Swimming World's top 12 master swimmers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can understand why you and others think that swims at USAS meets shouldn't "count." Although I always submit my times from such meets for Top Ten consideration, it wouldn't bother me personally if they didn't count. And I was somewhat surprised when I first discovered they did. I also don't like this strange duality that USMS accepts such times for its records but FINA doesn't. So you can have the weird situation where USMS records are faster than the "World" records. BUT... And have you ever seen the rules for dual-sanction meets? They are bizarre: separate warmup lanes, etc. I think kids benefit from seeing old guys and gals swim some fast times. So do their parents! Where I swim, masters workouts and age group workouts occur simultaneously and in the same pool, and the kids are impressed that a group of old fogeys still get up at 5am to swim. As far as World Records, and "older" swimmers like Foster, etc...well, why shouldn't a "world record" mean that it is the fastest time ever swum by someone within that age bracket? Sure, a professional (older) swimmer like Dara Torres has advantages over "regular" people. So what? Life isn't fair. The playing field isn't level for all "true" masters swimmers either. I think USA times should count for masters too -- when they're swum by masters swimmers. And they usually do. Dara hasn't swum a masters meet since she was pregnant and I don't consider her a master at all. I never said it was "unfair." That's not the right word. It's just bizarre. Why would someone not a masters swimmer have a USMS record or #1 FINA masters ranking? There's another FINA list for them. And why would they care about masters rankings anyway particularly? If she "retires" again, she can come back and join our ranks. Dual sanctioned meets aren't that weird. I've swum in a couple. I didn't bother with the masters warm up lane. I warmed up in the rec pool where it was less crowded. I do think kids and parents benefit from seeing geezers in action. At least they're aware geezers compete and train. Agree that more overlap is better. Maybe USMS meets will even start having time trials like USA meets so masters swimmers don't go to USA meets solely for this purpose?

I can understand why you and others think that swims at USAS meets shouldn't "count." Although I always submit my times from such meets for Top Ten consideration, it wouldn't bother me personally if they didn't count. And I was somewhat surprised when I first discovered they did. I also don't like this strange duality that USMS accepts such times for its records but FINA doesn't. So you can have the weird situation where USMS records are faster than the "World" records. BUT... And have you ever seen the rules for dual-sanction meets? They are bizarre: separate warmup lanes, etc. I think kids benefit from seeing old guys and gals swim some fast times. So do their parents! Where I swim, masters workouts and age group workouts occur simultaneously and in the same pool, and the kids are impressed that a group of old fogeys still get up at 5am to swim. As far as World Records, and "older" swimmers like Foster, etc...well, why shouldn't a "world record" mean that it is the fastest time ever swum by someone within that age bracket? Sure, a professional (older) swimmer like Dara Torres has advantages over "regular" people. So what? Life isn't fair. The playing field isn't level for all "true" masters swimmers either. I think USA times should count for masters too -- when they're swum by masters swimmers. And they usually do. Dara hasn't swum a masters meet since she was pregnant and I don't consider her a master at all. I never said it was "unfair." That's not the right word. It's just bizarre. Why would someone not a masters swimmer have a USMS record or #1 FINA masters ranking? There's another FINA list for them. And why would they care about masters rankings anyway particularly? If she "retires" again, she can come back and join our ranks. Dual sanctioned meets aren't that weird. I've swum in a couple. I didn't bother with the masters warm up lane. I warmed up in the rec pool where it was less crowded. I do think kids and parents benefit from seeing geezers in action. At least they're aware geezers compete and train. Agree that more overlap is better. Maybe USMS meets will even start having time trials like USA meets so masters swimmers don't go to USA meets solely for this purpose?