Calling Out Michael Phelps

I just have the feeling that there's a great deal of truth to what Clary said. I mean, he had to know he would get called on it, and if it was absolutely untrue, he'd wind up looking like an absolute idiot. (I know, some people think he does anyway.)

But I'm absolutely intrigued by the idea that some people have the perfect swimmer's body.

 

If you didn't like the newfangled swimmer's suits, you aren't going to like the new starter's blocks, with the fin in the back for extra push off.

 

Jesus had a rockin' swimmers bod:

.

 

I get why they do things like this, but it's still silly. I understand setting world records will drive up ratings and interest. But really, swimming is one sport where you really should be able to go back to 1920 and still be able to compare times. It's just the athlete and the pool, or at least it should be.

And god help me, I'm writing about the sanctity of swimming records on a message board.

 

NYT tackled this body-type question, for swimming and many other sports, in 2007:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/health/nutrition/27Best.html

The same reasoning explains why elite swimmers are big. Great male swimmers often are 6 feet 4 inches tall, and muscular. And because of the advantage that large muscles give for sprints over short distances, the shorter the distance an athlete must swim, the greater the advantage it is to be big.

Tall swimmers also have another advantage: because swimmers are horizontal in the water, their long bodies give them an automatic edge. “It’s the difference between long canoes and short canoes,” Dr. Joyner said.

There are for sure physical advantages to every sport, especially football. But regarding the link that was posted and the tangent it led to, just Google "swimmer height body" and you will find it to be such accepted wisdom that there are websites that specialize in height-to-time conversions for elite swimmers.

 

Except that 5-10 guys are winning gold medals.

 

Occasionally, sure. Probably in the longer events. But without seeing a full-body picture, I'd be willing to bet that the 5-10 gold medalist has the torso of someone 6-2 and the legs of someone 5-6. Just as Phelps has the torso of a 7-footer and the legs of a 6-footer.

 

I won't deny there are physical advantages. I'm just saying the author did a piss-poor job of showing why those advantages exist. She didn't say anything in that article that I couldn't have told you and I know fuck-all about hydrodynamics. And she made all of her wonderful observations (swimmers have defined abs, pecs and shoulders!) after saying she had written a book delving into the science of why you'll never be Michael Phelps.

She certainly didn't add anything to the "accepted wisdom."

My next article is going to be about why Wally down at the YMCA will never dunk like Michael Jordan. Jordan is 6-foot-6 and could jump really high. No matter how hard the 5-foot-9 guy playing in the lawyers' league game works out, he'll never be 6-foot-6, so he'll never dunk like Jordan.

 

5-10 guy won gold in the 100m and 200m breaststroke in each of the last two olympics. His main rival was the 6-0 Hansen.

 

Very nice. Doesn't really do anything to counter what my post said, but good information.

I don't think I can really say a lot more here. But I guess we can agree to disagree on whether height, and the distribution of that height on the frame, matters in swimming. My guess is far far more people who are heavily involved in swimming will side with me on that.

 

The guy answered a question, and it was based on what he saw at Michigan. He also gave an answer which was something more than pablum which typically comes out of athlete's mouths.

John McEnroe was someone who had the reputation for not working hard. He stayed in shape by playing doubles.

 

You actually said a lot of stuff. You said You can be undersized or a bit slow or not quite as strong and still find your way to the top level in many sports by being a little smarter, a little more dedicated, a little unique. The author's point as I took it was that this is simply not possible in swimming. I agree with that point. I showed you a guy who won an Olympic silver and set an IM world record at five foot two. You also said that body type doesn't rule all in football the way it does in swimming. a 5-10 Japanese guy has won four gold in the last two Olympics.

You said You can't swim smarter or play different. Everyone is swimming the same way. I showed you a guy who revolutionized the sport in 1988 by swimming smarter and different, who consulted experts in fluid dynamics at Harvard and MIT to improve his stroke. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1067647/index.htm

At the Olympic trials last week, NBC did a feature on how hi def video training is becoming an integral part of many world class swimmers' routines. They analyze each stroke and turn of a race, using video technology not available before. That sounds like swimming smarter.