2012 Olympics: Swimming

From Australia: Sprenger rival admits breaking rules to win

So much for cheaters never prosper. If not for underwater cameras, dolphin kicks at the entry are probably very difficult for an official to catch due to all the surface turbulence.

Anyone got any actual footage of that cheaters race? Can't find anything but stills on YT.

Jeff Commings weighs in on the cheating... www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../31640.asp

Anyone got any actual footage of that cheaters race? Can't find anything but stills on YT. Check out swimswam.com. They have a link to a Brazilian site that shows it three times... real time, slowed down, then really slowed down. You can clearly see it in, like, three swimmers. Crazy.

Check out swimswam.com. They have a link to a Brazilian site that shows it three times... real time, slowed down, then really slowed down. You can clearly see it in, like, three swimmers. Crazy. Thank you!!

I don't know what should be done about the cheating after the fact.If he hadn't admitted he cheated I think everyone would agree there is nothing that could be done retrospectively.He did admit it.Is the admission more heinous than the deed,or did he help by making the problem public. I'd say I hope FINA does something,but given their history I hope they surprise me by doing something logical that helps the sport. First there was the problem that doing a dolphin kick during the pulldown looked like "natural undulation." so they made a dolphin kick there legal.I didn't like it,but it had some logic.No sooner had the ink dried on the rules before people were pushing the envelope by taking the kick before the pulldown.FINA could have ended much of this non-sense by defining the pulldown in a logical way and letting it be known that violations would be called.Instead they came up with a definition of a pull that defied logic(move your hands apart,pause,now pull-come on.)By taking a wishy-washy stand they are saying"keep pushing and we'll keep making allowances." They need to rewrite the pullout rules so they make sense and then show some courage and DQ some stars when they "push the envelope."

If the swimmer admits to doing it, and they have undeniable footage of them breaking the rule, why isn't there any action taken?

Long course swimming isn't affected by SDK's nearly as much as short course. I consider my SDK's above average; swimming long course is humbling since they're not particularly helpful. Phelps got 6 gold and 2 bronze in Athens without his SDK's. Good points. Hadn't remembered no SDK's in Athens for Phelps, either...

You know, I agree - but is that only because I'm a breaststroker and not great at SDK? Do any backstrokers or freestylers out there think that 15 meters of dolphin kicking underwater has diluted their stroke at all (making true masters of free or back swimming less successful and those who SDK well more)? I've also wondered if Phelps would dominate as many strokes as he does without the his SDKs. Thoughts? I do the dolphin kick at the finish of my pulldown in breaststroke, but only since the rule took affect. I also find it hard to continue with the dolphin kick in the pullout during my IMs, especially the 400 IM. I'm content with removing the dolphin kick pullout rule from the books. I had strong pullouts before the rule anyway. :)