2012 Olympics: Swimming

Backstroke. Oh yeah, that makes sense. I didn't think about needing to start the backstroke in the water.

Should Sun Yang have gotten DQed for a false start? Sun Yang false start Men's 1500 Meter Finals Swimming london 2012 Olympics games - YouTube What's different from what he did in the first start attempt compared to what these 2 swimmers did in the 2000 games? The Dream: Roy and HG on Eric 'The Eel' Moussambani - YouTube

What's with Bob Costas always giving out the results of the swimming prior to any of the events being shown on NBC? He's done this every night, and at least he won't have to do it any more since the swimming is basically over! :bitching:

You can be on your side in BK You just can't go beyond vertical Question, the British backstroke did some side SDK action off of his walls. I know that it was legal off your freestyle walls. I didn't know it was legal off of backstroke walls. USA Men medal count might drop in the future with more and more male college programs being dropped. Of course, Michael Phelps didn't become successful from a college program. Do we really want to see US Men's Team going to the Olympics with their passport and AARP card? Most age group swimmers get serious about swimming in high school with the thought of a college scholarship. People who run USA Swimming should have a policy or solution for this. Finally, FINA Masters needs to have World Masters Champs or Worlds Masters Invitational after the Rio Games in the facility that they build.

You can be on your side in BK You just can't go beyond vertical Then, I will start doing that then.

Swimming has always had a history of young swimmers in the Olympics and it goes back many years. The youngest male Olympic Champion was Kusuo Kitamura from Japan at 14 with his win in the 1500 Free at the 1932 Olympics. I believe Michael Phelps, at 15, was the youngest male to make an Olympic team at 15. Aileen Riggin Soule, a former USMS masters swimmer was 14 years old when she made her first appearance at the 1920 Olympics in Diving and returned to the 1924 Olympics in both Diving and Swimming and was the first athlete to compete in two different aquatic sports at the same Olympiad. Eleanor Holm's Olympic career began in 1928, when she was 15 years old and placed 5th in the 100 Back. Donna De Varona, at 13 years old, is the youngest person ever to qualify for an Olympic team and that was accomplished in 1960. Lillian "Pokey" Watson is the youngest USA Olympic competitor to medal at 14 and that was accomplished in the 1964 Olympics. These are just some examples and I am sure there are plenty of others out there and with this history, I don't believe it will change. The other sports mentioned like Diving and Water Polo are kind of dangerous for young kids compared to swimming when you get to that international elite level. Gymnastics is different and I don't know that much about the sport to comment. Perhaps they don't want to push kids at that early of an age even if they are real good and can handle it. Also besides the physical pressure is the mental pressure and maybe this is why they have an age requirement. Shane Gould, many years ago wanted FINA and the IOC to set an age limit for swimmers in the Olympics and I believe it was either 16 or 17 years old. Her theory at the time was that the mental pressure more than the physical pressure is just to great for young swimmers and it might effect them more if they fail in their goals for there future in the sport. I am not sure if she was talking about herself because she retired early and would not have if they had this age limit. With her 5 total medals (3 gold) at the 1972 Olympics at 15 didn't matter. I don't think that FINA and IOC thought about this and nothing was ever said again about it.

Phelps and le Clos espn.go.com/.../2012-olympics-chad-le-clos-just-one-example-michael-phelps-impact-swimming By getting beaten in the 200 Fly, Phelps actually won, accomplishing a larger goal.

FINA has no minimum age for pool swimming at the elite international level- Dana Vollmer (Goodwill Games) and Elizabeth Beisel (Pan Pacs) were both on international teams at 13, and Mark Schubert was reportedly trying to get Missy's camp to more her to the senior level in 2009 because he thought she could qualify for the 4x200 world championships relay pool at 14. FINA does have minimum ages for open competition in their events for these sports: Open water- 14 Diving- 14 by December 31st in the year of competition Synchro- 15 I didn't find a minimum age listed for senior level water polo listed in FINA's general rulebooks, but given the sport's brutality, I wouldn't be surprised if it was something like 16.

Should Sun Yang have gotten DQed for a false start? What's different from what he did in the first start attempt compared to what these 2 swimmers did in the 2000 games? The Dream: Roy and HG on Eric 'The Eel' Moussambani - YouTube Sun Yang didn't false start. In the video you posted, did the starter ask the swimmers to stand up and step back after issuing the "take your marks" command? Here's a report that describes what happened to Sun Yang's slip: www.stltoday.com/.../article_7ca824c0-9c50-571b-aa8c-8279e625b036.html Cochrane would not lose this opportunity. He would not be distracted by another near false start. Sun leapt into the pool early and alone Saturday night, surfacing with a confused look on his face. "At that moment, I was so scared," Sun said through a translator. "And it was all black before my eyes." But Sun was not disqualified because he did not actually false start. The swimmers were told to take their marks and then to step down, because the crowd was too loud. Sun heard the second command and took off. He didn't leave before the start signal because there was no start signal yet. Sun was upset when the officials pushed the swimmers back on the blocks quickly, making a couple of timeout signals with his hands. The other swimmers felt rushed, too.

I think the U.S. team put to rest the notion that Trials were too close to the Olympics. It seems like nearly everyone swam faster in London than they did in Omaha. Really great team effort by the both the U.S. men and women!