A friend of mine has argued to me that in an IM if you were to dolphin kick off the wall on your back as you start the freestyle leg and then rotate and break out on your front at 14m that you would be DQed for having swum backstroke in the free leg, which is not legal. I think it would be legal. The rules don't specify exactly how different the freestyle leg must be from the three fixed strokes so there is definite ambiguity. If a swimmer swam a half length of fly and then a half length of *** should they be DQed? Would this logic apply to a half length of on the back dolphin followed by a half length of front crawl? This is not entirely academic as some people find they can dolphin faster on their back then on their front. And dolphin kicking on the front is legal fly so the same logic applies to any dolphin kicking.
Any high level officials that would like to weigh in?
Thanks!
P.S. Would butterfrog be legal for the free leg for non-masters but illegal for masters?
Lindsay,
This is one of those trick questions that come up during the pre-meet meeting of the officials when we have run out of things to talk about. A kick does not define a stroke. The official has to wait until you complete at least one cycle to determine what you are swimming. Now all of these discussions I mentioned above were at USA Swimming meets. Switch to masters and we have another problem. If someone does fly with a dolphin kick to start the IM, can they do fly with a breaststroke kick in the freestyle? Well the answer, I would suggest, is no since the fly with a breaststroke kick is legal in the butterfly therefore it is not a different stroke but you should still wait to raise one's had for the DQ until the first cycle is complete.
Hope this helps.
Leo
Lindsay,
This is one of those trick questions that come up during the pre-meet meeting of the officials when we have run out of things to talk about. A kick does not define a stroke. The official has to wait until you complete at least one cycle to determine what you are swimming. Now all of these discussions I mentioned above were at USA Swimming meets. Switch to masters and we have another problem. If someone does fly with a dolphin kick to start the IM, can they do fly with a breaststroke kick in the freestyle? Well the answer, I would suggest, is no since the fly with a breaststroke kick is legal in the butterfly therefore it is not a different stroke but you should still wait to raise one's had for the DQ until the first cycle is complete.
Hope this helps.
Leo
