I have been swimming Masters for two years and am 47 years old. I graduated from high school in 1976 and college in 1980. In South Texas the 45-49 age group has consistently had more swimmers at meets and perhaps the closest competition of any male age group. Why does 45-49 have more swimmers than 40-44 and 50-54, the two neighboring age groups? There are some very fast guys in this age group, who obviously have not taken long breaks (e.g. decades) from swimming. They swim modern breastroke, not legacy breastroke.
Are we 45-49 guys just a demographic phenomenum? Our kids are a certain age, we got a bit fat, and decided to get active again? Or was there a swimmer population bubble in the late 70s and early 80s?
Is this bubble going to follow me when I age up or does some percentage of swimmers retire at 49?
Just an inquiring mind.....
Parents
Former Member
I too am in the same age group and this is just conjecture: for those of us that started in the mid to late 60s, I think there was a Mexico City/Counsilman/Spitz/Hall Sr. bounce that got us attracted to the sport, secondly--the invention of goggles (we were the first age group that raced in them--or could race dive rather), suit and pool technology improved greatly, all which added up to some incredible racing and time drops especially in the 70s. Go back and look at times from 1970 and then compare them to 1979. You won't see those kind of time drops in any other decade, which I believe can be credited to the better pools, equipment, and sheer number of competitors.
Any other thoughts on this?
I too am in the same age group and this is just conjecture: for those of us that started in the mid to late 60s, I think there was a Mexico City/Counsilman/Spitz/Hall Sr. bounce that got us attracted to the sport, secondly--the invention of goggles (we were the first age group that raced in them--or could race dive rather), suit and pool technology improved greatly, all which added up to some incredible racing and time drops especially in the 70s. Go back and look at times from 1970 and then compare them to 1979. You won't see those kind of time drops in any other decade, which I believe can be credited to the better pools, equipment, and sheer number of competitors.
Any other thoughts on this?
