« Plagiarism | Main | Plagiarism 2: The Response »

March 23, 2006

Comments

I get goosebumps at the HS meets when someone edges out the competition a hundredth or two. But this? More than a second? Pretty staggering. Awesome.

"If this doesn't give you goosebumps nothing in swimming ever will."

Whaddya mean? My German grandfather throwing me, at 4 years of age, off the side of the pool into the deep end, and later the Austrian officer (complete with accent) at the military academy barking insults at me the 13 year old on that cold day of swimming the required mile in the freezing lake with white caps, and my wife the scuba diver forcing me to snorkel in the fifty feet of swift current off the coast of Mexico (O.K., that wasn't so bad) has given my goosebumps ... goosebumps.

As in terror. I can hardly float with the 30 extra pounds of goosebumps. If it wasn't for all those grizzly bears on land, I'd never go in the water.

Actually, John, that all explains a great deal about you. And I say that with an enormous grin on my face.

Thullen's remarks remind me of a story that was on TV (CNN international?) where they were getting kids in Australia to swim faster by having them start and they releasing a juvenile croc. In trying to find the story, I found this humorous one and this not so humorous. Ahh, those Aussies.

"If this doesn't give you goosebumps, nothing in swimming ever will."

Clearly, you have different fantasies than I do.

1:31.20 Simply amazing!

"If this doesn't give you goosebumps, nothing in swimming ever will."

Ah yes, the goosebumps, the shakes, the turning blue, the nausea and headaches.

Hope my kids get my wife's swimming genes.

Yeah, that is simply outstanding. What will is talking about is Simon Burnett's obliteration of the NCAA record in the 200 free, by 1.02 seconds. Also wiped Matt Biondi's 19-year-old meet record from the books.

BTW Ryan Lochte did in fact break Tom Dolan's 11-year-old 400 IM record tonight, if only by three hundredths of a second.

Oh, and Lochte's leadoff time in the 800 free relay would have placed him third in the 200 free. I've got a lot of admiration for the guy, it appears.

What's baffling is the meet results have Arizona's 800 free relay posted as an American record, which is not possible considering that at least two of the four members of the relay are not American.

Hmmm...I guess there's a Simon Burnett fan or two over at Wikipedia. Hardly any other swimmers that I searched for had photos like this one.

That's... holy crap, that's... I mean, really. Wow.

American records vs. World records. I think it depends if the team competes under the aegis of an American entity. So even if the team had all four members as non-American, it would still be an American record.

American records vs. World records. I think it depends if the team competes under the aegis of an American entity. So even if the team had all four members as non-American, it would still be an American record.

That'd be a viable theory if there were one single holder of any American record, relay or otherwise, that was not a US citizen.

Wait a bit and see if Arizona's relay records stand as American records; I'd bet cash that they don't. They bested the American record, but they won't get recorded that way.

That'd be a viable theory if there were one single holder of any American record, relay or otherwise, that was not a US citizen.

But wouldn't that unfairly penalize the two Americans on the team? Also, since naturalization is possible, does that mean that when someone who holds world records becomes an American citizen, they are automatically awarded the American records?

I also suspect that each governing body might have slightly different rules for covering this. All of the examples I found were from track and field, so I'm just guessing.

But wouldn't that unfairly penalize the two Americans on the team?

No, not if the rule were clear to begin with.

Here's a few examples:

The current NCAA record for the 200 medley relay is held by the University of California. The American record is held by Stanford; the time is slower than the NCAA record. Auburn, in the finals, recorded a time faster than the American record but were not awarded the American record because Cesar Cielo, a member of the relay team, is a citizen of Brazil, and because George Bovell, another member, is a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. If the team had broken the NCAA record, they'd have justly been awarded it until someone else beat that time.

The current NCAA record in the 100 free is held by Duje Draganja, a citizen of Croatia, while the American record is held by Anthony Ervin at a slightly slower time.

Australia holds the World and US Open records (same time, same day) for the women's 400 meter medley relay, while the American record is held by a relay team composed of Americans only.

US Open requires, apparently, that the record be set inside of the US, but there's no restrictions on who sets the record.

Here's the rules book for this year; although the relay rule isn't explicitly stated, the American record rule is: (p49)"May be established only by United States citizens eligible to compete under and achieving an official time in accordance with USA Swimming rules."

The comments to this entry are closed.