Why 1650 is not 1750?

Could it be that it is not a mile swim, but closer to the 1500 meter swim ? That would be my guess. The 1500 meter run has been around for a long time and I think swimming followed suit by using this distance. 1,650 yards just happens to be the closest equivalent. I don't think it was really intended to ever be a mile.

Try this: Once the United States switched to a system of 50-meter long course and 25-yard short course pools, they had to find a way to keep the two systems as similar as possible, so that when it’s athletes did travel to international competitions, they weren’t at too much of a disadvantage. And this is where the 1650 freestyle came from. The closest emulation of a 1500m swim in a 25-yard pool is the 1650 freestyle (to be precise, 1500m=1640 yards, 1 foot, and 3.12 inches, give or take), so USA-Swimming likely decided to replace the true old-fashioned mile with a newer, more worldly distance, but people were so used to calling this distance the “mile” that the name lived on. So there you have it. It was that crazy Imperial system after all. theswimmerscircle.com/.../ (But probably the governing body was the AAU - was USA Swimming around when the 1650 started showing up in the record books, around 1959 or the early 1960s?)

I was told that the 1650 was the total yards of a H S swim meet ??!! Actually this statement is true if you graduated from High School in 1965 or before. The events that add to the 1650 are as follows: 50, 100, 200, 400 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Back, and 100 ***, 200 IM and 200 Medley Relay and 200 Free Relay. This statement would not be true in 1966 because HS Federation replaced the 200 Free Relay with the 400 Free Relay. In 1974, the 400 Free was replaced with the 500 Free. The 200 Free Relay, which was dropped in 1966 for the 400 Free Relay was added back in 1991. Jeff is correct in that NCAA swam the 1500 meter Free and finished with a rope at the measured distance. They did this up until 1962 and 1963 was the time they swam the 1650 Free. The 1500/1650 was not the only race that the NCAA changed distances from 1962 to 1963. The middle distance freestyle events of 220 and 440 were changed to 200 and 500 yard distances. There were no more races where finishes were determined by swimming under a rope. All finishes in swimming were determined by a touch at the wall. I believe the next five to six years or so manual timing was still used. The AAU was the governing body of swimming until 1980 and when the Amateur Sports Act passed in 1978, all Olympic Sports had there own NGB and were no longer administratively under the AAU. So USA Swimming or USS as it was called in the early days had nothing to do with the set up of the 1650 Free.

I have debated this with many people and have done numerous calculations to find no answer. If someone knows, please enlighten me. You are correct in saying swimming a "mile" is 1650 yards = .9375 miles while 1750 yards = .9943 miles A "mile" is also considered 1500 meters 1500 meters = .9320 miles while 1600 meters = .9941 miles How about nautical miles 1650 yards = .8146 nautical miles (hmm that doesn't make sense either) I guess we can only say that units of measurements are defined by the arbitrary values we give them (I sound like a philosopher now). Perhaps at one time a "mile" was equal to something different than what we now consider 5280ft. The only thing that does make a little bit of sense is 1650 yards = 1509 meters so the two "miles" are pretty close in length in imperial and metric units. Perhaps .93 of a mile is close enough to consider it a mile.

Could it be that it is not a mile swim, but closer to the 1500 meter swim ? Scott I would guess that someone thought to ask a group of swimmers about to swim the "mile" whether they would rather swim 1650 or 1750 - being swimmers, they naturally chose the shorter distance.

The 1500m has been around longer than the 1650y. As late as the early 1960s they even contested the 1500m in 25y pools (you would finish under a virtual rope somewhere in the middle of the pool). Eventually they "created" the 1650 so you could finish at a wall and the event very close in linear distance to the 1500m. So if they hadn't invented the 1500m and instead raced the 1600m way back when, we'd be doing the 1750y in meets now!

I guess the 1500 M was chosen because it was a track distance.I wish it wasn't,however.It would make more sense to me to run the 1600M in track.It is 4 full laps and it is very nearly 1 mile,so the mile records would have more relevance than they have now.

I was told that the 1650 was the total yards of a H S swim meet ??!!

I was told that the 1650 was the total yards of a H S swim meet ??!! Not true. Individual events total 1,350 yards. You've got the 50, 100, 200 and 500 free. 100s in each stroke (300 total) and the 200 IM. If you want to include the relays you used to have an additional 600 yards (200 medley and 400 free) and now 800 yards with the inclusion of the 200 free relay. USA-Swimming likely decided to replace the true old-fashioned mile with a newer, more worldly distance, but people were so used to calling this distance the “mile” that the name lived on Which raises the question: why would they call 1500 meters "the mile?" That would be sort of like calling a kilogram "two pounds." And, no, USA Swimming didn't exist back then.

Which begs the question no it doesn't. http://begthequestion.info/ :D