Is swimming "eating its young?" Are they being burned out with mindless yardage? Do they have to do volume training for long events? Are we missing masters swimmers who were burned out as youths? As to the kids, what can we do to stop the cannabalism?
Some girls are going to be ready for elite competition at quite an early age, with some 14-year-olds who final at the Olympics.
Which brings up another topic: should there be a minimum age requirement for Worlds or the Olympics? There is, for example, in figure skating. Competitors must have turned 15 the July before the Olympics or Worlds to be eligible. So basically they need to be pushing 16 by the time the actual competition rolls around. Kind of strange considering the public perception of figure skating is that it's dominated by really young athletes.
My opinion is age limits like this are not a good idea. If someone is that good that young they deserve the chance to compete at the highest level. Especially something like the Olympics which only comes around every four years.
Some girls are going to be ready for elite competition at quite an early age, with some 14-year-olds who final at the Olympics.
Which brings up another topic: should there be a minimum age requirement for Worlds or the Olympics? There is, for example, in figure skating. Competitors must have turned 15 the July before the Olympics or Worlds to be eligible. So basically they need to be pushing 16 by the time the actual competition rolls around. Kind of strange considering the public perception of figure skating is that it's dominated by really young athletes.
My opinion is age limits like this are not a good idea. If someone is that good that young they deserve the chance to compete at the highest level. Especially something like the Olympics which only comes around every four years.
