Controversy...Is it all about winning!

Vladimir: Thanks for the followup. If you go to one of the posts in this thread I asked if Team TYR was involved in the set up that you answer so thoroughly. As a Coach and a Master Swimmer myself I have heard of the arrangement that you are talking about and I posted this question and got an answer that "The folks at TYR have been great and we have gotten some awesome gear" and that is about all the explanation that I got. I was under the impression that Rich Saeger set this up for everyone as a neutral club and that everyone knows everyone and that were are connecting with old friends, enjoying masters swimming, and trying to create a fast relay. Everyone at the meet will have a good time. There was never an explanation of the arrangement that you explained and I had heard about that arrangement and think that its perfectly above board and support it in todays professional market. I said in my question to them that this concept has been going on in swimming and maybe its going to be explored into the masters market. Again, there was no answer from the people that I posted the question and if there was I probably would have not bothered to research more. So you, as one of the fastest swimmers in the world show up on there roster like this and it was not explained at all. When I saw your name on the roster I remembered when you swam and have several videos that I have in my archive of you at the Olympics, World Championships, and Goodwill Games. I did a search on the USMS website and there was no activity of you swimming in USMS. I went to the current top times sight and didn't see a mention of your name and until fatboy came on here to tell us about your masters swimming, I did not know about it. I did do a google search and thats what came up. If you notice I never said anything about those articles and they are there as a matter of public record. In fact, that is how I found out about your coaching in Illinois. There was an article in Swimming World many years ago about the state of Russian swimming. In that article and in fact its documented in the book "Gold in the Water" they talked about Russians swimmers coming over here and leaving Russia. In fact they said that Sergei Mariniuk did that before he attained is green card. That is the only reason why I brought that up and that as nothing to do with you. Sometimes on this website its hard to know when someone is joking and when someone is serious. I am being serioius now and I think its great you are here and I hope that you have great success in all your endevors in coaching and swimming regardless of who you are swimming for. As for John Smith, he has stated that he wants to be the most controversial and irritating person in masters swimming. I sometimes feel I am helping him do this by disagreeing with him so much that I am going to win the title away from him as the most irritating and contoversial swimmer here and that is a title I do not want. The foreign swimmers thread is where everyone disagrees the most and that is why I brought it up in a humorlessly fashion and not seriously which I probably shouldn't have done. Also to the Smiths. In case you didn't know it, it was ME that brought up your concerns about the athlete representation at the World Championships in the International meeting at the USAS convention and changing the current method to a National Delegation entry. I was told at the meeting that bringing this up now was like charging a brick wall. I had said last year on the Recruiting thread that if these changes happened the controversy would go away. Both of you said that you would work with Mark Gill to get something on the table for our FINA rep to take to the meeting in China. I don't believe that ever happened and until it does happen then we are going to have this endless debate for a long time. I do agree with both of your assessments that this is a World Swimming Festival compared to the World Championships that Swimming has. In closing Vladimir, I am sorry if I offended you in any way. That was not my intention at all. Over here especially with what happened to Kicker Vencil, people have become suspect of articles like that. And I am sorry to the Smith's if I offended them because of this confusion. I still don't agree with what you are doing on this type of arrangement and its perfectly legal by all of the masters rules of swimming. I don't agree with this because I don't feel its in line with the core objectives of building, serving, and educating the USMS membership. With that being said good luck getting as many World Records as you can.

Vladimir: Thanks for the followup. If you go to one of the posts in this thread I asked if Team TYR was involved in the set up that you answer so thoroughly. As a Coach and a Master Swimmer myself I have heard of the arrangement that you are talking about and I posted this question and got an answer that "The folks at TYR have been great and we have gotten some awesome gear" and that is about all the explanation that I got. I was under the impression that Rich Saeger set this up for everyone as a neutral club and that everyone knows everyone and that were are connecting with old friends, enjoying masters swimming, and trying to create a fast relay. Everyone at the meet will have a good time. There was never an explanation of the arrangement that you explained and I had heard about that arrangement and think that its perfectly above board and support it in todays professional market. I said in my question to them that this concept has been going on in swimming and maybe its going to be explored into the masters market. Again, there was no answer from the people that I posted the question and if there was I probably would have not bothered to research more. So you, as one of the fastest swimmers in the world show up on there roster like this and it was not explained at all. When I saw your name on the roster I remembered when you swam and have several videos that I have in my archive of you at the Olympics, World Championships, and Goodwill Games. I did a search on the USMS website and there was no activity of you swimming in USMS. I went to the current top times sight and didn't see a mention of your name and until fatboy came on here to tell us about your masters swimming, I did not know about it. I did do a google search and thats what came up. If you notice I never said anything about those articles and they are there as a matter of public record. In fact, that is how I found out about your coaching in Illinois. There was an article in Swimming World many years ago about the state of Russian swimming. In that article and in fact its documented in the book "Gold in the Water" they talked about Russians swimmers coming over here and leaving Russia. In fact they said that Sergei Mariniuk did that before he attained is green card. That is the only reason why I brought that up and that as nothing to do with you. Sometimes on this website its hard to know when someone is joking and when someone is serious. I am being serioius now and I think its great you are here and I hope that you have great success in all your endevors in coaching and swimming regardless of who you are swimming for. As for John Smith, he has stated that he wants to be the most controversial and irritating person in masters swimming. I sometimes feel I am helping him do this by disagreeing with him so much that I am going to win the title away from him as the most irritating and contoversial swimmer here and that is a title I do not want. The foreign swimmers thread is where everyone disagrees the most and that is why I brought it up in a humorlessly fashion and not seriously which I probably shouldn't have done. Also to the Smiths. In case you didn't know it, it was ME that brought up your concerns about the athlete representation at the World Championships in the International meeting at the USAS convention and changing the current method to a National Delegation entry. I was told at the meeting that bringing this up now was like charging a brick wall. I had said last year on the Recruiting thread that if these changes happened the controversy would go away. Both of you said that you would work with Mark Gill to get something on the table for our FINA rep to take to the meeting in China. I don't believe that ever happened and until it does happen then we are going to have this endless debate for a long time. I do agree with both of your assessments that this is a World Swimming Festival compared to the World Championships that Swimming has. In closing Vladimir, I am sorry if I offended you in any way. That was not my intention at all. Over here especially with what happened to Kicker Vencil, people have become suspect of articles like that. And I am sorry to the Smith's if I offended them because of this confusion. I still don't agree with what you are doing on this type of arrangement and its perfectly legal by all of the masters rules of swimming. I don't agree with this because I don't feel its in line with the core objectives of building, serving, and educating the USMS membership. With that being said good luck getting as many World Records as you can.