In these 2008 Olympics world records (WR) in swimming have been dropping like drunks at 4 A.M. 25 WRs have been broken at these Olympics. That is the most since the 1976 Montreal Olympics in which it is now known lots of doping was taking place. Anyone remember the German women's team? If this were to happen in baseball, the home run record, stolen base record, RBI record, base hits record, strike out record, no hitter record, and shut out record would all be broken in the same year, by the same guy.
If this were to happen, they would probably publicly hang the offender outside of Yankee stadium. After all he would have to be using performance enhancing substances. Swimmers however, all apparently attend the same Sunday School classes together. They just went out and trained really hard, and their hard work payed off. By the way I have some land for sale......
First off, the media has blown the entire performance enhancing substance issue out of the water. For one thing, it is very debatable how much these substances can actually enhance performance. Secondly, as someone who has spent the better part of their life around athletes and coaches, I can authoritatively say that there is not one athlete in all of major league baseball that with proper diet and training, and without illegal substances could not improve their performance. However many have taken "performance enhancing substances" it has been in vain because they have not even utilized the effects of these substances to improve their performance to the degree in which they could have rather easily obtained with mere diet and exercise without said substances.
Baseball players are out of shape, most are fatter than they should be, few are as fast as they should be, and what conditioning they do perform is poor. Baseball coaches and strength coaches do as bad a job as any in any sport at preparing their athletes for the field. Therefore, when you have athletes that out of shape, performance enhancing substances are a mute point because they cannot help them reach beyond their natural potential, until they reach their natural potential.
Another misconception about performance enhancing substances is that it is mainly strength and power sports that benefit from them. This is incorrect. For years the biggest chemistry experiment on earth was a little event called the Tour de France. Five years ago the media would have called such an allegation ridiculous. Now we find out the only guy in the entire race that was clean was the guy that finished last in last year's race and he's still pedaling. What the media fails to realize, or is afraid to admit however is that of all exercise related research, 80% of it is performed on aerobic athletes and events such as running (not sprinting), cycling, and swimming. In addition, these are some of the dirtiest sports in terms of drug use. In Barcelona and Sydney there were even reports of swimmers injecting their glutes with helium in order to stay as high as possible in the water. Even Dara Torres' coach stated that the sport would never be compeltely clean.
Therefore, I propose that if we're going to write off a guy like Barry Bonds as a cheat, despite the fact that he has never tested positive for a banned substance, because he simply excelled, then we should likewise write these WRs off of the books for these Olympics.
However, as certain as I am that there were some swimmers in these Olympics that are on performance enhancing substances, I do not think they have made one bit of difference.
The "Cube" in Beijing is where all of the hoopla over Michael Phelps et. al. has taken place. There are two glaring reasons why records have been falling. The first is the pool in the Cube. It is 3m deep as opposed to 2m, and it is 10 lanes wide as opposed to 8 as pools in past Olympics have been. What difference does that make? The extra depth and width of the pool creates more space for water displacement. Greater displacement creates less drag on the swimmers body as it moves through the water.
On top of the Cube's affects....there are these super suits that the swimmers are wearing. These suits were first introduced just prior to the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Several teams complained because they did not have access to the suits, and that they created an unfair advantage. Well, they are all wearing them now, and 3 and 4 teams or swimmers at a time are beating WR times. There is only one WR that is older than the 2000 Olympics. Some records set in these Olympics have stood for less than 5 minutes. 14 times in 8 events, world records were broken by athletes or teams in an event who did not even win the event!
I am all for the saying that records are meant to be broken, but come on. I can win the triple crown in horse racing if they let me drive my Jeep.
Therefore, not to take away from the hard work and dedication of Michael Phelps or other swimmers, but I cannot see him as the greatest Olympian or Athlete of all time. He's good at what he does, and he has reaped the benefit of the best technology available, but unless the playing field was leveled for past athletes, I cannot acknowledge him as being anything other than a dedicated hard working swimmer who was very good, and carried himself in a way that was very respectful of himself, his family, and his country.
By the way....just to get back to the drug subject.... It will likely never come to light due to the ATP, but professional tennis is the dirtiest sport in the world when it comes to the use and abuse of performance enhancing drugs. It may never come to light, but it is. Sorry tennis fans.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
Great post. The amount of Records in swimming was outrageous. I can see where the pool is the contributing factor. I'm thinking that future Olympic pools will start to get larger. Bigger and Better. Seems the trend.
That is so stupid.
I'm a swimmer, from NZ, and I knew swimmers that went to the Olympics. They were not on performance enhancing drugs, and I seriuosly doubt any others were.
They work hard! All swimmers do. Even from the age of 12 some swimmers are doing around 12 hours a week.
Maybe you should try it.
Perhaps you should read the entire blog. I didn't say that all swimmers use performance enhancing drugs, including Hayley from New Zealand and all of her swimming friends.
However, at that level drugs are used by some athletes. I never said, all, or even most....but if you think that no athletes were using performance enhancing substances, than I am sorry, but you are simply naive.
Clenbuterol is very popular among swimmers. Jessica Hardy, an American swimmer tested positive during the Olympic trials, and was prevented from going to Beijing. That's shows that athletes at that level, in swimming do indeed use performance enhancing substances.
And as someone who has a significant background in the strength and conditioning industry, I am well aware of the hard work that swimmer put forth. I never questioned that. They are of the most dedicated of athletes.
However, their training 12 hours a day, while well documented is counterproductive. Swimming is ahead of the curve from a technological stand point and have fallen way behind from a physiological standpoint. The training of swimmers is quite antiquated and ignorant. Swimmers should get a clue from Dara Torres. She's 41 years old and competing with the best in the world.
What other sport that requires serious athletic ability is that possible? None! The reason she is able to compete, is that a big portion of her training after the birth of her child involved weight training. Earlier in her career she trained ignorantly like traditional swimmers. Upon training for her comeback she trained extensively with weights and that allowed her to compete with the world's elite.
I know that more swimmers use weights now days, but their programs are poor and don't involve the best resistance training methods.
Again, you obviously didn't read or comprehend the entire blog, as I didn't criticize swimmers, or even the sport. I simply gave some relevant facts about each. If facts offend you, then you are reading the wrong blog, as it is titled the TRUTH blog for a reason.
Post a Comment