Interesting article argues Masters records should recognize all sanctioned swims by age-eligible swimmers (e.g., Torres, Lezak, Foster, etc.)
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../21313.asp
Former Member
Michael,
I used to support the side that said: let’s get the best time by whomever by age group 25-29, 30-34, etc regardless of where they swim (Olympics, Nationals or Masters).
Currently I’m thinking more your way. If FINA wanted to track these records, fine – let them do it. Interesting stuff (Torres, Foster, Hall, etc).
However, for Masters records, they should have to record these swims at a Masters meet. This forces the ‘elites’ to swim in a Masters meet, allowing all ages (us oldies) to see how well they perform, and have them to see all ages swim (and hopefully inspire them to compete as they age).
If they don’t compete in Masters, they probably won’t know it even exists and if they tried, they might find out that the competition is a lot tougher than they thought.
Recently in Canada, we have seen some Olympic gold medalists (Baumann & Tewkesbury) and ex-National team members reappear in Masters - this has given a great boost to the credibility of competitive Masters swimming.
Ian
