Change happens, sports evolve, it's a fact of sports. Pining for the days of yore is silly.
I believe this was my initial point.
And who are you calling old, snackshack? Put a lid on it, cupcake. (Mickey Rooney - Night at the Museum)
Shark,
Your logic about rules is amusing. I suppose your one of those people who thinks Mark McGuire's use of Andro is justified since the "rules" didn't technically ban it at the time he was actually using it..... :-)
Changing or finding loopholes in the rules to make the sport faster doesn't make the sport faster.
Note..... pool technology has not advanced that much since the mid 1970s. The best pool features were adopted after the 1972 Munich facility (leave it to German engineering). The Texas Swimming center for example incoporated many of these basic design elements. Indy also has these design features..... over flow gutters, wider lanes, 8.5 foot depths, reduced current jets .... These pool design concepts have not changed in over 30 years. Also keep in mind that great swims can be achieved in average to poor facilities when the swimmer is way far out front of the pack in smooth water. e.g. Sippy Woodheads WR in the Woodlands, TX.... Jonty Skinner's 100M free WR. Clear smooth water in the end is basically just that..... clear smooth water.
Looks like these blocks will make it into the sport sooner or later. Sideways foot pressure compared to the conventional two-foot up front start is superior for leverage and reaction time. I have no problem using new innovations, but don't put the new records down in the books without an asterisk next to them.
That's just a lie and a disgrace to the former holder.
John Smith
The arbitrary establishiment of rules to make former record holders feel more important only cheapens both their records and those of current record holders. Creating multiple systems of records within a sport is a terrible idea and would be viewed with the same skepticism that the doping era has brought onto baseball which, oddly enough, you seek to emulate with your asterisk idea.
Records are meant to be broken and every record holder knows that. If all it takes to forget a swimmer is to have their record broken, maybe they weren't such an asset to swimming in the first place.
Good swimming by your son, btw. No asterisk for him, that's straight up speedy swimming.
track athletes get to use starting blocks
why not swimmers
track starting blocks have a much steeper slope
than the back end of those omega blocks
I learned an interesting fact about
the starting blocks at UT
blocks on the north end have 7 degree slope
blocks on the south end have a a 10 degree slope
when the bulkheads are down they put the 7 degree blocks on them
the bulkheads are built with a 3 degree slope
so when you put the 7 degree blocks on the 3 degree bulkhead
you have the effect of 10 degree blocks which is the current legal limit
I wish fina rules would allow
starting blocks or toes over the edge for backstroke starts
or better yet, let us dive in forward then roll over underwater.
The arbitrary establishiment of rules to make former record holders feel more important only cheapens both their records and those of current record holders. Creating multiple systems of records within a sport is a terrible idea and would be viewed with the same skepticism that the doping era has brought onto baseball which, oddly enough, you seek to emulate with your asterisk idea.
Records are meant to be broken and every record holder knows that. If all it takes to forget a swimmer is to have their record broken, maybe they weren't such an asset to swimming in the first place.
Good swimming by your son, btw.
Cheers! :drink:
track athletes get to use starting blocks
why not swimmers
track starting blocks have a much steeper slope
than the back end of those omega blocks
I learned an interesting fact about
the starting blocks at UT
blocks on the north end have 7 degree slope
blocks on the end have a a 10 degree slope
when the bulkheads are down they put the 7 degree blocks on them
the bulkheads are built with a 3 degree slope
so when you put the 7 degree blocks on the 3 degree bulkhead
you have the effect of 10 degree blocks which is the current legal limit
I wish fina rules would allow
starting blocks or toes over the edge for backstroke starts
or better yet, let us dive in forward then roll over underwater.
:lmao:
Interesting about the bulkhead/block angle combination.
Shark appears to think that any change that results in lowered times is good.
Let's not get carried away. I believe what I said was: If you can find a way to get faster withing the current rules, go for it. Fin use and flip turns in breaststroke are clearly outside the rules. If they were approved to be included in swimming events, absolutely I would use them, because if I did not, I would be slower than my competition. Incidently, SDK was allowed to be unlimited until the committee put a 15 yard/meter limit on it. Way before that, breaststroke was allowed to be done completely underwater without breathing until the committee saw that it was dangerous. Within the rules, anything goes. My initial point was that if the blocks are APPROVED, hooray, faster times. If not, the point is mute. Within the rules, anything goes.
"That's all I have to say about that." -Forrest Gump
track athletes get to use starting blocks
why not swimmers
I wish fina rules would allow
starting blocks or toes over the edge for backstroke starts
or better yet, let us dive in forward then roll over underwater.
Ande,
You have access to some of the world's best coaches and swimmers. I wonder what the Reese's would say about this thread. I would wager a bet, that they would side with the argument of faster times are good and change is a necessity, as long as it is within the rules.
Good bye, this is giving me a headache.
Geek,
I could care less if the sport changes stroke rules for turns, underwater kicking, full body suit technology etc..... but when it comes to records, they are established to show accomplished feats given certain rules and standards. If you train harder, longer, smarter .... whatever.... and beat a record you certainly deserve the record.
If you put on a full body suit, fail to touch the wall on a backstroke turn, swim underwater dolphin kick a quarter or more of your race, do a dolphin kick on your pull out and start the race with a leg up via the block itself ....... well..... it just gets to be a bit of a joke after a while.
All this combined with the Roger Clemons/Marion Jones/Tour de France drug era in sports...... I suppose I'm supposed to think of this aspect as a positive change as well?
You wonder why we are old and "crotchety"..... how can you stop from rolling your eyes about much of this crap.
Now having said that..... are Micheal Phelps, Ian Crocker, Lochte, Coughlin etc... faster than most of the best swimmers 25 years ago without all these changes..... absolutely. They are phenomenal in their respective events. We will never, however, know exactly how much better due to these rule changes. May I point out to you the superimposed video of Jim Mongtomery's WR 100m free with Vandenhoogenband's swim. The actual swimming portion of the race between the walls showed that Peter didn't beat Jim by that much.
John Smith
Except for the drugs, none of this offends me in the slightest. It's just innovation and change. Why is the old way better? You just hate dolphin kicking, John.
I see you're not a baseball fan either. It's Clemens who is lying his ass off about steroid/HGH use.
