Really?
It depends on the way you look at this. He had a 17 year lay off from competitive swimming and came back in the fall of 1989 so that gets high marks on the list. He was just short of his 40th birthday so at that time he was by far the oldest ever to make a comeback. If you take oldest and time, then he maybe should be higher on the list.
But he was short of his goal even though his time of :58.03 would have been the fastest time in USMS by a large margin, that was 2.44 seconds from making the :55.59 time standard to be eligible for the Olympic Trials. And it was another 1.32 seconds away from the :54.27 World Record best time from 1972 Olympics the he would have had to at least equaled to have any chance of making the 1992 team.
All of the selections that are above him on the list at least made and swam at the Olympic Trials. He would have had to beat two of the swimmers on this list in Pablo Morales and Melvin Stewart to qualify for the 1992 team in the 100 Fly. The 8th place time at the 1992 Olympics was :54.26 which was .01 faster than what he did in 1992.
He is mainly on the list because of the length of the layoff. Its by far the longest one of anyone. But maybe that alone should not be a reason he should be on the list.
Really?
I remember those Saturday Sport Specials where Spitz did a swim off with Biondi and Jaeager. Did Spitz do any competing after that? From my memory, I think that he stopped his comeback after the second swim off.
I remember those Saturday Sport Specials where Spitz did a swim off with Biondi and Jaeager. Did Spitz do any competing after that? From my memory, I think that he stopped his comeback after the second swim off.
I see Jaeger every year at our LMSC champs meet. He is now the age group coach in Moscow, Idaho, along with the women's varsity coach for the U of I @ Moscow. He's not there to swim though, just to make sure his college girls are there to be timers to assist with the meet. Wonder how fast he still is?
I think that all these Aussie combacks are partially because there are no new big name swimmers in Australia right now. These guys will most likely make the Olympic team, but I can't see them medaling. Hey, if they want to come back, go for it.
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I remember Jeff Rouse competing at the 2004 Trials and getting 5 or 6 something in the 100 back. Did he compete in the 2000 and 1996 Trials. If not, I would rank that higher than Stewart or Sanders?
Jeff Rouse is the 1996 Olympic Champion in the 100 meter backstroke. Yes, he competed at the 1996 Olympic trials
