That Turn!

Remember back in the day when we used to have to touch the wall during the backstroke flip turn?  I like to tell my swimmers how lucky they are that they never had to do that.  It was so much slower than what we do now that Mark Tewksbury broke the world record 53 seconds after FINA signed the paperwork saying we can just go ahead and flip without staying on our backs until we touch the wall with our hand.  (Of course, we were allowed to stand on the gutter back then for the back start so I guess we didn't have it so bad.)

Lately we have all seen the bucket turn and the crossover-touch turn coming back with some top notch IM'ers for the transition from back to breast...  my swimmers always comment on it when they see it and we spend a little time practicing it, but the cross-over is really only worth the time for the absurdity because the kids take forever to get it even when I demonstrate.  (Or maybe, because I demonstrate.) It's like watching a blooper reel.  Of course, it is probably not fast enough to justify skipping the open turn or even the standard back flip anyway, right?  I mean, we were pretty good at it back in the early 90's but it was really just a fancy way to go just about the same speed as the open turn...

Then again, none of us were quite the level of athlete Ryan Lochte is.  Watch him break that SCM 100 IM record.  Sorry that the video is a little blurry, but at about 3:29 on the video you will see the greatest back to breast transition ever.  Yes, it is even better than the one Phelps did in London that made you nearly burn up your DVR remote when you re-watched it so many times.  Did he really even touch that wall?



Go ahead... watch it again.

and again.

and again.

And now show it to your swimmers so they can waste a half hour of practice time trying to figure out how in the hell he did that.

Speak Softly and Carry Small Words: One Adult's Guide to Handling Bullies

Andy walked in front of me the whole way home, taunting me and dancing with my hat. I was mad and didn't know what to do. He had taken my hat right after school got out. My feeble request for him to "give it back" had fallen on deaf ears. I was new to school and it had taken Andy the whole fall to figure me out. Despite the fact that I was an extremely overgrown seven year old I wasn't going to overpower him to get my hat back. Feeling emboldened, he seized on my weakness on a daily basis. At the time, I didn't have a good word for it, but now I know- I was being bullied. When, embarrassed, I told my mother what had happened to my new hat, she sent older brother on the walk home with me. Andy didn't seem perturbed and went for my second hat right away. I still remembered his stunned face, and the quick trickle of blood coming out of his nose. As soon as he put his hands on my hat, my brother had punched him directly in the nose.

What Makes the Short Course Worlds so Fun (and Terrible)

Glamour shot of Peter Mankoc? Glamour shot of Peter Mankoc

Today in Istanbul, the 2012 edition of the World Short Course Championships got underway. Depending on which of my multiple personalities I ask, this meet is either more fun than swimming should be allowed, or a total embarrassment. In honor of this year's meet, let's discuss both:

Missy Franklin Gives Up NCAA Eligibility

Franklin gets emotional in London after pop star
Justin Bieber sent her a supportive message via twitter.

December 7, 2012
From Staff Reports

Aurora, Colorado--

When four time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin came home from swim practice on Tuesday evening, her self-professed "Bieber fever" spiked.  She had received a care package full of t-shirts, CD's, posters, and other memorabilia that would make any Justin Bieber fan uncontrollably excited.  During the Olympic games, Franklin expressed her excitement over a tweet and a video message the singer had sent her, and since the games Bieber has continued to express his admiration.

"Beebs sent me an awesome care package."  She told The Swim Brief in an interview.  "My mom was so cute the way she had laid it out on the table for me to see when I walked in the door.  I just started bawling."

The catch?  Franklin had famously decided to maintain her amateur status, foregoing millions of dollars in possible sponsorships as a professional swimmer, to continue competing with her high school team and with Cal where she has already signed a letter of intent.

The Hospitality Table May Be the Death of Me

Free food.  Free food everywhere.  The gluttony never stops.  When I was a young coach I used to put meets on my schedule based on how good the hospitality table was.  Some clubs even get a reputation.  I would email the coaches to make requests.  "Are you gonna serve that yummy fruit pizza again?"  It's almost like some kind of a neighborhood competition you would see on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.  Seriously.  It has gone too far.

National Select Camp Disfavors Sprinters

In a recent USA Swimming weekly newsletter, the selection of the National Junior Select Camp was listed. I was delighted to see one of the young ladies I work with on the list, but I was slightly disturbed with one area in the selection criteria: “In all events except the 50 free”.

Now I know USA Swimming suggests “building the base” in youth swimmers [I argue these strict suggestions as closed-mindedness prevents and discourages advances in any field], but I feel this approach is impeding development and discouraging growth this niche segment, which the USA is currently already struggling.

The Problem of Evaluating Coaches

Is Bob Bowman a good coach? Probably.

Yesterday, at the Golden Goggles, Bob Bowman was awarded the title of "Coach of The Year". Earlier this week, I wrote about the departure of Paulus Wildeboer from Denmark, almost universally acclaimed as that country's best ever national team coach.  Yet, if you were to anonymously poll American swim coaches about Bob Bowman's success, I think a significant amount of them would say that Bowman was nothing more than a jockey to Michael Phelps' horse for these past twelve years, while just weeks ago prominent members of the Danish swimming community were calling for Wildeboer's head. All of which begs the question: how do we know if a coach is any good?

Paulus Wildeboer and the "Hero Coach"

Do you ever wonder how quickly things can change? On Monday, I wrote a blog detailing the struggles of Swedish Swimming, comfortably gloating from my position of Danish fandom. Sweden had a crisis of leadership, whereas Denmark had locked up the most successful coach in their modern era, Paulus Wildeboer for another Olympic quad. Then, they didn't, as news broke yesterday that Paulus was bound for Queensland, Australia. The following is rampant speculation as to why.

Is Swedish Swimming a Mess?

Swedish Swimming needs to get it's act together

Over at my favorite Danish Swimming blog today they have an interview with Simon Sjodin. Luckily for readers of this blog, it is in English. Sjodin made news at home and abroad when a petition was started to get him on the Swedish Olympic team after he was left off the team despite achieving a FINA "A" standard (he was a 1:59.4 in the 200 IM that he had not tapered for thinking qualifying was assured). Sjodin's plight, however, is just one symptom of a disastrous era of mismanagement in Swedish swimming.

Dear Chris: Should I Resign?

Following last week's post posing a very important question to the Screaming Viking, we here at the Swimbrief have seen a sharp uptick in questions to the writers of this site. Here is one we received from Chuck W. in Colorado Springs, Colorado:

Dear Viking!: Why Bother to Shower?

Swim Brief readers email us questions all the time.  For real.  What, do you think we would just make up questions from imaginary readers for a phony advice column?  What kind of a website do you think this is?  So, welcome to our newest recurring feature, "Dear Viking."

The Viking thinks hard so you don't have to...

Dear Viking!

I swim all the time.  It's not like I reek of BO or anything.  Do I really need to bother to take a shower?

Dear concerned reader who is obviously a real person,

Why bother?  I know!  Right?!  Swimmers don't shower... well, at least not to rub off all the smells.  Sometimes I used to just kind of hang out in there to get warm and occasionally pee on my friends, but I have never really understood why those silly divers use all those soaps and lotions and stuff.  Swimmers smell like chlorine-- and what does chlorine smell like?:  CLEAN.  That's what.

Hour of Power

Today was unseasonably cold in Atlanta. When it's "cold" here, my thoughts turn to my college days, which, for the most part, were far colder. 55 degrees and sunny? That's t-shirt weather at Colby College. Today is October 30th, and in just two days my alma mater will be able to officially begin their season. The calendar's turn to November also means something else: the Hour of Power is nearly upon us.

Recruiting Lessons from Alec Baldwin

ALWAYS BE CLOSING

The last few weeks, my man Garrett McCaffrey has been churning out some fantastic interviews over at Swimswam. Recently, he sat down with twelve time NCAA Championship coach Dave Marsh and picked his brain for some recruiting tips. Marsh had some good insight- still, I contend that you can learn just as much about recruiting from Alec Baldwin's movie defining scene in the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross. You know the one I'm talking about:

Watch for MIT Swimming to Make Great Strides This Year

When the big brains at MIT swimming realized that strapping their swimmers to a big fat rocket wasn't going to help their relay qualify for nationals, they decided to look into upgrading their slipperiness.

Remember that Neverwet stuff?  You know, the superhydrophobic spray that Craig Lord wrote about that could take swimsuit technology to a whole new level by repelling water like Rain-X in full roid rage?

Well...  MIT just developed the next level of superhydrophobia.  Check out this excerpt from an article at extremetech.com:

The Return of Sarcasm

Last week, a reader of the swimbrief sent me a succinct request: stop writing nice things about people who died and return to disputing the outright lies that ooze like so much puss from various corners of the swimming world. Fine, I'll bite, let's see what's out there. OH, Craig Lord! We had a brief period of unity, mourning Nick Thierry's passing. Now he's back to writing things like this about the John Leonard/Ye Shiwen debacle

"A statement from an American Coach [Leonard], whose words were far more reasonable than the brutish response...which is the more aggressive and unreasonable 'accusation': 'I think this young girl may be the victim of abuse and ought to be concerned and make sure that is not the case'."

Are you sitting down?

Other People Matter

Chris is his classic pose

Yesterday, I woke up to a simply worded e-mail. It was from Marty Seligman, and much like his other communications, it was one sentence:

"Chris Peterson, my close friend and closest colleague, died today."

There are probably very little crossover between people who read this blog and people who know who Marty Seligman or Chris Peterson are. Chris' unexpected passing left a community in mourning yesterday. If you are reading this right now and have no idea who I am talking about, I'll give you the one sentence version: Chris Peterson was somebody who's life work was about finding the best in people and it all culminated in a simple phrase "Other People Matter".

USA Swimming Talking Points Memo for Board Members: Blogs are Obviously Lying

This morning, I received a memo in my e-mail inbox. Titled "FAQ for Board Members and Others", it was not originally addressed to me, although I guess I fit into the all-encompassing others category. The memo (an FAQ, frequently asked questions) was issued following the USA Swimming convention in Greensboro. It is one part hilarious- every question is written not in the format one would use to actually question someone at USA Swimming, rather they are quite obviously written by someone on the inside seeking to dictate what questions people should be asking them. It doesn't take long for them to get to a topic that's pertinent to this blog: namely blogs.

The Legend of Kevin Carson

My only picture of Kevin Carson is exactly the way I want to remember him.

My teammate Kevin Carson was a fellow (Southwest) Missouri State Bear for only one season, and even though I hadn't spoken to him in over a decade, I will always consider him a good friend.  My heart breaks as I type this.  I attended Kevin's funeral yesterday.

Nick Thierry, Swimming Legend, Died Today.

If there is one time in your life that you got Swimnews and read every single word that Craig Lord has written, let today be that day. This morning Lord penned an obituary for his friend and mentor, Nick Thierry, the founder of Swimnews and someone everyone that writes about swimming owes a huge debt to.

The Best User Submitted Wielgus Memes

From Mike in Andover, Massachusetts

And the beat goes on. Since we introduced our set of Wielgus meme's last week, user submissions have poured in. The hits keep coming for USA Swimming as well, with the announcement of multi-million dollar judgments in several of their legal cases. In these difficult times, we can only take temporary solace from the complete failure of leadership from the top. That solace must come in the form of Chuck Wielgus memes.

The Chuck Wielgus Memes You Have Needed All This Time

When I saw the photo accompanying this story on Swimswam, I knew something immediately. I needed to take the photo and create memes with it. Everything about this photo screams "meme" to me: Bruce Stratton's mustache, the big laugh Chuck Wielgus seems to be enjoying, the way Stratton gazes adoringly at Wielgus. Therefore, I hereby announce the Swim Brief's first meme contest. Take this photo and create memes with it- submit those meme's to swimbrief@gmail.com. The best will be reprinted with credit on this blog. Follow the jump for one more example- after that it's all yours

What Does it all Mean: The Mark Schubert Suit

Yesterday morning, news broke that a former employee of Golden West Swim Club (GWSC) was suing that club's head coach, Mark Schubert, for wrongful termination. Taken alone, it's fairly big news in this sleepy post-Olympic September. Contained within the suit, however, are allegations so strong that in the word's of Tim Joyce, the author of the above-linked article, they "[are] likely to cause a domino effect at USA Swimming". I wish I could agree.

We're the "Best": The Self Congratulatory 2012 Aquatic Sports Convention

This week, the Aquatic Sports Convention descended on Greensboro, NC. From afar, I am concerned with two things: first, the approval of many changes to USA Swimming rules that would help us take another step forward. Second, it's another chance to check USA Swimming leadership: where are they now and where are they telling us they are headed?

High-Altitude Training Does Not Improve Swimming Performance

"Michael Phelps has slept in a hyperbaric chamber in preparation for these London Olympics".
 
"The secret to Floyd Landis' training is a hyperbaric chamber".
 
“Missy grew up in Colorado, so she has been training at altitude since a kid”.
 
For all those living in the pool, Floyd Landis was the 2006 Tour de France champion, until he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and stripped of his title. These two quotes are not meant to accuse Mr. Phelps, the greatest swimmer of all time, is using performance enhancing drugs, but to bring to light the myths surrounding the topic of high-altitude training.

Swim Brief Classic: The Start of Every High School Invitational I Have Ever Hosted

Since today I am scrambling to get ready to host our first high school meet of the season, I felt like sharing this one form the old swimviking blogspot.  I am sure you can all relate.

Uhh... now what do I do?

“Welcome to the Red Bird Invitational. We are set for a 1:00 start. This is the time when we need volunteers to come down behind the blocks to run stopwatches. If you are a volunteer timer, please check in with the referee near the starters booth at this time…”

Six minutes pass…

More GHJ Please (And No More Dave and Gary)

In case you haven't noticed by my semi-frequent hyperlinking, I'm a big fan of Swimswam. It's probably the coolest swimming website to be created in recent memory. It's got great content and great perspective. It's not perfect, of course, but what is. Lately, I can't help but notice that one part of the site is going completely underdeveloped while another mostly just takes up space. I'm talking about Gary Hall Jr, specifically and in both cases. So consider this as an open letter to the all powerful gods of Swimswam: please make a change.

Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me Anthony Ervin Was in Battleship?

Seriously, no one told me??

(Warning: the following article may or may not contain fictional information about Liam Neeson's swimming career and/or Anthony Ervin's acting career)

It's been a while since we've had a post here at Swimbrief. I'm coming off my yearly trip to the motherland (Denmark) so I've been a bit off my game. But lest I bury the lead, let me say this: on my flight home from Denmark, I had plenty of time to catch up on bad movies that I had deftly avoided paying money for in the theaters. Among them, the summer "blockbuster" Battleship. In case you didn't see it (it seems that means most of America), you probably shouldn't. It's a terrible movie. However, the best part of the entire movie is that Anthony Ervin is in it and he is totally amazing!

Florent Manadou: The True Most Unbelievable Performance

Of all the amazing things that happened in London, I feel that the most amazing of them all got severely underplayed. Sure, it was considered somewhat of a shocker when previously unheralded (or shall we say "less-heralded") Florent Manaudou walked away with the "world's fastest swimmer" crown towards the end of the meet. But it was more than a little shocker: Manaudou stripped huge chunks off his lifetime best in an event just one year. His swim was the most unbelievable performance in the 2012 games.

Pacing: Why Women's 200 Breast Took The Big Leap

Watching the Olympics is an awesome experience for a coach. It is the highest level competition for our sport, and there is a lot to admire and aspire too. But even the most elite swimming in the world is not perfect, and the Olympics are a reminder that we are still really far from the limits of swimming performance. One of the events that best tell this story is the women's 200 breaststroke. All three m
medalists were faster than the medalists in the previous "suited" Olympics. How could that be?

Ryan Lochte on Funny or Die!

The Olympic Ticket Scalper with Patrick Stewart, Ryan Lochte, Simon Pegg & Maisie Williams from Patrick Stewart

Peeing in Pools with Ryan Lochte from Ryan Lochte

Classic. This is a well done treat for swim fans. I need to somehow add "fastest pee in the west" to my piece on the Developmental Stages of Swimmer Potty Training. Haha!

Jumping Back on the American Bandwagon

I had a lot of conversations with coaches and swim fans leading up to the trials and the games.  I read a lot of stuff, including things from Olympic Gold Medalists like Mel Stewart and really smart multi-lingual people like Chris DeSantis.  I was forming opinions based on all of my inherent brilliance plus all of the information I have absorbed through those conversations and various media, and found myself in the same place I always seem to always end up when nearing the end of each Olympic cycle, thinking:

1.  We are crazy for having our trials so close to the games and we need to just start being like everybody else.

2.  We are watching the decline of American Olympic dominance.

...but of course, after the dust settled on swimming in London, it is pretty clear that I, and many of the other pessimists I surround myself with in the world of swimming, don't know what the hell we are talking about.  This was a pretty damn good meet for the USA.  It wasn't just the Missy show on the women's side, and no one is walking away feeling like if it weren't for Phelps and Lochte we would hardly have won a medal for our men.

Olympic Look Back: Take it Down a Notch Australia

The following is the first in a series of retrospectives on the 2012 Olympics. A lot happened during the meet, and I wanted to have the chance to put the meet in the rear view before discussing it. Because talking about Denmark's medal free performance is still too raw, I'm starting with Australia. The consensus is that they had one of their worst Olympics. I wont disagree with that. But what do we make of it?

Watching the End of An Era

Thanks for the good times Michael.

Phelps, Hansen, Kitajima... As the names rolled out for the final race of the London Olympics, I started to feel pretty nostalgic. Cseh too...the final race of the 2012 Olympics was going to be the end of an era. This is truly the first generation where the best of one generation all stuck around to race the next wave. It made for probably the most exciting Olympic racing I have ever seen. Many of the story lines are not new- young stars breaking through and veterans making one last stand. It just seemed that, in 2012, there were far more of both than there has ever been.

John Leonard Through Swimming History

With John Leonard doubling down on his comments regarding Ye Shiwen in the last twenty four hours, we decided to go through our swimming archives, to chronicle Leonard's reactions through some of the most dramatic events in swimming history. Enjoy!

Still Feel Good About the Danes?

A member of the Danish Olympic squad, pictured on part of his 21 year visit to a semi-autonomous island in the Atlantic

Yes. A month ago I wrote a blog about the remarkable results Danish swimming has achieved since the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Some of you may be following the results of the meet wondering if it was all a bunch of hot air. After all, the Danes have yet to medal with just three finals sessions left in the entire meet. Still, their best chances for a medal are all yet to come over the last three days. That's why I'm choosing to plant my feet again and proclaim it will be a banner Olympics for the Danes. In many ways it already has been.

I have actually been able to watch some of the Olympics this time around!

My wife has even been watching it with me!

It has been an awesome ride so far.  It has been weird watching bits live and more bits delayed.  For a little while I tried to avoid all the spoilers out there in social media, but after NBC decided to intro a clip with "will Missy Franklin win her first gold medal?"  and then 30 seconds later show a picture of her with said backstroke gold, I figured what the hell... no one can avoid the results with them running the show.  Even after knowing that Allison Schmitt was gonna win the 200, when I saw it I was so excited that I wanted to tweet about it, but then realized that everyone else probably tweeted about it seven hours ago.  I didn't want to be that guy...

John Leonard: The Cowardly Lion

Yesterday, American Swim Coaches Association (and World Swim Coaches Association) Executive Director John Leonard was widely quoted on the topic of Ye Shiwen. Cited in articles as a "promintent US swim coach", Leonard strongly implied that Shiwen was doping, while prefacing those implications by saying he wasn't implying she was doping. This isn't the first time Leonard has felt the need to insert himself into a debate vital to swimming. In fact, Leonard seems to believe that his opinion is always needed, except on one vitally important topic: sexual abuse by coaches. Leonard's quote's are a reminder once again that swim coaches worldwide should be embarrassed that he is in a leadership position among us. 

London 2012: Ragnarok

The following is a Guest Blog from Tom Duke. For full bios of all our resident guest bloggers, click here. For a slightly less rational take on the same subject, read Craig Lord

To borrow from the mythology of the blogging blockhead of this site, swimming at the 2012 London Olympics has devolved quickly into the ultimate cataclysm of Viking tales: Ragnarok, the event wherein the ultimate battle between the powerful gods and their troll enemies of Jotenheim results in the destruction of the entire world. Such a reaction is only appropriate in the wake of Ye Shiwen's violent throttling of her beautiful, gentle, anglo-saxon ancestried competitors. The conclusion that any simpleton can deduce of such a thorough defeat alongside the breaking of a shiny suit world best despite racing in textile is clear: Shiwen's performance must be fueled Odin himself, or possibly something greater.

Coffee and Swimming

Caffeine is the most commonly consumed ergogenic aide in the world. This natural alkaloid is present in various leaves, fruits and seed. Despite the rise of energy drinks, coffee is still the most frequently consumed caffeinated drink in sports. Caffeine consumption is quite frequent in sports; in fact, it is consumed prior to competition in 7% of elite and international athletes based on doping analysis (Del Coso 2011).

Mad and Excited: Day 1 Prelims at the London Olympics

Thanks FINA!

I woke up this morning at 4:30 eastern. I was nervous about missing the first prelim session of the Olympics. When your sport only gets meager coverage every four years, you feel guilty for squandering even one second of it. What I saw in the wee hours of the east coast (thank goodness I don't live out west) was both exciting and totally maddening. In that way, it's just like any other swim meet.

Still So Far To Go

Yesterday at practice, a swimmer remarked that he wasn't surprised to read the story that surfaced concerning Rick Curl and an emergency USA Swimming hearing regarding whether he sexually molested a swimmer under his charge almost thirty years ago, then got her to sign away any right to talk about it for money. "Seems like I read something similar every week". Looking at the situation pessimistically, that's a sad state of affairs for swimming. However, it's undeniably a positive that this issue is stepping out of the shadows, no matter how painful it is. The response, however, indicates we still have very far to go. 

Olympic Preview: Asia

If you missed it last week, we provided a special Swimbrief primer for the rapidly approaching Olympics. The first entry centered on Europe, and this entry will focus on the Asian continent. Rather than provide an exhaustive preview that you could easily find elsewhere, we aim to provide you with ready made, easy to use talking points to impress your friends while you watch the tape delayed broadcast. In the event that like most swimbrief writers and readers, you have no friends, we have no advice. Anyway, ASIA!

We're All Too Big to Fail

When I first read that the NCAA going to make a ruling on Penn State this month, I have to admit that I didn't think much would come of it. In my lifetime, the NCAA has seemed for the most part an overly bureaucratic and hypocritical organization. Most decisions that could truly benefit student-athletes seem to get buried in endless committees, while the term "student-athlete" has become a sick joke in many big time sports at big time schools. My feelings were confirmed when former NCAA president Myles Brand (rest in peace) came to the CSCAA clinic as key note speaker in 2008. College swim coaches were mad- our sport was under threat despite being one that actually adhered to the student-athlete ideal. To that point Brand had only the defense that he was trying, but there was little he could do.

Olympic Preview: Europe

Gyurta's textbook form

Here in the US, we have a clear strategy for familiarizing citizens with "America's Swim Team". Trials are the introduction, and in between we do our best to make sure that even casual fans feel like they know someone besides Phelps, Lochte and Coughlin (Franklin?). There is a tendency, however, for even the more serious fan to get to the meet and exclaim "Where did that guy come from?". I'll call this the "Domenico Fioravanti" phenomenon.

Trolling in the Deep: The Best "Under the Bridge" in Swimming

If you follow the most popular swimming websites, it's easy to appreciate what's out there these days. It wasn't so long ago that there was nowhere to discuss swimming, swimming related topics, or even for two former high level swimmers to post their online chats. Now we have all that. That greater opportunity however, comes with a cost. Behold, the terrors of internet fun: trolls.

Catching Up

I go away for a few days, and miss so many bloggable moments. First came the comments from Tyler Clary, which this blog has already covered satirically. Then, in news more tangential but no less important, the Freeh report on Penn State and their handling of Jerry Sandusky. In an attempt to catch up, I'm going to hit on a few of last weeks topic in random, attention deficit fashion. 

Ooh, The Nerve of That Tyler Clancy!

I'm so mad I could karate kick that Tyler Clancy in the face!

Hi swim fans!  Your favorite Phelps Phan, Ritchie MP Cummins here!  I just had to get on here and say that I just can't take it any more!  Why is everybody dogging on my main man Michael Phelps!?  

Warm Cities, Fast Swimmers

As a kid, I grew up in a middle class suburb in Dayton, Ohio.

Throughout my childhood, I always thought Ohio was a great swimming state. I mean look at the high school national record books and you'll see Ohioans scattered throughout.

However, now that I live in California, I have learned somewhat behind the learning curve, that California is a much faster swimming state.

I know what you're thinking, California is better because they have more swimmers or because the areas I've lived (Los Angeles, San Jose) have a higher socioeconomic class, etc.

These reasons likely tell part of the story, but I'm critical of their full contribution and wonder if perhaps cortical and motor development contributes to the equation.

"Where's the Viking?" and Other Stories from Omaha

As you recall from my last post, I capped my weekend at Olympic Trials by meeting my nemesis Craig Lord and exchanging pleasantries. As I was wrapping up, Lord blurted out a question (as only he can).

"Where's the Viking?" he asked. When I told him that "the Viking" had been unable to make the meet, a look of severe disappointment washed over his face. Having met me, his mind had immediately moved on to my partner in crime, the "blogging blockhead". He did not inquire as to the whereabouts of Tony Austin.

Yep This is a Photo of me With Craig Lord

Earlier in the week, I noticed that my favorite Chinese drug cheating/bodysuit obsessed writer was in the house here in Omaha. From that point on, I knew I had one mission- I had to meet Craig Lord.

My opportunity came tonight when I snuck into the media zone and found him alone banging away at his laptop. As far as I could tell his caps key was completely functional. I said "excuse me" and Craig whipped around. He gave me a broad smile and a firm handshake. He made sure to let me know that he enjoyed the back and forth, and in order to confirm the authenticity of that I asked him for this photo. Craig consented with some trepidation- I had to promise to be nice in this post.

Here's what else I learned in my brief chat with Craig:

1. He also wants to know just how big USA swimming wants this meet to be. 1800 is too big

2. He's really impressed by a domestic meet that can get 14,000 fans

3. He's part of a secret group of shadowy swimming power brokers that rule the sport with an invisible hand*

*possibly not true


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Shameless Promotion of Trials Features

So far I've lost 5 pounds covering the Olympic Trials. While that's more of a reflection of my pre-Trials shape rather than the physical demands of not-competing, there's still a lot of running around, late nights, coffee drinking, and interviews to gather. I'm now back in Brooklyn writing and working remotely, so I have some free time to share with anyone who cares what I've been doing in Omaha. Here are a few features I've written on the USASwimming.org website:

What Matt Grevers Learned. 

Claire Donahue Seizes Her Moment.

Replacing Third Place Tears.

Where Dreams Come True. 

I also write bad jokes on Twitter, in case you're interested in not laughing. My Twitter handle is @MikeLGustafson.

Finally, is anyone else already depressed that Trials will be over soon? I'm almost contemplating DVRing Trials and watching only three seconds every day just to prolong the event until the Olympics.... Or maybe I should just find this guy.

Resisting the Panic Button

(Note: Every Year I have multiple panic attacks about the chances of our men's 4x100 Relay Usually it resolves itself by this point. What follows is one man's struggle not to hit the panic button before tomorrows final)

Tonight I pictured Leigh Nugent, Australian National Team Coach, watching our men's 100 free prelims and semi's from a secret lair. With each swim he cackled with joy. Why shouldn't he? While Nathan Adrian improved significantly on the 49.0 that led prelims with his 48.3, Nugent appears to have not one but two hammers to bang on his US competitors in the 4x100.

Meanwhile, Yannick Agnel looked up from his twice daily wine and cheese party to stare down his nose at the results. He then ignored another text message from Alain Bernard asking "yo what you up to tonight*"

*however you say that in French

In Moscow, Vladimir Putin gathered the Russian squad and stared at them really intensely for nearly an hour, hoping to convey that they better win...or else.*

*they would be forced to run against him in the next election

Italy has no idea what happened because their internet was turned off earlier in the month for no reason in particular.

Finally, British sprinter Adam Brown burst in to tell his teammates the results and comment "I reckon we've got a shot now don't we?". And I laughed and felt better.






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Feel Like Gambling?

Consider for a moment two possible scenarios. In one, you are given a 40% chance to win a million dollars. In another, you receive a million up front, but then are forced into a 40% shot to lose it. On a gut level, the first scenario is more appealing even though your odds at a million are worse. It's a scenario that has a lot to do with the psychology of swimming.

Every swimmer has a tipping point where they are less excited about what they could possibly accomplish and more worried about losing what they've already accomplished. The most famous example at this meet is Michael Phelps, who four years ago sat on the biggest pile of swimming accomplishment ever won. Since then he's been mostly trying not to lose it rather than beat it. It took a lot of ambition to gamble for more than anyone had won before- everyone has their limits.

Yet this phenomenon takes place on all scales and isn't always so predictable. One could forgive Allison Schmitt for growing defensive since her breakout in 2008, and yet she seems more assertive than ever. Youth definitely helps- it is unlikely that the likes of Missy Franklin or Rachel Bootsma think they have anything to lose. Meanwhile, Natalie Coughlin was evidence that even a champion's track record and the best coach in the world aren't sure odds for an Olympic spot.

If you had no knowledge of swimmers and were simply picking a squad from the lineup, chances are you would choose the impossibly tall and athletic Matt Grevers. Somehow despite his advantage, Grevers has made his 2nd place finish and world best victory seem less than likely.

Perhaps no swimmer has written the "nothing to lose" narrative better than the yet to swim Dara Torres. She has more money to throw at professional stretchers than most coaches salaries and unmatched talent. She remains paradoxically an underdog, and it's hard to remember when she wasn't. Somehow, the years haven't made her any less willing to take irrational risks than competitors a generation younger. Just add it to the list of things she can teach them: how to gamble in the pool.



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To The Aggressor Goes The Spoils

With Dana Vollmer making the world's fastest time look routine, all eyes were on the second spot in the 100 fly. A quick poll of my seating section favored Claire Donahue. Still, we were frozen- could Donahue dispatch a grizzled veteran like Natalie Coughlin? In fact she could, swimming her own race. She went out with reckless abandon, overcame shaky timing on her turn and never looked back.

Conversely, a lack of aggression put Peter Vanderkaay out of the running for the 4x200 relay. In his place were swimmers like Davis Tarwater, who secured a spot in the final on the strength of a 51.93 front half.

The one swimmer tonight who could afford to swim from behind was Rebecca Soni. Despite a start and pullouts that are at best average for this level she more than makes up for it in sheer dominance on top of the water. Her stroke and tactics defy modeling- they work just finenfornher and your results may vary.

In the men's final, Kevin Cordes gambled with a 27.8 opener. While it didn't pay off in the form of a spot in London, he made his presence known in a field of veterans and reinforced that he may just be a year or two away from seizing the crown.

Allison Schmitt had the swim of the night, breathing life into one of the potentially "weak" events on Team USA with blistering first half. While the world record was never seriously in doubt (much like the longtime Evans standard, it was set on the back half), the race nevertheless electrified the crowd.

The night came in like a lion. While it didn't quite leave a lamb thanks to Bootsma and Franklin, it ended with the typical gamesmanship of semi final heats. Both back strokes await a final where the lessons of night two will be unavoidable.




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Finals Cheat Sheet: Omaha Night Two

In the last couple years my wife, Kate, has become more interested in swim meets. As with any sport, putting the competition in context helps. 4:07 in the 400 IM means nothing unless you know how fast it is. So before a big meet, I always make her a cheat sheet of what would be a good swim the swimmers on my team.

So, as a viewing aid for tonight's finals, I am going to do the same. For each final and semi I will give you an idea of what is good and what is not for the swimmers themselves and team USA.

Women's 100 fly: Dana Vollmer has put the world on notice. The lone carrot remaining for her is Sarah Sjostrom's 2009 world record of 56.06. She is already the Olympic favorite mainly due to Sjostrom's inconsistencies. The second place swimmer in this event will need a major step up to put themselves in contention in London: Claire Donahue for instance would need to drop .6 off the swim of her life to match Ellen Gandy's third in the world swim.

Men's 200 free: Lochte and Phelps are 1-2 favorites for London. Anything under 1:45 will be a good result as no domestic swimmer has shown they can challenge that. There is no real drama here- the rest of the field is already fast enough to complete a gold medal relay, its just a matter of who gets on the train.

Women's 100 br: Soni is still mostly competing with herself here and chasing the world record: which stands at 1:04.45. Larson drives the rest of this race, if she improves on her 1:06.5 she will put a lot of pressure on Hardy going into the final, especially with her early speed.

Mens 100 br: Hansen's 59.7 puts him at least in the conversation for a London medal. If he does more than dropping a tenth or two start the Kitajima-Hansen 3 discussion. Otherwise the minute barrier is the borderline for contention, a swim that would be phenomenal for all involved.

Women's 400 free: The top two swims are strong relative to recent US results in this event, which haven't been good. It's going to take all the way down to 4:03 for either to contend in London, a time that would be a huge textile drop for either.

Men's 100 back: Lots of questions to be answered here. Did Grevers go full bore on his 52.9? If he doesn't improve I say yes. The rest of the field swam within a normal range and needs to move up to Grevers level to be world relevant, a tall order for all but Thoman and Plummer.

Women's 100 back: Don't read into Coughlin's swims at all. She will not go close to 100% before the final. For the rest of the contenders 59 keeps them relevant and 58 separates from the world pack.



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Lighting The Torch: Omaha Night One

As he exited the pool, Tyler Clary gave a frustrated shrug to the crowd. He is the third fastest 400 IMer in the world but he won't compete for a medal. The greatest swimmer of all time decided to drop into his event and he didn't even win. That title went to Ryan Lochte, who dispatched Michael Phelps effortlessly, easing up dramatically at the finish and making a 4:07 look the easiest it has ever looked.

Where once Phelps used to be able to eliminate all his competition within the first half of the race, he now is at best even with Lochte without the breaststroke to contend.

But enough about them. There were better swims to be had. Dana Vollmer summarily broke the American record. Despite her slender frame, she looks like she is leveraging twice the strength of her competitors on every pull.

Elizabeth Beisel showed world best form in the 400 IM. Her swim stands in contrast to her meteoric rise four years ago. She swims with professional precision now. Beisel swam a middle of the pack fly, stormed past the field on backstroke, then held off a world class breaststroker in Leverenz on the third hundred. Unlike Lochte she raced hard throughout, although a closer race could likely take her to a higher level.

The rest was far less impressive. The top two times in the men's 400 free was slow enough that two Brits, or two Danes for that matter, could have locked the Americans out. Despite some breakout performances in the men's 100 breaststroke, that event also lags the world standard. Perhaps Hansen has more in the tank- we'll see tomorrow.



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2 Reasons You're Sore During Taper

Taper is a sacred and loved aspect of swimming. Few other sports provide such long rest placing high importance on a meet. We've discussed taper in the past, but one question I've received from readers which I haven't tackled is:

"G. John, I'm starting to taper for trials, but I feel horrible. Do you have any suggestions?"

Any discussion regarding "feel" has minimal hard evidence, as "feel" is a subjective term. However, during taper, a time where yardage and intensity decrease, one would assume the athlete would continually improve linearly with the amount of recovery.

Two main systems are likely to control soreness during taper:

1.Physiological 

2.Psychological

It's On: Phelps and Lochte

Phelps toying with media and fans alike before the decisive mustache shaving

It was the mustache shaving that launched a thousand blogs (ok maybe just a handful. With one tweet Michael Phelps all but guaranteed the match up that swim fans so desperately wanted in Omaha. That race should and will dominate the first day of the meet. Now that it's moved beyond speculation, what do we make of it?

Why is the Olympic Trials Pool 25 Yards Across?

Today I was happily reading about the ultimate destination of the Olympic trials pool to the Boston area when I stumbled on something curious: the trials pool is short of FINA international standards: It's just 25 yards across, not 25 meters.

I had noticed on the first day that the lanes seemed a little narrow. Why is this? I invite you to use this space to posit theories and get the ball rolling myself:

1. It made the pool easier to donate, because this is America and we hate the metric system

2. More deck space for fancy video equipment and TV production

The Mood on Deck: Pre-Meet Omaha

If there's one universal feeling in Omaha it's the venues first impression. Without fail, everyone I spoke to got a shot of pure adrenaline. I'd remembered Omaha fondly from 2008 but everything seems better still this time around

Once the adrenaline passed came a reminder of just how different the experience here can be. I talked with a coach who was here for the first time. He couldn't have thought of something to complain of if he gave it his all. It's a good thing to have at a meet like this, people who are just genuinely over the moon to be here.

USA Swimming officials seem anxious but friendly. They are preparing for the deluge and grateful that many decided to trickle in early. All the most important folks were glad handing around the deck this afternoon.

Swimmers who are here for the first time snd just under the cut have a tangible sense of wonder for what they are taking part in. They will likely compete in a meet this fast, this big and in this type of venue just once in their lives. For those that are in contention there is a nervous excitement. The difference between 3rd and 2nd is a couple orders of magnitude in notoriety. Their coaches mirror that energy, knowing that they will be judged by something they only slightly control. The tension of waiting weighs on everyone. Only 10 days until we miss it.

Swim Brief Team Up: What races are you most looking forward to at Trials?

Everyone has a race, or a few races, where they have wild predictions and they just can't wait to see how the rivalries pan out.  We have swimmers we believe will be surprise adds to the roster.  The Swim Brief Crew are gonna tell you why we are excited about a few of the specific races, and we would love to hear from you about the races you can't wait for.

Random Omaha Predictions

If you want an exhaustive, borderline over-researched preview of Olympic Trials, you should go to Swimswam to read the previews by "Rain Man" Braden Keith. Make sure you have a whole afternoon free, maybe evening as well depending on how fast you read. Here at the Swimbrief, where attention spans fall somewhere between a gnat and an infant, we're going to provide a different, no less informed preview.

Please Don't Retire: Bob Groseth

Last week, I kicked off a feature on some coaches that I hope don't retire anytime soon. After a brief hiatus, I'm ready with another candidate: Bob Groseth. Contrary to what you might think, Coach Groseth is not retired from coaching swimming, having left his job as head coach of Northwestern Men's Swimming to serve as Executive Director of the College Swim Coaches Association for the past few years. If there's been one constant in my coaching career it's that I've always been able to rely on Bob's patient wisdom.

Ritchie MP Cummins: Have you seen the new Subway commercial?

I can't believe how awesome this new Subway commercial is!  Not just because it's Michael and his acting is getting better and he is promoting healthy eating by endorsing Subway either... it is way more awesome because Michael's super-supportive mom Debbie was in it!

Debbie Phelps should guest star in more of Michael's ads!

5 Uncommon Swimming Flaws Causing Shoulder Pain

We would like everyone to welcome our newest guest blogger, the SwimSci guy, G. John Mullen.  You can read about him on our Guest Blogger page.  He is a highly educated and established writer with credentials that might make you wonder why he wants to be associated with a blog where we write stuff about peeing in the pool and smoking to improve athletic performance. For once, you might actually get smarter when you visit our site now that he is here.  We hope you enjoy him around as an addition to the diverse offerings at The Swim Brief.   -Viking!

Everyone knows swimming puts your shoulder at risk for injury. To prevent this every coaches have bought as much elastic tubing as they can get their hands on and have had their athletes perform the most boring exercises until they have a Triple H (Hernia, Hemorrhage, Hemorrhoid, not the storied actor Paul Michael Levesque). Despite this heroin addict volume of elastic tubing, the shoulder injury rate is stagnant!


The two main areas to address for shoulder pain are biomechanics in the water and prevention/rehabilitation exercises out of the water. Coaches, swimmers, and any swim nerd wanting to demonstrate their impressive medial temporal lobe must know the essentials about shoulder injury prevention to enhance the sport.

Counterpoint: Too Big Trials? -Viking's Take.

I heard a coach the other day say that he refuses to take his athletes to the Olympic Trials.  He called it the "big lie"-- like 165 of the 170 athletes qualified in each event was being duped:  "Like they have a chance," he said.  "It's ridiculous.  We know who most of the Olympic Team is going to be before they ever hit the water.  It's all about the money."

This was out of the mouth of a coach whom I deeply respect and who has worked with athletes who have actually made the team.  I was taken back a little by this statement.  I knew that there were issues that come up with a large Trials, like the timeline and fitting in time trials, but it only seemed logical to me to make the trials a big event.  Especially when we see how the size of the crowd is so negatively affected by the athlete cap at the men's NCAA champs, it seems like a no-brainer that in swimming, even at the highest level, it is hard to fill the seats without the families of the swimmers in the meet there to watch. More swimmers does mean more tickets.  Is it bad to do what we can to fill the seats?  It's atmosphere, man!!

The Big Lie: Omaha's Too Big Trials

The Centurylink Center will feel a bit more crowded in 2012

The announcement today that USA Swimming would not be allowing time trials at the upcoming Olympic Trials meet in Omaha should come as a shock to no one. It has been plainly evident for a long time that the 2012 Trials would be a bloated behemoth of a meet. With nearly 2000 qualifiers and still another weekend of qualifying to go, the upcoming Trials meet will break all records for participation in a meet of its kind. This begs two questions: how did we get here and is that a good thing?

Please Don't Retire Soon: Mark Bernardino

One of the greatest assets I have in my life are critics. I have a great circle of friends, family and anonymous commenters who are never afraid to tell me when I'm wrong. All three have noted in the past few weeks that I've been weaving into my posts not too subtle, generalized digs at "older" coaches that should "get out of the way". I've come off like a grumpy, spoiled little kid who wants everything handed to him. The above criticism was delivered by many, but finally made its way to one of my most loyal readers: my mom. So I decided I need to shape up my act and put some of that energy into a more positive direction. What follows is going to be a series of posts about longtime coaches who I really hope don't stop coaching anytime soon. First up, the University of Virginia's Mark Bernardino.

I Beg to Disagree

Two crises erupted over the last couple days in the swimming world. First, the Wall Street Journal published a silly article bashing US Universities for "training the enemy". You only have to take two minutes to look at the Georgia Tech Swimming and Diving roster to find out how I feel about that. Around the same time, I got another reminder of the downside to swimming's popularity in Australia, after team punching bag Olympian Nick D'arcy and Kenrick Monk were castigated for putting up a facebook photo of them holding guns.

Fearless London: World Records Aplenty

Any time you can work Anders Holmertz into a post you gotta do it.

Last summer, I made random, fearless predictions about the World Championships in Shanghai. Some (ok, one) were awesome: I picked Alexander Dale Oen to win the 100 breaststroke when Kosuke Kitajima looked like the favorite. The rest were, shall we say, less than awesome. Russia to win the 400 freestyle relay? James Magnussen changed the balance of power completely for that relay and Russia finished well back in 5th. I failed to remember that there are no great Russian swim coaches actually living in Russia at the moment. In any case, I'm back with some predictions for London. Up first is a combo US Trials/London prediction: there are going to be plenty of world records.

Hanging Out with David Arluck and Mel Stewart

That's it... Chris doesn't pay enough here.  I'm switching to SwimSwam.

Last Friday our team hosted a Fitter and Faster Clinic.  I can not say enough about what an awesome experience it was for our team.  I had never met Mel Stewart or David Arluck in person but I had an idea of what to expect.  They were just a lot of fun. The clinic was a blast and the kids are still talking about it every day at practice.  We also got to see how flexible Mel really is.

Paulus Wildeboer: Four More Years (and why America should be scared)

FOUR MORE YEARS!

A week ago, it was announced that the Danish swimming federation would be keeping their National Team Coach, Paulus Wildeboer, for another Olympic cycle. He will transition into just coaching the National Training Center. The news had little traction in the US, and that's a shame. In a relatively short period of time, Denmark has surpassed the United States in swimming, and they aren't alone.

Families Not Welcome

Yesterday, I talked about the discussion for NCAA qualifying, and seem to have found more than a few people's attention. Today, I want to talk about another issue that came up in San Antonio, different but no less important. Two of the speeches given at the talk were ostensibly about coaches who had just completed meteoric rises. Both sent a clear message: if you want to do this you better go it alone (and be a man).

Fixing NCAA Qualification

One of the most vexing problems in college swimming is the NCAA qualification process. In a sport that otherwise operates on concrete time standards, this process rests on a two tiered system of cuts, alongside an algorithm that makes it impossible for all but the most dedicated to authentically determine who will make the meet. Add in a frenzy of last chance qualifiers and you have a recipe for frustration on many levels. At the CSCAA conference last week in San Antonio, Division 1 coaches sat down to try to fix the process, and failing that at least make it slightly better.

Training in Traffic

Some kids just don't care if the lane is crowded.  Weaving through traffic at full speed is an under-appreciated swimmer skill.

We have all dealt with crowded lanes and made the most of it.  I have had to rearrange the order of swimmers sometimes to keep things running smoothly sometimes.  Just this week I had to start telling my age groupers to line up in order of their 100 free time just to keep them from fighting about who leads the lane.  It is not usually a big deal until coach gets out the watch and expects some race quality splits when you know people are gonna get run over.

I had a first last night-- something I had never seen, or at least never seen this executed so well...  I just have to brag on it.  It was impressive.  We were doing a set of 8x100 on 2:00 in the yard pool, best stroke (non-free) and I expected them to hold a pace that was in what we call "zone 3" which is calculated by taking half of their 200 time and adding 4-7 seconds to it.  It gets them right around VO2 max.  I let the kids take #7 easy so I could see how close they could get to race pace on #8.  This set is pretty typical for us although this was very short for this kind of set.

Great Assistant Coaches: Jesup Szatkowski and Jenn Verser

Among collegeswimming.com's list of Assistant Coaches of the Year, most honorees represent programs that have been consistently good (or great) for some time now. The biggest break from that mold is Dawn Kane, assistant coach at Duke University. It's hard to remember now, the way Duke competes, that there was a time that they lagged behind their ACC brethren the way Boston College does now. This is the type of coaching that really impresses me: stepping into a hopeless situation and injecting some hope. That is also why I feel that two coaches, Jesup Szatkowski and Jenn Verser, have been sorely overlooked.

Great Assistant Coaches: Gary Taylor

Gary, you seriously need a bigger picture bro.

We're only two entries deep into my "Great Assistant Coaches" series and I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that this will only be a list of coaches I've run into on a regular basis through my league affiliations. If you do, you're absolutely right. I can only write about what I know, and I know for sure that Gary Taylor is a great coach.