What does it mean when we look at the performance of the US men's swimming team at Beijing without Phelps....... i.e. without the man carrying the team? Is he merely the "Vince Young" of a slightly above average football Team?
We essentially lose the 400 free relay, 100 fly (Ian moves form 4th to 3rd), 200 IM and 400 IM (Lochted moves to silver), 200 free and 200 fly. That's makes 6 less golds and one extra bronze.
The US would effectively only win 2 individual events...... the 200 and 100 back.
Is Phelps a true representation of the state of US men's swimming or and exception?
www.nbcolympics.com/.../index.html
Parents
Former Member
The full demographics of USA Swimming for 2007 are available below:
www.usaswimming.org/.../Statistics-2007.pdf
It shows almost continuous growth over the reporting period (since 1986).
There is some interesting data in the report.
At younger ages - females strongly outnumber males. For example 17,392 females vs. 11,154 males 12 years old.
But as the age moves up, more females drop out. At age 17, there were 8,232 females vs. 6,797 males. That is interesting to me since college swimming scholarships are more available for females.
The number of clubs dropped slightly (-20) from 2006 to 2007.
The athletes are overwhelmingly white or "no response". Not a surprise but an area for improvement. Surely many of America's best athletes are in other sports.
The full demographics of USA Swimming for 2007 are available below:
www.usaswimming.org/.../Statistics-2007.pdf
It shows almost continuous growth over the reporting period (since 1986).
There is some interesting data in the report.
At younger ages - females strongly outnumber males. For example 17,392 females vs. 11,154 males 12 years old.
But as the age moves up, more females drop out. At age 17, there were 8,232 females vs. 6,797 males. That is interesting to me since college swimming scholarships are more available for females.
The number of clubs dropped slightly (-20) from 2006 to 2007.
The athletes are overwhelmingly white or "no response". Not a surprise but an area for improvement. Surely many of America's best athletes are in other sports.
