We've all had them, your suit rips during a start, you accidentally sneeze on Michael Phelps, you burp or fart on the starting blocks, etc. (none of those happened to me...knock on wood).
What's your most embarassing swimming moment? (includes, meets, practice, anything swimming related)
I whipped my goggles off my head, jumped up on the block, hit it with one foot, and belly flopped into the pool... terrified that I'd missed my start. I surfaced ready to race and everyone was laughing. Yes, it was just a test beep. Even the officials were giving me a hard time, saying that they might have to count that as a false start. Totally humiliating for a 13 year old.
I am sure that was not easy to get over at 13, but I must say now it makes for a pretty funny story.
My first meet in college,swimming the 200 Br. There was a false start but they fired the recall pistol while I was underwater and I didn't hear it. I came up and got the false start rope hitting me right in the neck. I was so nervous I didn't realize what it was and kept swimming thinking "coach is never going to believe this,someone left a rope in the pool and now I'm going to have to swim with a rope around my neck." After 4-5 strokes not getting anywhere I figured out what happened. The upper-classmen didn't let me forget my ignorance for awhile.
Goggle trouble:
During my second masters swim meet last March, I had the worst goggle trouble.
I don't practice starts and have never been comfortable diving in with goggles. So most of the time I don't wear goggles in meets.
Then I swam a nice 50 back where I had no goggle problems and did a PB.
On backstroke, I often don't use goggles even during workouts. My awareness of my swimming surrounding is just so much greater without goggles in the backstroke.
Now on to my embarassing moment. I must have been 9 or 10 yrs old, and was in a 50 breastroke race. Got up on the block, and started like a bat out of hell. Only problem was I was swimming freestyle. So halfway thru I realize what I was doing and switched to breastroke and finished the race. Afterwards, my dads comment was that I realized I goofed up, only because I was winning the race at the time.
I hit my head on the wall after the third 50 of a 200 LCM backstroke in a fairly large in-season meet in 1996.
It was in Fort Lauderdale, and I was swimming the 200 back because there was nothing else I'd feel comfortable doing that day. I was swimming in a heat with Lenny Krayzelburg, and I just wanted to not get beaten by more than a 25.
I was doing well after the first 100. But the sun was really bright and I couldn't avoid looking right at it. So I swam for a few strokes with my eyes closed. I didn't know the wall would be so close. I hit it really hard. But I recovered quickly and finished the race. I qualified 16th for the evening finals.
When I got out of the pool, everyone kept asking me if I was OK. I told them I was fine, that the touchpad softened the blow somewhat.
That night, without the sun in my face, I won the consolation heat from the outside lane. One of my proudest swimming moments.
I just thought of another very embarassing but also tramautizing moment.
In high school, was swimming at practice at night and at the end of practice we had to retract the lanelines and pull the tarp over the pool since it was winter and no one else was using it except us at night.
I had just finished warm down and was hanging out on the wall. Suddenly, practical jokers of friends thought it would be funny to pull the tarp over me while I'm hanging on the wall. And immediately the tarp was over my head and half way down the 25 meter pool.
It went completely black and I freaked out. The pool was deep and I couldn't push up to get enough pressure to get the tarp up for air. I really thought for a split second that I was going to drown. Then all my senses came back to me and I remember I could swim.
I fiercely started swimming underwater and got to the wall, breathless and letting out ever expletive I could think of. Everyone stopped laughing and the whole deck got really quiet. I then realized that there were tons of parents hanging out to pick their kids up.
Horrifying. I was so embarassed, but oh my god I was so scared! :shakeshead:
Oh, I just remembered one more!!! It was at Stanford Univ in California. I was NEVER a butterfly person, I avoided it at all costs because I was a backstroker only. Well, we entered the 400 medley relay and I was supposed to do the backstroke as usual. Well, we had to switch people around because our flyer left early, etc., etc. No one could swim the fly so I got changed to swim the 100 fly. I kept telling them I couldn't do it, I had never swam anything past a terrible 50 fly. The other relay members were saying their fly was awful to look at; I was saying I couldn't swim it.
Guess what? I had to do the fly. At 60 yards I quit swimming, I got out of the pool at 75 yards, I absolutely quit. I knew I couldn't finish it. And the best thing about this is: many people actually congratulated me on knowing my limitations. My teammates said: why didn't you tell us? I HAD told them. Idiots!!!
Donna
Jeff, that ft. laudy pool gets so bright during the day. I've had similiar experiences. That is one thing I like about the YMCA Aquatic Center in Orlando, at least it's ceiling/windows close before the backstroke events. Gotta love the retractable ceiling. The bright sun bearing down on an outdoor pool is blinding!
donna - i am glad to not have your misfortune, i really think i would have stayed in the water until dark!
As a senior in 1974 at the Hall of Fame pool in Ft Lauderdale I also met my downfall. We had qualifyed for the night finals in the High School championships in the 200 medly relay. We were not supposed to make the cut so we were all excited to be there for finals. I had the backstroke leg of the Medly relay and off I went at the sound of the gun. At the turn I forgot or did not see the gutters and took one giant stroke and swam over the low gutter and right up on the concrete deck. Upon discovering my error I slide back in the water and finished the race. That ended our chances on the spot. The bruises and cuts did not hurt but my ego took a huge pounding that day.
Have a great day
Paul
I have a group humiliation swimming moment.
In high school, our team had just gotten our new team suits in. I must have been a freshman or sophmore since neither of my sisters were on the team at the time. The suits came in so late, they were handed out just in time for walking through the door at the first meet. Now, they were a pale tie dye color, and I wasn't too fond of them dry but looked fine. However, when we got in the pool, they turned out to be completely transparent. You could see everything quite clearly. All of our parents and friends were there and horrified. Girls fathers were there. The worst part was due to our high school rules, we couldn't go back to the locker rooms and change suits because we had to be wearing a team uniform or else be DQ'd. The talk of the whole meet was the humiliation to be had by those who had to swim backstroke - especially in the lane next to the spectators. We had many more spectators than usual, as word spread, it seemed everyone from other teams and activities around after school showed up to gawk at our peep show.
The suits were returned for full refunds and our captains were much more careful with the next suit selection.
