Does anyone remember:
When were flip turns in free style invented/introduced in competitive swimming?
When did goggles become 'standard equipment' for swimmers?
Thanks!
I stopped competing in backstroke around 87 when it became legal to roll over and flip. I've tried to adjust but find it disorienting still even though I've always done flip turns in free.
Interesting. I actually find it more straightforward to do a flip turn in backstroke these days than in free. Perhaps it has something to do with
a more consistent relationship between the backstroke flags and my position in the pool (the tee on the bottom is close enough to the wall to not allow quick adjustments if I'm off a bit)
a more symmetric stroke (I only breathe to the right in free)
having lungs full of air going into the turn
In fact, when warming up, I frequently start off with open turns (to let my back loosen up a bit), and often do my first flip turn while swimming backstroke, even if I've done a fair bit of free before that.
Swimming in the 80's I do remember there always being backstroke flags in every pool I practiced or competed in. As for the turn, I still do the basket turn in backstroke. I stopped competing in backstroke around 87 when it became legal to roll over and flip. I've tried to adjust but find it disorienting still even though I've always done flip turns in free.
In the 60's we didn't have backstroke flags, but went by the colors of the lane line floats. You had to take a peek to the side to see where you were relative to the wall. You could also go by the recall rope at the start end of the pool.
Mark
I remember the goggles coming onto our team in the late 60s and early 70s. But their history in swimming goes way back and is much more fascinating than that. www.simplyswim.com/.../history-of-swimming-goggles
As for the flip turn, it was apparently first used at AAU nationals in 1934, but the question this article leaves is whether Al Vande Weghe had to touch the wall first or not. en.wikipedia.org/.../Tumble_turn
And this article claims that the first time goggles were allowed at the Olympics is 1976. www.swimoutlet.com/.../history-of-swimming
I started wearing goggles in summer of 1971 for practice and meets in upstate NY. The swimmers in southern California were already wearing them full time by then
As for flip turns, I started in 1964 and was doing flip turns then.
