The two people I personally know who care most about the FINA suit change rulings are Leslie The Fortress Livingston. For all I know, you may well care about this even more than we do, but I don't know you, or if I do, you have not made clear your miseries about the suit changes.
In any event, I have been arguing to Leslie that I think the new rules will have a much greater effect on men than women, who get to continue to wear what is basically pretty dab nab near to an original textile tech suit (whereas we are back to the old jammer or briefs of the Mark Spitz era.)
Now that data from this year and last year has begun filtering in, I stand by this, but with less assurance than I once did.
In any event, here -- gleaned from the event rankings part of USMS --are the results from the 800 LCM free in my age group and Leslie's former age group from last summer.
Both include worlds and nationals times. The results are eye-opening. This year's winning time would have placed 10th last year in the men.
This year's winning time for women would have placed 3rd last year for women.
I know this is not even close to an apples-to-apples comparison, but it does suggest that our little flowers, once again, are proving to be the chief beneficiaries of about just every possible advantage that exists in the 21st Century!
*#* *Name Age Time* Club *Meet
*1* *Wood, Larry W 56 *10:16.54* TXLA *USMS 2010 Summer National Championships
*2* *Guadagni, Peter M 55 *10:22.64* WCM *USMS 2010 Summer National Championships
*3* *Martin, Jack R 59 *10:25.41* 1776 *USMS 2010 Summer National Championships
*4* *Wasserman, Neil R 55 *10:41.26* O*H* *Cleveland State University LCM
*5* *Hale, Dave 55 *10:52.61* SRM *Pacific Masters Long Course Championships
*6* *Wright, Robert E 56 *10:55.70* DOC *34th Lakeside Masters Long Course Invitational
*7* *Thompson, Frank L 59 *11:04.24* MICH *34th Lakeside Masters Long Course Invitational
*8* *Penn, William J 59 *11:06.07* PNA *2010 Northwest Zone LCM
*9* *Ditolla, Robert J 56 *11:08.65* ARIZ *2010 AZ Masters LCM State Championship
*10* *Leonard, Dan P 56 *11:10.48* SCAQ *FAST Masters LCM Regional and Zone Championships
*#* *Name Age Time* Club *Meet
*1* *Mann, Michael T 55 *9:00.09* CMS *Conejo Simi Aquatics LCM Regional and Zone Champs
*2* *Townsend, R Scott 56 *9:42.16* LVM *Conejo Simi Aquatics LCM Regional and Zone Champs
*3* *Gandee, Brad 55 *9:57.82* GMUP *2009 USMS National Long Course Championships
*4* *Wood, Larry W 55 *10:00.88* TXLA *South Central Zone Long Course Championships
*5* *Clemmons, Jim 59 *10:02.32* MAM *2009 Pacific Masters Long Course Swimming Championships
*6* *Bell, Alan 59 *10:03.20* PNA *Gil Young Memorial LCM Meet/Northwest Zone Long Course Meters Meet
*7* *Dodson, Phil L 56 *10:04.87* IM *2009 USMS National Long Course Championships
*8* *Martin, Jack R 58 *10:11.61* 1776 *2009 USMS National Long Course Championships
*9* *Penn, William J 58 *10:16.08* PNA *Gil Young Memorial LCM Meet/Northwest Zone Long Course Meters Meet
*10* *Nunnelly, John N 56 *10:18.04* NEM *Bay State Games
#* *Name Age Time* Club *Meet
*1* *Krattli, Caroline 48 *10:15.24* SDSM *USMS 2010 Summer National Championships
*2* *Welting, Laureen K 45 *10:17.33* TOC *USMS 2010 Summer National Championships
*3* *Dantzler, Amy L 46 *10:21.02* WH2O *FAST Masters LCM Regional and Zone Championships
*4* *Bennett, Ellen K 47 *10:27.32* SYSM *Bumpy Jones International Classic & Dixie Zone LCM Championships
*5* *Matherne, Susan K 48 *10:30.59* RICE *FCST Luck of the Draw
*6* *Parker Palace, Kelly 49 *10:31.27* UNAT *2010 New England LMSC LCM Championships
*7* *Shuck, Susie 45 *10:32.32* ISF *34th Lakeside Masters Long Course Invitational
*8* *Ramnath, Fernette P 45 *10:34.02* SYSM *USMS 2010 Summer National Championships
*9* *Milanese, Barbara A 48 *10:42.63* GOLD *5th Annual June Krauser Summer Splash
*10* *Schickore, Jutta 46 *10:51.33* DOC *34th Lakeside Masters Long Course Invitational
*#* *Name Age Time* Club *Meet
*1* *Curran, Margee M 48 *9:47.56* WCM *2009 Pacific Masters Long Course Swimming Championships
*2* *Elias-Williams, Maria L 45 *10:00.40* GSMS *2009 USMS National Long Course Championships
*3* *Petersen, Charlotte 45 *10:18.31* SPM *2009 St. Pete Masters Long Course Swimming Championships
*4* *Swanson, Vibeke L 48 *10:38.78* 1776 *2009 Merryman LCM Swim Meet
*5* *Castro, Leticia 49 *11:03.98* GOLD *JK Summer Splash-Dixie Zone Championship
*6* *Fitzgerald, Kimberly H 49 *11:09.58* WMAC *Wisconsin Badger State Games
*7* *Ciampa, Cindy 49 *11:15.52* SKY *2009 SwimLouisville.com Masters Invitational
*8* *Gregory, Ellen D 45 *11:21.90* ISF *2009 USMS National Long Course Championships
*9* *DeLozier, Anna R 46 *11:23.77* ARIZ *Arizona Long Course State Meet
*10* *Uecker, Anne 49 *11:30.50* MESC *NE LCM Championship
Note: I tried to find a middle-of-the-pack woman who swam the 400 in Leslie's age group this year and last year, but to my astonishment, there were none!
Which brings me to another gender-oriented pet peeve of mine, i.e., that masters swimming is for women a bit like pro tennis. There are a few exceptionally fast swimmers at the top--the Leslies, the Eneys, the Karlyns, the Laura Vals. Call these the Williams sisters of masters swimming.
But the depth drops off very quickly from there.
This topic came up in conversation just the other day, and I think there are many reasons to explain this. One of the most compelling explanations that came up in my little group seemed to be sociological. More guys of child rearing age have more "free" time to devote to training and competing at a high level. Not many guys are "the mom" and are juggling work, "mom stuff", training, competing.... and that leads to more guys at the top and filling in that gap between the top and the middle of the pack. I know from reading the blogs here that a lot of the guys on this board are very involved in all the shuttling around, homework help, youth coaching, bake-sale, etc. stuff that takes up parents' time - but we're talking in general here.
I often wonder how people (men and women) at the very top manage to get in 40 hours of work, train, compete, dither around on USMS discussion boards, AND get all the parenting and house-related stuff taken care of. It's possible that one or the other of these things is being done by someone else. Or maybe they're just more talented and get phenomenal results with a regular amount of working out. Or maybe it's something else entirely!
I wonder if that "gap" fills in in the older age groups when people's kids get older and folks who were previously engaged in the heavy-duty parenting years find they have more time to devote to other things.
I know that's the case with me. Now that my kids are out of the house, I've got a lot more time and energy to devote to things like swim.
But I'm in that middle of the pack group....My goal isn't to get to the top (not going to happen) but to move up to that space between the top and the middle.
That's my theory anyway, more women are involved in the day-to-day parenting stuff and are therefore less available to fill in the upper-middle, lower-upper class ranks. I think it's a mom thing
Note: I tried to find a middle-of-the-pack woman who swam the 400 in Leslie's age group this year and last year, but to my astonishment, there were none!
Which brings me to another gender-oriented pet peeve of mine, i.e., that masters swimming is for women a bit like pro tennis. There are a few exceptionally fast swimmers at the top--the Leslies, the Eneys, the Karlyns, the Laura Vals. Call these the Williams sisters of masters swimming.
But the depth drops off very quickly from there.
This topic came up in conversation just the other day, and I think there are many reasons to explain this. One of the most compelling explanations that came up in my little group seemed to be sociological. More guys of child rearing age have more "free" time to devote to training and competing at a high level. Not many guys are "the mom" and are juggling work, "mom stuff", training, competing.... and that leads to more guys at the top and filling in that gap between the top and the middle of the pack. I know from reading the blogs here that a lot of the guys on this board are very involved in all the shuttling around, homework help, youth coaching, bake-sale, etc. stuff that takes up parents' time - but we're talking in general here.
I often wonder how people (men and women) at the very top manage to get in 40 hours of work, train, compete, dither around on USMS discussion boards, AND get all the parenting and house-related stuff taken care of. It's possible that one or the other of these things is being done by someone else. Or maybe they're just more talented and get phenomenal results with a regular amount of working out. Or maybe it's something else entirely!
I wonder if that "gap" fills in in the older age groups when people's kids get older and folks who were previously engaged in the heavy-duty parenting years find they have more time to devote to other things.
I know that's the case with me. Now that my kids are out of the house, I've got a lot more time and energy to devote to things like swim.
But I'm in that middle of the pack group....My goal isn't to get to the top (not going to happen) but to move up to that space between the top and the middle.
That's my theory anyway, more women are involved in the day-to-day parenting stuff and are therefore less available to fill in the upper-middle, lower-upper class ranks. I think it's a mom thing
