August 17, 2009
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../22056.asp
CRANBURY, New Jersey. August 17. The medal detector so successfully used by Brendan Hansen during his international swimming career has been in his garage for a year. And considering the state of the sport, with record-breaking that has been a sham at all levels, Hansen has no regrets about taking 2009 away from the pool.
Hansen has been working diligently with PureSport, the upstart energy drink company of which he is a partner. He's also watched swimming change drastically, and in a sad way. The sport to which he has dedicated the majority of his life is a mess. It is dominated not by sheer talent, but by a wardrobe nightmare that has blurred the line between skill and technological support and has allowed mid-level performers to compete alongside the best of the best.
The recent World Championships in Rome, of course, provided the perfect illustration of how muddled swimming has become. While setting a world record was once a special feat, there were 43 global marks set during the eight-day competition at the outdoor Foro Italico, which would have been a more fitting venue had it been covered by a circus tent.
"I watched zero of it," said Hansen, who was the two-time defending world champion in the 100 breaststroke. "I wasn't interested because of the suit situation. You can't compare what went on there with anything that was done before, so it wasn't worth looking at. Being the hardest worker doesn't get you what it did in the past."
I read that with real sadness.Hansen has always been a class act and this came off as sounding petty.All the World finalists were in Jakeds or Arena's so it was a fair playing field and I'm sure all the finalists did the work to get there.If he had just focused on the "unfairness" of the WRs I'd have agreed with him.If Kitajima was in shape for Worlds and the race was in jammers I suspect he would win by at least 1/2 second and none of those guys would have been close to his WRs(or probably to Hansen's,which Kitajima broke and were set in jammers.)
I read that with real sadness.Hansen has always been a class act and this came off as sounding petty.All the World finalists were in Jakeds or Arena's so it was a fair playing field and I'm sure all the finalists did the work to get there.If he had just focused on the "unfairness" of the WRs I'd have agreed with him.If Kitajima was in shape for Worlds and the race was in jammers I suspect he would win by at least 1/2 second and none of those guys would have been close to his WRs(or probably to Hansen's,which Kitajima broke and were set in jammers.)
