I am curious how many of the posters here swam in high school, college, etc. and how close to the top you got. Thus the following not terribly detailed poll.
I swam one year at a Division I school and got some scholarship money in the second semester of my freshmen year. Wasn't good enough for Trials, a National Cut or even a Junior National Cut. I think that I might have made a Olympic Trial cut if I came from a Higher income family. It is almost impossible to make the Olympics or Trials if you come from a low income household. Of course, there are exception such as you get discovered by a Bob Bowman, Eddie Reese, or Richard Quick type coach.
Has anyone set a world record in masters without at least qualifying in youth for Olympic trials?
Not a WR yet, but Kristina U announced in her blog that she swam a 1500 SCM within 8 seconds of the world record on Friday. She didn't swim in college and I'm pretty confident she never qualified for OTs.
I didn't see an option for, "None of the above." Sure I learned to swim as a kid, but was never on a team until Masters.
I too vote for none of the above.
michael
I
Has anyone set a world record in masters without at least qualifying in youth for Olympic trials?
Margery Meyer
Jean Durston
Both started late in life.
michael
Has anyone set a world record in masters without at least qualifying in youth for Olympic trials?
In Michigan Masters both Jewel Cooke and Lois Nochman never swam in the Olympic Trials and both swimmers have set World Records.
First of all, Michael, love your films!
Forgive me for not knowing my masters swim history as well as I should, but i am wondering if you have any info of these two swimmers. Until fairly recently, opportunities for women swimming in college were limited at best. I wonder if it would be possible today to set a world record in masters without extensive early experience. Kristina Ulveling's closing in on the mile record is very impressive, but I am pretty sure she at least swam as an age grouper if not in college per se.
Just as it is MUCH easier to learn foreign languages pre-puberty, I wonder if the brain has critical periods for the acquisition of very specific muscle skills. It does seem a lot harder to get really, really fast or proficient at any sport if you don't have a foundation laid down early in life that you can build on later on.
I'm not in a masters swim program yet, I'm goning to make sure I can swim w/o hurting myself before I join a program. I swam three years at Armijo High School and the 1991 spring semester at Solano Community College in CA.
It's too bad we couldn't check everything we did swim. I didn't swim in age-group (My father didn't like the coach. She was too religious for him.) but swam in high school and i year. I wonder what the bar graph would have looked like then.
