Mark Shubert from the NY Times article on Dara:
"But -let's face it- compared with the Olympics, even the Master's World Championships is a glorified losers' round, and holding a master's world record is hardly an exciting achievement. . . "
Former Member
Hard to tell if the author is paraphrasing what came out of the interview with Mark or it's the author's own thoughts. Either way, it demonstrates a lack of understanding of what masters swimming is about. Face it, masters swimming exists as an alternative to USA Swimming. Comparing the two and calling masters swimmers "losers" is simply a waste of time.
If the author surmized this on his own, it makes me wonder if the rest of the article could be equally opinionated and flawed.
Chris..... I do not agree with "the larger point" and calling masters swimmers losers because they were mentally mature enough to make the tough choice to move on from the sport years ago and pursue other areas of life with equal fervor.
Tell me again why making 5 Olympic teams is so much better than 4 ?
John Smith
Craig68,
While Paul and I appreciate your confidence, we must be honest and tell you that there is NO way WE could approach and equal our best times from college in our early '40s. If I quit my job and trained full time, I would be lucky to come within 1.5 seconds of my 100yd free and 4-5 seconds of my 200yd free. Long Course is only a worse comparison. My body does not have the strength it once did, and without serious drugs I could not rebuild it to it's former condition. Even then, it is questionable as to whether I could make a US national cut anymore.
Keep in mind, Paul and I are about 3 seconds off our best 100yd free times and about 8-10 seconds off what we once did in the 200. The 100 may seem decent for a masters swimmer, but it's WAY out of the ball park when compared to real swim at US Nationals. The norm for guys like us now that swam at Nationals in the 1980s is usually around 3+ seconds slower on a 100 and 8+ or more on a 200. The 50 is about a 8 tenths to a second slower and getting worse ever 3-4 years.
Paul and I can't even fathom going a 43 in the 100yd free at our age anymore. We simply don't have the raw power and the testosterone to do it. There's just NO comparison to what Dara is doing. We are not in the same league with her anymore...... and believe me, there was a day when it wasn't a problem for us to beat her in a 50 or a 100 ...... :-)
What she is doing is truly unprecedented. Remember the more elite of a swimmer you were, the more difficult it becomes to approach your old performances.
Susan Vonderlippe's and Dennis Baker's times are what I would expect on the high end for a person in their 40's with serious talent and motivation.... both are right about at national cuts.
John Smith
Wow, that comment has me all fired up. Whether it was Schubert or the author... it was a bit uncalled for. You can't really compare the two! Like ande said, let's invite the jerk who said that to swim a nice 200 fly, 800 free or 400 im in a masters meet and see if they want to call the people in the next lane to them losers. Odds are, it was the author's words... and they obviously have no clue what masters swimming means.
:censor::censor:
Chris...not sure if your a "drinking man" but love to think someday we'll sit down, have to many beers....
You got it. Oregon? Whomever has the biggest time drop from last year LCM gets a free beer...or three...
You got it. Oregon? Whomever has the biggest time drop from last year LCM gets a free beer...or three...
So since I didn't swim would that put my times ~ infinite?
If so I want in!!!!
Well, I want in anyway. Beer is good.
Now with the Beck reference. Thanks, I have that song now ingrained in my head.... "I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me"
"termite, choking on a splinter'
My thought about this is that a master's record is an age group record. I'll bet that Schubert would be VERY enthusiastic about any kid he ever coached who broke an age-group record, so what's wrong with old people setting one?
