Why is the mile swim 1650 and not 1750 which would be a little closer to the actual distance of 1760 yards=1 mile. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thank you.
Carl Selles
:banana:
Former Member
I think track history may help tell the story here.
In track, the pre-metric distances were the 220 yard dash (1/8 of a mile), the 440 (1/4 mile), the 880 (half-mile), etc. When track converted to metric, those races became the 200, the 400 and the 800, which are approximately the same distance. The mile became the 1500, or 1.5 kilometers. That was known as the "metric mile."
1500 meters is approximately 1650 yards. So swimming 1650 is swimming a metric mile. Maybe over the years the word metric just dropped off, helped by the fact that omitting the word makes you sound faster.
