sportsillustrated.cnn.com/.../index.html
From the man whose WR has been broken four times in the last two months.....
I like his attitude. He could never be a USMS swimmer. Too much whining here about everything.
Former Member
"That type of whining is for the weak," said Popov, who was the fastest man in the water at the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics.
"If you are strong, then you think how to beat those ones who have already an advantage."
Swimming's just never going to be the same.
I like his quote
"I have one piece of advice. If you want to swim good, if you want to swim fast and if you want to be able to be number one, then be prepared to be hurt, to experience lots of pain."
Alexander Popov
Of course, Mr. Popov has the luxury of not having to worry about whether or not his time came from the LZR, so he can maintain a certain sang-froid regarding the issue.
Bravo to Popov. This is the mindset of a winner. The article should be taped up in the German swim team's locker room.
If Popov were swimming now and not wearing the suit, my money would still be on him to win.
I'm still not sure where I stand on this, in principal I agree with what Popov was saying but then there is reality.
As an example, If Geek does his next triathlon and on the bike leg isn't allowed to use his $2000 arrow bars and everyone else is then is that fair?
Lets just say that a technology is discovered in NASCAR that gives a 2% speed advantage to a car yet only one team has aaccess to it....fair?
I can only say this, there has been an unprecendented run on WR's the last 2 months using this suit and the other suits have not held the same pace.
I know Chris will tell me I have no emperical data...but not being a math major I will turn it around and ask what the statistical odds of one suit breking this many records?
But this quote is also instructive:
"I would rather do something more fascinating , to bring more effort into it to get to the medal instead of using some help"
I'm sure gull is pleased to see a swimmer use NASCAR to bolster the LZR argument, that's pathetic.
You play with the rules that are written. You don't sit back and whine and wring your hands and get all weepy about it.
gull
Isn't he the guy that smokes you every time you race him...and the reason your avoiding Austin?
Hey...I ain't whining about the suit...when JS and RJK and Ande show up in an LZR in Austin I'll simply have a good laugh and anjoy the extra $300 in my pocket....maybe even step up from my Yellowtail to a nice bottle of Paradigm!
But...I still say that so far the suit has far outperformed the "old" suits as well as the new Arena. If its that much of an advance in technology and the others haven't caught fine.....to a point...which as i explained would be the same as one team/rider having access to aerobars and everyone else doesn't.
Suits don't win races, swimmers do.
Well, that used to be the case, anyway.
Yeah, we all know it's not "just the suit." Anyone who's in the hunt for an Olympic medal is a superb athlete who has dedicated huge amounts of time to the sport. That's why I think it sucks that the suit could be the deciding factor. I think there could very well be cases this summer where it is the suit and not the swimmer.
