Swim Rant

Ahmed, actually this was at a gym with no lane speed postings. He just didn't want to share, but sorry, sometimes sharing must happen. And no matter how ticked he was, I really don't think that's any sort of excuse to kick someone. You are absolutely right and correct, the way you described that situation and whether there were speed postings or not, or whether one swimmer is Olympic material and the other catatonic, there is, of course, no excuse for kicking another person. I mean, I was ticked the other day when I was circle swimming in the "Fast" lane (I belong to a different gym now) with 2 women who really should not have been in the Fast lane at all. But it would have never occurred to me to kick one of them to get them out of the lane. What you do is NOT to kick them but a) overtake them so fast that they will realize that you're way faster than they are and b) cut in in front of them, so closely that they feel that they might have been kicked had you been a fraction of an inch off. Naturally, you do it safely but close enough to make them think. And if they object, you could always tell them that, as you were overtaking (since they're so slow), you had to swerve to avoid colliding with an oncoming swimmer. As I'm writing this, I'm hoping that I never have the gall and nerve to swim in a Fast lane if I discover that I'm sharing it with a visiting Ian Thorpe or an Alain Bernard or even a Botoukalabmvera Fanithopouliotidos (but also an Olympian, though of a lesser caliber) but that I would notice them in time to go over, way over, way way over, 15 lanes away.

Ahmed, actually this was at a gym with no lane speed postings. He just didn't want to share, but sorry, sometimes sharing must happen. And no matter how ticked he was, I really don't think that's any sort of excuse to kick someone. You are absolutely right and correct, the way you described that situation and whether there were speed postings or not, or whether one swimmer is Olympic material and the other catatonic, there is, of course, no excuse for kicking another person. I mean, I was ticked the other day when I was circle swimming in the "Fast" lane (I belong to a different gym now) with 2 women who really should not have been in the Fast lane at all. But it would have never occurred to me to kick one of them to get them out of the lane. What you do is NOT to kick them but a) overtake them so fast that they will realize that you're way faster than they are and b) cut in in front of them, so closely that they feel that they might have been kicked had you been a fraction of an inch off. Naturally, you do it safely but close enough to make them think. And if they object, you could always tell them that, as you were overtaking (since they're so slow), you had to swerve to avoid colliding with an oncoming swimmer. As I'm writing this, I'm hoping that I never have the gall and nerve to swim in a Fast lane if I discover that I'm sharing it with a visiting Ian Thorpe or an Alain Bernard or even a Botoukalabmvera Fanithopouliotidos (but also an Olympian, though of a lesser caliber) but that I would notice them in time to go over, way over, way way over, 15 lanes away.