EAMON Sullivan breaks 50 LCM FREE WR again in 21.28

I think its unfortunate that we live in the kind of world where every new record is met with incredible skepticism. The way I see it, in the world we live in it is understandable that new records are met with skepticism. And yes, that is unfortunate.

I've just spoken with some swimmers (USS/NCAA) who have tried the suit, there is certainly some effect there but again the questions being posed by a`LOT of people about PED's are relevant. I'm sorry but I'm in the camp of folks who (sadly) feel that there has been a significant increase in the use of PED's in swimming...whether or not that is the case with Eamon and his girlfriend we may never know. More from Mr. Hall on the subject. I will say that I admire Gary for taking the position he has and being vocal about it...there will be more of this to come from the elite swimmers in the US/World but not enough and few will do it during an Olympic year. My question to Swimmer Bill and the other folks in the swimming media....when do we see some real in depth investigative journalism digging into this sport? ___________________________________________________________ Gary Hall Jr. Joined: 05 Oct 2005 Posts: 583 Location: Sunny Florida Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:58 am Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matt Grevers isn't coming out of nowhere, he's coming from a long standing reputable sprint program that has produced many champions. Eamon is coming out of nowhere, or he is the first to come from a great unproven coach- a possibility. Does anyone else think that it's just a little bit strange that Eamon's girlfriend is also coincidentally and at the same time obliterating world records? Coming out of nowhere, from a different unknown coach/program? Coming out of nowhere, peaking at the EXACT same time, to simultaneously obliterate world records? Rice OBLITERATED the last standing dirty Chinese record. I saw that Chinese world record when it was set. I saw the woman who set it. She was stronger than Alain Bernard. Do I think that Rice is dirty? I am laughing through my nose. I have already tried the new suit. I think it's a great suit. I didn't break any world records and I'm a pretty talented swimmer. If I go a 21.4 I will take back everything that I have said and apologize, and be really happy about it too. It is not the suit. I am sorry. I wish it was. Believe me, I am going to try to convince myself by trials that it is a magic suit that will send me into another dimension, which is where Sullivan is. "16 World records in this new suit.... certainly not all of the athletes are cheating... don't think you think the suit is playing a large role here?" How many swimmers broke those 16 records. Is it possible that they are cheating? All of them? Yes, it is possible. Look at sports like cycling and track. Is swimming becoming dirty like those sports? Why is this not possible? Maybe we should be shocked not that chemistry has taken over our sport but rather that it took this long for chemistry to infiltrate our sport. Paul Brown Sr, I am saying that I can not go a 21.2 second 50 LCM meter free. 21.2 is faster than my short course meters time and I have won the 50 free in the last two Olympic Games. That should tell you something about where Sullivan is right now. It's unbelievable, meaning it is not believable. I think that 21.5 is possible. 21.2? No f...ing way. Excuse my emphatic language. All of these folks that say, "Look at Eamon, he's a skinny little guy! He's not cheating!". But in cycling you look at these guys that are doped to the gills and they are skinnier than Eamon. If you snorted a bunch of meth amphetamine before your race it would definitely be performance enhancing but you wouldn't look any different. Eamon may not be on steroids but he may be taking something that is performance enhancing. Designer drugs can be made pretty easily, just ask Victor Conte, the mastermind (and failed bassist for a bad rock band) behind BALCO. Just because Eamon isn't the French Hulk in appearance doesn't mean that he is clean. If I drop to a 21.4 that will be a .3 second drop in an eight year stretch for me. Eamon has obliterated the world record set by a talented swimmer named Alex Popov by almost a half second. .8 seconds and counting in a year... 16 World records and counting... Take it from a guy that has worn the suit, the only guy that you can talk to that has worn the suit, a guy that is paid to say that it is the greatest suit in the world and it is the greatest suit in the world by the way, it's not the suit. CAN SWIMMING BE AS DIRTY AS TRACK AND FIELD OR CYCLING? _________________ Your friend in swimming, Gary Hall Jr. Long live the Race Club!

Was searching for reaction to Sullivan's WR, and found this forum. So I thought I'd register to give my thoughts on this topic. I'm surprised that people whom have talked about the reasons why he has improved his times have talked about drugs, but not the fact that he has had 3 hip replacements and numerous shoulder injuries over his career. These setbacks would have severely limited his ability to train at 100%, and it is only recently (the last year or two) that his coach has developed a training regimen that allows him to train almost flat out, albeit in shorter bursts, without completely breaking down. If people don't know the full story, they shouldn't comment. There's some further details in this article: Fragile Sullivan 'in bubble wrap' By Nicole Jeffery March 10, 2008 EAMON Sullivan's coach is putting him in cotton wool, covered by bubble wrap, as you read this. Sullivan may be the fastest man in history, courtesy of his world 50m freestyle record three weeks ago, but he is also one of the most accident and injury-prone. He has had three hip operations, ankle surgery, a succession of shoulder injuries and 19 cortisone injections. He tore a ligament off the bone in his middle finger, in one race last year, and had a wrist scare after a collision in the pool on the morning he set the world record in Sydney. Coach Grant Stoelwinder will take no chances with the fast, but fragile, sprinter as they count down to the Olympic selection trials in Sydney in two weeks. Sullivan completed his preparation for the trials on Sunday when he contested the Western Australian sprint championships in Perth, setting his fourth sub-49sec 100m time in three weeks. He warmed up with a 22.27sec 50m, some three-quarters of a second outside the lightning pace he showed in Sydney, but much of that was lost on the dive. The starting blocks at Challenge Stadium don't offer much grip and Sullivan misjudged his start. He returned an hour later and clocked 48.92sec in the 100m. Sullivan plunged back into hard work for two weeks after his Sydney pyrotechnics, before beginning to taper off last week. But his body is still adjusting to the change in workload, a process swimmers call "adaptation", during which they feel sluggish and uncoordinated. Stoelwinder said Sunday's racing was designed to "activate" Sullivan's fast-twitch fibres. He did not have the easy speed to take the 100m out aggressively, but he was impressively strong over the second lap as he practised the race pacing which brought him the 48.11sec national record last month. After that race, Sullivan vowed to practise that rhythm until it was tattooed on his eyelids, so he could reproduce it on demand. Stoelwinder said they would look to challenge the 48-second mark at the Olympic trials. Only two men have breached that barrier - world record-holder Pieter van den Hoogenband (47.84sec) and Sweden's Stefan Nystrand (47.91sec). The coach is confident that Sullivan is on target. "From now he will just have lots of rest - he has a day off and then we will really drop down his taper and I'm wrapping him in cotton wool. And bubble wrap." Sullivan has had to make adjustments since he shocked the world by lowering Alex Popov's seven-year-old 50m world record. Popov commented last year that the difference between Sullivan's then personal best time of 22.0sec and 22.5sec was "the difference between a Holden and a Ferrari". The Perth sprinter now attracts Ferrari-style attention when he turns up to competition in his home town. At a club meet a week ago, he was mobbed by children on his way to and from the starting blocks. He needed help from an official to make his way through the excited youngsters demanding autographs. "Life has changed a bit for Eamon," Stoelwinder confirmed. But he is confident that the swimmer has not lost focus, given that he has yet to qualify for the Olympic team. "He's so switched on and he feels strong and he's holding the water really well," the coach said. "He's matured into this athlete who's really taking control of what he's doing. He's a man on a mission." This is a very good article. I for one appreciate this positive post. I believe he has true grit.

After reading a little more about Sullivan, I'm actually more interested in learning about the evolution of his technique over the last year or two. It would be interesting to know if there was a dramatic rethinking of his stroke and a change to windmill recovery, similar to that of Inky de Bruijn in 1999/2000. Windmill Revolution in 2004 was a revelation for me because the interviews with Inky, Bergen, Janet Evans, Bud McAllister, etc., left me feeling there was a whole discussion the world never had about Inky. I only wished I'd done the piece four years earlier...

... Given how the Balco case developed and was uncovered perhaps what is needed is less money put into developing tests and more money put into rewards for ratting on suppliers. It seems like it would require a significant number of clients to finance the development of these new drugs, if there were a significant financial reward for ratting it might be difficult to successfully spread the word that you have a product without getting ratted out. That could be a way indirectly to reach Nash equilibrium, the game theory in the Sci Am article I cited in an NSR thread: payoff for playing clean (and ratting on supplier) is at least equal to (or better than) payoff for playing doped (and going down in flames with ratted-on supplier). Assumption is that players start clean and don't see a better payoff by going over to the dark side. The Nash equilibrium could be achieved by linking players' fates to suppliers' fates. Interesting. Think I'll look up the author of the article. Regards, VB

As someone who is injury prone, the idea that Eamon is maturing, uninjured and has changed his stroke and training seems like a good explanation for his success.

Quote: "I found Inge's progression most interesting. Must have been taking gelatin supplements there for awhile to grow her fingernails faster..." Those nails added at least 4 square inches to the size of her hands, which had to have given a paddle-like effect. And how does someone who spends so much time in water have such healthy nails anyway? Maybe the rules should be amended to disallow fake fingernails which extend more than 1/4"/6mm beyond the end of the fingertip. :D

As someone who is injury prone, the idea that Eamon is maturing, uninjured and has changed his stroke and training seems like a good explanation for his success. I'm down with Fort on this. Skepticism is good but in this case seems like a little bit of a frenzy to find something. Comparing sports to McCarthyism and Salem is ludicrous, however.

Cool video Ande. From that I noticed that it appeared all finalists wore the new LZR suits and the Speedo caps. I'm curious. Did more people swim at or near personal bests for the event during that race than you would predict for a race of this magnitude? The recent spate of world records raises all sorts of interesting questions... Skip

Does anyone else think that it's just a little bit strange that Eamon's girlfriend is also coincidentally and at the same time obliterating world records? Coming out of nowhere, from a different unknown coach/program? Coming out of nowhere, peaking at the EXACT same time, to simultaneously obliterate world records? Given that these records were set at the Australian Olympic Trials one would hope that both Australian swimmers would be peaking at the same time... And of course Eamon broke the record the first time a month ago. Given how the Balco case developed and was uncovered perhaps what is needed is less money put into developing tests and more money put into rewards for ratting on suppliers. It seems like it would require a significant number of clients to finance the development of these new drugs, if there were a significant financial reward for ratting it might be difficult to successfully spread the word that you have a product without getting ratted out.