This new thread occurred to me while reading posts comparing Spitz to Phelps, as well as reflecting upon mortality considering heart attacks etc. In swimming we immortalize individuals or teams for various feats or contributions, but do little to preserve a feeling for subsequent generations of enthusiasts about what it was like to train and compete 'back in the day'. Just what day am I talking about? Exactly: there have been many 'days' or more properly 'eras' that can be narrowly characterized by differences in equipment, distances swum and trained, coaching methods or more widely by larger factors: world war, global depression, racial segregation, inequality of the sexes. All of these can contribute to very different experiences than what are common today to the younger swimmer; hence, 'what was it like'. I visualize a thread that continues to be added to as new people read it and remember their own experiences. As well, experience can vary with national origin, not just era. There have already been posts on this topic scattered in various threads, please feel free to copy or quote material from them to here.
Please remember that this is not about how fast a particular swimmer was, but about the conditions that defined competitive swimming of that day.
We also have a priceless resource out there: aging swimmers in their 80's or 90's who may be less likely to read or hear of this thread; why not ask them for some of their memories or impressions and pass them on to us, while we still can?
Yes, it was Sutro Baths. Sorry about that. Thanks for the correction :) If we're going to pass on history to the next generation, it better be accurate!
Since I'm staying with my 81 year old dad (mom took my son shopping) I asked him about the pools. He said it cost about 50 cents to get into Sutro Baths and "it was really kinda neat." (From my dad, that means it kicked a@!)Sutro Baths were located right under the Cliff House on Hwy 1 in SF. I too remember visiting the pilings that are all that's left of this cool piece of pool architecture.
He also edumacated (misspelling intentional) me on that 100m long pool. That was Flyshacker, in Flyshacker Park right near the ocean. He said he doesn't know about now, but then it was the world's largest pool. Salt water was pumped into from the ocean.
Don't forget about mounting the starting blocks in the shallow end. Doing starts into 3 1/2 foot deep water was commonplace until probably the early '90s. That's just how it was done.
My high school pool was a four lane, 25 yard pool. It was a little cramped with over 20 kids on the team. The divers practiced at the same time. The lane line was removed between lanes two and three and the divers just dove when there was an opening between swimmers. We also used giant wood planks for kickboards and used tubes for pull sets.
When we were a little bit older...Sharon Davies :hug:(we wished)...
I did briefly swim with Sharron Davies (don't forget the second 'r') at Crystal Palace in the late 1980s.
It REALLY wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
Away from that however, my abiding memory is of the contortional delights of the old style backstroke turns.
Nylon suits were out at least since the late 40s.the East Germans unveiled the lycra suit in 1974.Their suits were repotedly nearly transparent.We had wave dampening lane lines in college in the late 60s. I first saw swedish goggles in 1971.The first swimmer to shave down was an Aussie in 1956.(Jon Hendriks I believe.)In the late 70s they made a product I still miss.The gogglecap. The cap and goggles were one piece so there was no way your goggles could come off on the dive.In the 70s we also had "Timeoff Swim Spray" to make you slicker in the water(now illegal.)
the East Germans unveiled the lycra suit in 1974.Their suits were repotedly nearly transparent.
I wore lycra suits. :banana: They lasted a minute or two.
What about suit burns? Anyone get those from mega distance training? Ouch, ouch, ouch, blood in the pool, scars.
We never did "visualization" either. We hung out and played cards or poker between events. Meets used to last forever.
A lurker recently told me that, when I was 13, I swam a 200 breaststroke and 200 free in a real live meet. Ha, ha. ;)
Speedo Nylon suits came out on the early 70's, lycra blnds in the late 70's early 80's.
I had the first ever mirrored speedo goggles in 1981.
Speedo came out with a one piece google that I like very much in 1983 or 1984.
The super cool angled 3 piece, stainless and fiberglass blocks came out in the late 70's.
The lane markers with the anti turbulence designs came out in the early eighties.
Shaving down.
Not sure when this began. We did it in the mid 70's on though.
If you didn't elect to shave as a guy, you got held down and got a partial, somewhat bloody, shave by your teammates. That included an eyebrow just for being difficult!
as the above poster said, starting blocks that were really blocks... wooden, painted the same color as the inside of the pool. The black lane line was painted up the side of the pool and onto the block. That darn black stripe was HOT in the summer sun of the Georgia coast.
My foot slipping into a crack and almost getting caught in the homemade wooden bulkhead that seperated the swim team practice area of the pool from the public end of the pool.
goggles? what are goggles? never able to see the bottom or side of the pool because of a combination of chlorine and my poor vision.
Doing turn after turn after turn until the bottom of my feet were bleeding from pushing off on the rough surface of the wall. (actually didn't realize it until I got out of the pool and someone pointed out my 'bloody' foot prints.
A two mile jog on the beach was the coach's idea of a warm up. Something like 1,000 bobs were the coach's idea of a cool down.
Loving the beach, the water and swimming so much that when practice was over we walked out the back gate of the pool, onto the beach and made up our own 'open water races'.
Don't forget about mounting the starting blocks in the shallow end. Doing starts into 3 1/2 foot deep water was commonplace until probably the early '90s. That's just how it was done.
My high school pool was a four lane, 25 yard pool. It was a little cramped with over 20 kids on the team. The divers practiced at the same time. The lane line was removed between lanes two and three and the divers just dove when there was an opening between swimmers. We also used giant wood planks for kickboards and used tubes for pull sets.
Some major-modern pools still put the starting blocks in the shallow end, Bentley U. for instance. A girl on my team last year at an invitational there hit the bottom on her start and broke 2 teeth, she's lucky thats all she did.
My highschool pool had 6 lanes, but my 7th grade year we had 65 girls on varsity so we also had to swim in the diving lanes when they were practicing. They just shoved us little middle schoolers in those lanes and wished us good luck!
This is a perfect thread for me as I started swimming at the Y in 1958 before moving into AAU in 1961.
No goggles whatsoever so we used Murine for the eye/chlorine problems.
Ropes for lane lines, no buoys
Gutter start for backstroke; starting blocks had no rail to hold on to.
Backstroke flags were further out.
Breaststroke DQ if your head went under water or water went over your head.
Backstroke backflip turn then the spin turn came into play.
Moving up to AAU: no pull buoys so we used rubber straps to isolate our legs for pulling.
No bilateral breathing at all; one side or the other only plus breathing every stroke was commonplace (still do this today, sigh).
Took salt tablets every single day to replace salt lost in two, 3 hour workouts every single day, no days off.
No one ever suffered swim injuries; only ear infections.
Ate steak and chocolate all the time for protein and quick energy.
Wore mu-mu's at swim meets (all the girls did).
Swim suits: 3 to pick from: black with blue stripes/or green stripes or red stripes--that was it.
No one wore swim caps or ear plugs.
While training for the 68 Olympics, Coach Easterling would punish us if we didn't make a set. Every time we missed a send-off, we would have to swim 20 lengths of butterfly. He kept me one time 3 hours after workout because I kept missing my sendoffs; I imagine I did at least 2 miles of fly that evening.
3 timers per lane and they would average their times to get your swim time. And the person who touched the wall first won regardless of the swim time. This was another component everyone worked on; we were great finishers. Became proficient at stretching out on our sides to out touch people; hey, I can still do this today, it's a great skill.
Donna
