) This in itself is a testament to swimming and why everyone should admire it as the ultimate sport!.. how mature and cool all swimmers are! ah haaaaa!;) Hey thanks! Also nice quote! I sometimes can beat guys in swimming.... generally the guy who sort of half breaststrokes/half walks his way across the pool... sometimes the guy who slaps the water as if it's his enemy... sometimes the guy who sort of floats down the pool using a snorkel.... the serious swimmers--guy dept....nowhere near! But I did manage to graduate from slowest to second slowest person in my masters' group by about late May. (Since then, we've been on our own while the coach is away for the summer.) One thing I noticed: our group is (not by design) exclusively female. There was a guy, but he hurt his shoulder and had to stop--and another who was there just a couple of times. Not a lot of chances to test myself against guys, but I'm not thinking that would be a close race anyway. ;) But some of the women in that group could definitely battle it out w/ the guys.

This in itself is a testament to swimming and why everyone should admire it as the ultimate sport!.. how mature and cool all swimmers are! ah haaaaa! originally posted by jswim Let's not forget who started this thread now (and other similar type threads here) ....LOL!!! Newmastersswimmer

Yes.... you suggestion that Rich swim against a younger female in the 50 free is an excellent choice for this Bobby Riggs/Billy Jean King battle of the sexes. They are well matched despite the 40 years of age difference. Newsmasters swimmer..... better to have a good vibrant subject to throw around. Keeps the forum interesting.... :-) John Smith

Well Mr. Goodsmith, Rich Abrahams came up short against the women. His :27.92 WR in the 60-64 age group would have gotten 29th in the Women's 50 Fly at the WC in Montreal. The 16th place time in the consolation heat was :27.52 and the 8th place time was :27.23. I notice that Rich's seed time was :27.50 so maybe he was a little off or the Women's 50 Fly was more competitive and better than the 50 Free. Your quote "better to have good vibrant subject to throw around. Keeps the forum Interesting". I don't know about this. Why you just set the record for having the fastest thread closed with only 3 postings. The only reason I know this is because I had a nice post response to that thread and then when I was done and submitted the reply it came back CLOSED. All that time wasted for nothing. Locked out posts are bad because you will be in the race for the most annoying USMS poster and you don't want that. I have been party to a couple of them, but there is 1 person that been a party to everyone but 1 and now 2 with yours.

Mr Goodsmith: That is good news. No you don't have to open again. I thought it was closed because of the Man vs Women question.

Originally posted by TheGoodSmith Well, I closed the post that my wife started as it was confusing people. She opened it under our PC at home and it looked like I was opening it. Then when I replied to it, it looked even more confusing. I thought if she opened it up again under her own ID it would make more sense. John Smith whew!.. I thought perhaps a trip to the psychiatrist was needed. ;) Good to know there was actually another person behind the posts.. and not just a case of split personality.

Well, I closed the post that my wife started as it was confusing people. She opened it under our PC at home and it looked like I was opening it. Then when I replied to it, it looked even more confusing. I thought if she opened it up again under her own ID it would make more sense. I'll be glad to reopen it if you think it doesn't matter or isn't confusing. As for Rich's swims. I will talk to him eventually and find out how he felt about them. Certainly impressive. John Smith

Originally posted by TheGoodSmith I closed the post that my wife started as it was confusing people. She opened it under our PC at home and it looked like I was opening it. Then when I replied to it, it looked even more confusing. I thought if she opened it up again under her own ID it would make more sense. Mr. Moose sometimes posted under someone else's name, so it is not unusual. I suggest having her use her "name" as a signature (at the end of the post), rather than as a topic title, should make it clearer in the future. (Unless she gets her own account.)