What Records Have You Broken?

This thread has not been getting the attention that the Top Ten thread has so I decided to spice things up here. There seems to be a World Hierarchy of Swimming Accomplishments that determines greatness in the history of Swimming. For Swimming since it began, the two first accomplishments that come to mind are Olympic Gold Medals and World Records. Later with World Championships being introduced, that became an importance as well. Because different countries have different championships and different status and history of past championships there won't be an agreement as to hierarchy of swimming championships. European, Pan Pac, Pan American, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, etc. With Swimming I believe the top Accomplishments are: 1. Olympic Gold Medals 2. World Records 3. World Championship Gold Medals 4. Total Olympic Medals 5. Total World Championship Medals 6. Total World Number 1 Rankings 7. Total World Rankings From there it depends on the country and what emphasis they put on major meets. For Masters I came up with a list and based it on what the ISHOF and Swimming World do and added what I think comes next in the World Hierarchy of Swimming Accomplishments. This list would be as it pertains to US Masters Swimming today but the first 3 items would be the same just like the first 7 items for Swimming in the entire world. 1. FINA World Records 2. FINA World Number 1 Swims in the World Top Ten 3. FINA World Championship Meet Titles 4. USMS National Records 5. USMS Pool All Star Selections 6. USMS Number 1 Swims in the USMS Top Ten 7. USMS All American Pool Selections 8. USMS National Meet Championships 9. FINA World Top Ten Selections 10. USMS National Top Ten Selections There are places to debate with this list. Numbers 8 and 9 could be could be flip flopped but I felt it would be harder to win a National Meet Championship then get in the World Top Ten but in a lot of age groups this could not be true. World Records seem to be by far the Number 1 important accomplishment and the only difference with Swimming is that we don't have an Olympics where every major athlete can show up and compete. We have the opportunities with the World Championships but with family, work, and financial obligations this can't happen.

This thread has not been getting the attention that the Top Ten thread has so I decided to spice things up here. There seems to be a World Hierarchy of Swimming Accomplishments that determines greatness in the history of Swimming. For Swimming since it began, the two first accomplishments that come to mind are Olympic Gold Medals and World Records. Later with World Championships being introduced, that became an importance as well. Because different countries have different championships and different status and history of past championships there won't be an agreement as to hierarchy of swimming championships. European, Pan Pac, Pan American, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, etc. With Swimming I believe the top Accomplishments are: 1. Olympic Gold Medals 2. World Records 3. World Championship Gold Medals 4. Total Olympic Medals 5. Total World Championship Medals 6. Total World Number 1 Rankings 7. Total World Rankings From there it depends on the country and what emphasis they put on major meets. For Masters I came up with a list and based it on what the ISHOF and Swimming World do and added what I think comes next in the World Hierarchy of Swimming Accomplishments. This list would be as it pertains to US Masters Swimming today but the first 3 items would be the same just like the first 7 items for Swimming in the entire world. 1. FINA World Records 2. FINA World Number 1 Swims in the World Top Ten 3. FINA World Championship Meet Titles 4. USMS National Records 5. USMS Pool All Star Selections 6. USMS Number 1 Swims in the USMS Top Ten 7. USMS All American Pool Selections 8. USMS National Meet Championships 9. FINA World Top Ten Selections 10. USMS National Top Ten Selections There are places to debate with this list. Numbers 8 and 9 could be could be flip flopped but I felt it would be harder to win a National Meet Championship then get in the World Top Ten but in a lot of age groups this could not be true. World Records seem to be by far the Number 1 important accomplishment and the only difference with Swimming is that we don't have an Olympics where every major athlete can show up and compete. We have the opportunities with the World Championships but with family, work, and financial obligations this can't happen.