You are the Rules Dictator

I would allow tumble turns for both breastroke and butterfly.

LBJ and Geek: Thank god you are not real dicatators. If you become dictators, you WILL be buying me a full length wetsuit if you expect me to be hopping into jellyfish infested water. A nice calm lake swim may be more my speed, but it still exceeds my 100 meter limit. Don't get all "preachy" on me Geek just because I'm not a distance swimmer. I have the shoulder pass. Poolrat: My daughter gives me the same crap. I tell her the same thing: I can still kick her butt in all the 50 and 100s (except for ***, of course, which the majority agrees should be eliminated anyway). Peter: Very inspired idea. No reason those Smith boys should have the advantage in sprints. Short, fast twitch swimmers are really discriminated against right now. :shakeshead: Gotta have a second per inch penalty for girls too. I would do sooooo much better. SwimmerLisa: I am perfectly willing to look utterly ridiculous going off the blocks in fins for my first ever 200 fly. :applaud: Otherwise, there will never be a first ever. There will just be a last one 24 years ago.

A nice calm lake swim may be more my speed, but it still exceeds my 100 meter limit. I just took up open water 3 years ago and prior to that my longest distance race was the 200. It's super fun. The only mishap I've had is running into a drifting log once in a race. I challenge gull to a lake race but his fancy boy $350 suit wouldn't hold up well in lake water.

Maybe instead of age group swimming we should have groups based on height. Then us tall people won't have to listen to all this whining. Regarding eliminating breaststoke...why don't we just change the rule allowing fly with *** kick to *** with fly kick? I'm almost good at that one.

I would create an individual medley event that would allow you to swim it in any order. Although, it would be tough to officiate, it would be interesting to watch.

None of you probably wanted a serious post in this thread, judging by all the insane recommendations, but I will respond to some of the more interesting ones. Jon Blank didn't want the dolphin kick in the breaststroke pullout. Though I was initially against it, I do like that it now levels the playing field. There's nothing now that could be slipped by a judge in breaststroke. Swimmerlisa and born2fly wanted limitless underwater kicking on fly, back and free. Fine, as long as you remember the reasons why they began limiting it. Kids were passing out in the pool trying to be the next David Berkoff (or Michael Ross), so they allowed only 10 meters. That wasn't far enough, so they stretched it to 15. Also, underwater kicking was not deemed "swimming" by many, so there was an effort to level the playing field to help those (me!) who can't kick that far. If limitless kicking is reinstated, I will not be the one who jumps in after a 45-year-old who thinks he can do an entire long-course 50 back underwater. You'll have beer wages on who can kick the furthest. The insurance liabilities in USMS and USAS would be sky high, which would drastically increase member fees and drive away those who can't afford the price hike. Just to let you know, there is a 100 IM for elite swimmers. They do it at the short course world championships and at grand prix meets. Only in the USA is the event shunned between the ages of 13 and 25. Of course, we never have short-course meters meets in this country anyway for elite swimmers (besides NCAAs every four years), so why worry? Oh, you want to know what rule changes I would like? None. I think swimming is finally at the place it needs to be.

I'm curious why you would want the rule to allow one-handed touches in fly and ***. A one-handed touch means the swimmer would take a freestyle stroke before the turn. That's not breaststroke or butterfly. That's why Otylia Jedrzejczak's 200 fly at worlds was controversial. Not touching with both hands means the hand that doesn't touch could be used for propulsion independent of the other arm. The key to making butterfly and breaststroke so unique is the rule that the arms must move in the same motion at all times. Otherwise, we should call it the "breestroke" or the "butterfree." I've done my share of one-handed turns in workout, but only in warmdowns or warmups. Never when racing. I see lots of people on my team do one-handed touches on fly and ***. I've seen some take massive pulls with the non-touching arm. I agree that the continuous turning action needs to be reviewed. But again, it's a judgment call. Some judges are more lenient than others.

Good point. But didn't Otylia bring her arms in simultaneously above the water? I though she moved one hand in slighter before the other underwater as she hit the wall. I don't think I'm doing breestroke when I do my one handed turns (which I try not to as I know it's a bad habit -- I never do it in a meet!) I come in simultaneously. I just quickly pull my left elbow back faster so it might miss the wall with the hand by 1-2 inches. Is the "massive pull" you're seeing underwater? P.S. I completely agree about the 15 meter underwater SDK rule. I don't want to pass out and I don't want my kids passing out. 15 meters is plenty thank you.

How about mixing up the order of events at a swim meet. In the masters one day meets I have been to, it seems the 200 stroke events are always at the end and the 200 fly always seems to be last. Why is 50 free always at the beginning? Do the sprinters not have the stamina to sit thru a meet and swim that at the end lol I do not mind swimming an event or two before the 200 fly but to have it at the end is always a bummer. What makes it worse is that after 200 fly, you have the relays followed up by the mile which I also swim Also, another change, doing breastroke with a butterfly kick would work for me.

I would allow tumble turns for both breastroke and butterfly. Unless you are 100 and wear a woolen competition suit, you are not allowed to say "tumble turn."