Swimming World Biweekly: What Now? by Swimming World Magazine

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SWIMMING WORLD BIWEEKLY | APRIL 2020 | ISSUE # 7 008 IOC CONFIRMS TOKYO 2020 WILL START ON JULY 23, 2021 by Liz Byrnes The Olympic Games were scheduled to start on July 24, 2020, but the relentless march of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced the IOC to postpone the Games for the first time in their history. Tokyo 2020 will now take place from July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021. 009 GERMAN SWIM FEDERATION JOINS CANADA IN URGING FINA TO HOLD 2021 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 2022 by Craig Lord The German Swim Federation has joined Swimming Canada in urging FINA to shunt the 2021 World Swimming Championships into 2022 to take account of the new dates for the Olympic Games due to the coronavirus pandemic. Worlds are currently scheduled for Fukuoka, Japan from July 16 to Aug. 1, but the Tokyo Olympics will now be staged from July 23 to Aug. 8. 010 SWIMMERS PREPARE FOR CHALLENGES OF OLYMPIC POSTPONEMENT by Andy Ross The postponement of the Olympic Games first brought a sigh of relief for athletes and coaches everywhere, but with the Games being pushed to 2021, that changes so many things for athletes around the world. 014 THE TOKYO POSTPONEMENT IN PERSPECTIVE: WHAT HAS (AND HASN’T) STOPPED THE OLYMPICS by Matthew De George The Olympic Movement has weathered boycotts and World Wars. It has navigated such international catastrophes as apartheid and the Nazi regime, plus dozens of civil wars and the full gamut of conflicts and chaos. The COVID-19 outbreak’s ability to knock the Olympics out of commission until 2021 is a testament to the virus’ threat to humanity and the gravity of the public-health situation across the globe. 016 MONA McSHARRY: IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT RAINBOWS AND SUNSHINE ON THE DAY IRISH OLYMPIC TRIALS WERE DUE TO START by Liz Byrnes

022 THE MOSCOW BOYCOTT: A TOXIC MIX OF SPORTS AND POLITICS PROVED COSTLY FOR HARD-WORKING ATHLETES by John Lohn Years of hard work went unfulfilled. Dreams turned into nightmares. Sadness and anger abounded. The repercussions of the United States’ decision to boycott the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow were severe. Here is the story on the Moscow boycott, including comments from athletes who were impacted by the decision.

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026 RAY LOOZE DISHES ON DIFFICULTIES OF COACHING FROM HOME, DENIES RUMORS OF MOVE TO USC by Andy Ross Indiana head coach Ray Looze has had difficulties processing the coronavirus pandemic that has caused normal life to be turned upside down. Looze and his Indiana team lost a chance to compete at NCAAs, and he has had to resort to coaching from home while trying to prepare his swimmers for an Olympic Games that is now another 400-plus days away. But he has put a positive spin on it.

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030 KIERAN SMITH HOPES STELLAR SOPHOMORE YEAR IS JUST THE BEGINNING by Andy Ross Kieran Smith’s breakout sophomore year at the University of Florida is a sign of bigger things to come for the Ridgefield, Conn. native. 034 HOW THEY TRAIN LUKE PAXTON AND OWEN TAYLOR by Michael J. Stott

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035 FINA URGED TO HAND NORTHERN WINTER TO ISL AND “USE CORONAVIRUS” STORM TO REINVENT SWIMMING by Craig Lord FINA, the international federation, is under pressure from its major stakeholders, swimmers and coaches to embrace a major overhaul of the sport of swimming. 039 PARTING SHOT

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018 GRANT HACKETT SAYS TOKYO 2021 WILL PROVIDE INSPIRATION TO THE WORLD JUST WHEN IT NEEDS IT by Ian Hanson

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020 “PRIORITIZE THE OLYMPICS, THE ONLY COMPETITION THAT MATTERS,” SAYS SWIM ELDER SWEETENHAM by Ian Hanson Australia’s Bill Sweetenham, one of the elders of world swimming, has urged coaches and swimmers to “prioritize the Olympics first and foremost” now that the dates of Tokyo 2020 have been rescheduled for 2021, “as historically, no one recognizes or remembers any other result or competition.”

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INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENTS Americas: Matthew De George (USA) Africa: Chaker Belhadj (TUN) Australia: Wayne Goldsmith, Ian Hanson Europe: Norbert Agh (HUN), Liz Byrnes (GBR), Camillo Cametti (ITA), Oene Rusticus (NED), Rokur Jakupsstovu (FAR) Japan: Hideki Mochizuki Middle East: Baruch “Buky” Chass, Ph.D. (ISR) South Africa: Neville Smith (RSA) South America: Jorge Aguado (ARG)

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On the Cover: Grant House Photo by Peter H. Bick

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1 IOC CONFIRMS TOKYO 2020 WILL START ON JULY 23, 2021 by Liz Byrnes

he International Olympic Committee has announced that Tokyo 2020 will take place from July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021.

The Olympic Games were scheduled to start on July 24, 2020 but the relentless march of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic meant they were postponed last week for the first time in their history. The IOC said they would take place no later than summer 2021 and there had been some talk of a spring Games but confirmation came on Monday with the dates of the Paralympic Games also announced as running from August 24 until September 5, 2021. It does though beg the question of when the World Championships, due to take place in Fukuoka, Japan from July 16 to August 1, 2021 will go ahead with reports in Australia claiming they will run from mid-August 2021 although no official decision is expected until next month. Governing body FINA released a statement saying they were working with the Fukuoka organisers on a revision of those dates. The confirmation came following a teleconference on Monday involving IOC President Thomas Bach, Tokyo 2020 President Mori Yoshirō, Tokyo governor Koike Yuriko and Olympic and Paralympic Minister Hashimoto Seiko. The IOC said the decision was taken with three main considerations being taken into account: “To protect the health of the athletes and everyone involved and to support the containment of the COVID-19 virus. 8

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“To safeguard the interests of the athletes and of Olympic sport. “The global international sports calendar.” The IOC also noted that a July 23 start to the Games would give the health authorities as much time as possible to deal with the coronavirus and its ensuing chaos across the world. “Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel. These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel.” Pertinent given the observations of Kosuke Kitajima, the four-time Olympic champion and Tokyo resident, last week when he told Swimming World: “I am still a little bit sceptical as to whether people in Tokyo really understand about this virus – especially in the light of globally what is happening overseas and the trend there. I understand when people say it’s not time right now for sport. “Because it is something we ourselves are not familiar with, we don’t know people who have contracted the virus. “It still feels like something far off to us. In other words, we are not feeling the real urgency or the desperation ahead.” There was also confirmation that athletes that had already qualified for Tokyo 2020 will retain their spots while quota places will be unaffected as Tokyo will remain the Games of the XXXII Olympiad. ◀

[ PHOTO COURTESY: BECCA WYANT]

>> Florian Wellbrock

German Swim Federation Joins Canada In Urging FINA To Hold 2021 World Championships in 2022 by Craig Lord

in the Olympic year would have the resonance it normally enjoys.”

The global swimming showcase was scheduled for Fukuoka, Japan, from July 16 to August 1, 2021 but the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will now be staged from July 23-August 8.

FINA has indicated that it has two options on the table: September-October 2021 and or a move to May 2022 and Cherry Blossom season in Fukuoka. The international federation had indicated to federations that it might favour moving the Fukuoka event just the other side of the Games next year.

he German Swim Federation (DSV) has joined Swimming Canada in urging FINA, the international federation, to shunt the 2021 World Swimming Championships into 2022 to take account of the move of dates for the Olympic Games due to the coronavirus pandemic.

After Swimming Canada led the way in calling for FINA to shift its big events to 2022, Germany became the first European nation to follow through and reflect the growing view among stakeholders, that a pragmatic approach to the issues of a cluttered competition calendar would be in the best interests of athletes and the economies that support them. Thomas Kurschilgen, performance director at the DSV, revealed the organisation’s stance when he told reporter Christoph Becker at the Frankfurter Allgemeine (F.A.Z.): “We consider staging two absolute highlights on a global scale in one year as a challenge that [the sport] would struggle to cope with. Beyond the additional stress of peak performance for the athletes, the economic stresses that would be placed on national associations would further strain the federal budget and that needs to be taken into account. “It is also important to ask whether a World Championships

Like Canada, Germany was among nations that called for the International Olympic Committee to move the Olympic Games to 2021. As Swimming World has noted elsewhere, for a distance freestyle swimmer such as double World champion Florian Wellbrock, of Germany, holding the World Championships soon after the Olympic Games would mean: Week 1: 800, 1500m free debut at the Olympic Games Week 2: Olympic marathon debut Week 3/4: World 10km (marathon) title defence Week 4/5: 800m and defence of World 1500m title Moving to September-October would, as Germany notes, involve travelling with full teams in all disciplines to and. from Japan twice in the first year after what is expected to be an economic recession due to the coronavirus pandemic. ◀ BIWEEKLY

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>> Grant House

Swimmers Prepare for Challenges of Olympic Postponement by Andy Ross | photos by Peter H. Bick

he coronavirus pandemic had caused the world to go into a frenzy the last few weeks. Athletic events were being cancelled left and right. Facilities were closing down. Sports, what was once a form of escape during times of panic like these, was suddenly completely wiped away from our lives in a matter of what felt like the blink of an eye. With roughly four months still to go to the Olympic Games, the coronavirus pandemic could not have come at a worse time. Athletes everywhere were struggling to find places to train. Gym equipment became nearly impossible to get their hands on. While in the United States, the NBA, NHL, March Madness, and spring sports seasons all came to a screeching halt, the Olympic Games were still set for a July start date. With Olympic Trials season right around the corner for many and a large percentage of the world’s athletes quarantined to their homes, training was not a feasible option. The International Olympic Committee had insisted that the Games would go on as scheduled and the COVID-19 pandemic would not be any reason to cancel or postpone the Games. Only three times in history have the modern Olympic Games been cancelled. The 1916, 1940 and 1944 Games were cancelled because of world wars, but no Games had ever been postponed. No matter what decision the IOC would come to, it would have been a historical one. So on Tuesday March 24 when the IOC officially announced that the Olympic Games for Tokyo would be pushed back another year to 2021 to ensure safety and fairness for all

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involved, it was a huge sigh of relief for athletes and coaches everywhere. “It was really really stressful trying to find training time and trying to get pool space with no pools open but after the news dropped, the dire need for water time has gone down significantly,” said USA national team member Erica Sullivan. “Now I am just trying to focus on dryland and a good weight regimen that I can do in my own house so I can stay safe.” But with the Games being pushed to 2021, that changes so many things for athletes around the world. 2020 had a nice ring to it and it rolled off the tongue. Not to mention the symmetry in numbers made the logo a catchy one. 2021 does not have that same effect. For some, 2020 was supposed to be the end of a long road with their respective club teams before they head off to college this fall. 18-year-old Carson Foster, who is a favorite at the Olympic Trials in both IM races as well as the 200 freestyle, graduated from high school early to fully focus on swimming before heading to Trials this summer, and eventually the University of Texas in the fall. Not being able to finish out with his club team, the Mason Manta Rays and head coach Ken Heis, is a bummer, but he still plans on heading down to Austin to join his brother Jake and the talented group with Eddie Reese and Wyatt Collins.

“Obviously that has crossed my mind and I’m sure it has crossed every person who is a senior in high school and in contention,” Foster said. “Changing up training is obviously not what you want to do before an Olympic year but I am confident that a year down at Texas is only going to make me better and I’m not worried about it. “I am sad to have to leave Mason behind next year. I know that was something Ken (Heis) and I were really excited about to try and make a push for the Olympic team as a club swimmer and especially do it for the city of Mason because of all of the stuff they have provided for me and all the ways they have helped our team.”

>> Carson Foster

“I’m bummed about that but I have 100% confidence in Eddie and Wyatt and that team and training environment so the plan as of now unless something drastic happens, I will still be heading down to Texas next fall.” For Erica Sullivan, 2020 was supposed to be her shot to make an Olympic team before she headed to the University of Southern California in the fall. Sullivan graduated high school in 2018 but deferred her enrollment so she could continue to train under coach Ron Aitken to try and make a spot on the Olympic team for open water. The qualification for the 10K starts a year in advance, so she stayed an extra year to try and earn a spot at the 2019 Nationals. She fell a spot short in finishing third at nationals. But she has emerged as a favorite in the pool 1500, where she still has a great shot to finish second at Trials behind Katie Ledecky. But it gets trickier for Sullivan. When she committed to USC and decided to defer her enrollment, the original plan was to join head coach Dave Salo in the fall after the Games. But Salo has since stepped down as coach of the undergrad team, and the next head coach is still not known. If she defers her enrollment another year, she would be a 21-year-old freshman. “I still don’t know who my coach is yet so I don’t want to make any decisions before I have to,” Sullivan said. “I think we are just going to wait until we get news from USC and sit down with my family and with Ron and whoever the new coach is and make some decisions from there.” For Arizona State’s Grant House, he took an Olympic redshirt this year to be a full-time swimmer and not have the stress of class weighing over him while he chases his dream with coach Bob Bowman. House was set to begin his junior year this fall no matter what happened at the Olympic Trials whether he made the team or not. He was a contender in the 200 freestyle and will still be among the mix for 2021. But this is an unprecedented time, and it is not know at the moment what will be made of

Olympic redshirts. “I can’t even imagine. If they’re not going to give the winter sport athletes back a year right now, then I doubt someone with an Olympic redshirt will fall under that or if there was any room for consideration,” House said. “As of right now, it looks like I will be back in school and training but we will see how that develops. Maybe if winter sport athletes get a year back, I wouldn’t be opposed to another redshirt year but obviously there are circumstances with eligibility, academics that also need to be taken into consideration.” House and Foster grew up together in Ohio, and still check in daily to keep up with each other. They have both tried to stay as positive as possible during this time. “Luckily there is postponement,” House said. “Ultimately I can’t control when they decided to postpone them to or if they were going to have it or not. What I can control is my preparation. The week before and the morning of, I was still preparing for Trials to be in June and for the Olympics to be in July. But now we are just going to prepare for it to be a year away and getting ready as we can. Now it is just a longer time to prepare and get ready for game time.” Every athlete will react to the year-long postponement differently. Most have been positive thus far. 35-year-old Ryan Lochte is chasing his fifth Olympic berth, which would make him just the third American swimmer to do so. He wanted to view the year-long postponement in a positive light. “I get to have another year of training and another year of getting better,” Lochte told Swimming World. “Working on my technique and getting stronger in and out of the water. I think I’m going to become an even better and faster swimmer than I am right now.” His long-time rival Michael Phelps is retired, but still took notice of the postponement. In an interview with NBC Sports’ Tim Layden, he went over how he would have reacted to a CONTINUED >>

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fall after the Olympic Trials and had set her mind on retiring after the summer. But like Schmitt, she has to make a major decision: chase her athletics dream and delay med school, or cancel her Olympic dream and pursue her degree. Cox still has not decided on where she will attend med school, and then a decision will have to be made to see if she can defer her enrollment so she can still go for the Olympics.

>> Erica Sullivan postponement if it occurred in each of his last three trips to the Games: 2008 (Beijing, where Phelps won a record eight gold medals): “I was totally locked and loaded,” he said, “But I had broken my wrist six months before the Trials and I was still getting better, I would love to have had another year.” 2012 (London, where Phelps was undertrained, disinterested and careening toward the crash that would come two years later, still won four golds and two silvers): “If the Olympics had been moved to 2013, I would have straight punted,” said Phelps. “I would not have shown up. That was the mental state I was in. I was mailing everything in, anyway, and I couldn’t have done that for another year.” 2016 (Rio, where Phelps closed out with those five golds and one silver, a triumphant finish to his career): “I would not have given up,’’ said Phelps. “No way in hell. I wanted to finish something that I hadn’t finished right. I don’t know what it would have looked like with a year off, if those games were postponed, but I would have found a way. The climb back to the top of that mountain was the best time I had I my career.” Phelps’ good friend Allison Schmitt is still swimming, and aiming for a fourth Olympic berth in Tokyo at the age of 29. She is training at Arizona State alongside House and coach Bowman. According to The New York Times, she put off her Master’s degree in social work at Arizona State after spending the 2019 spring semester completing internships, which she thinks the stress caused her to poor under her expectations at the World Championships. With the Olympics being pushed back a year, she is left in a bind. Does she put off her degree for another 12 months? Or try and juggle studies and training? It is worthy of noting that Schmitt’s best year of her career, 2012, was while she was taking a year off of school at the University of Georgia. Again this is an unprecedented time, and the answer is not certain what will happen in regards to deferred enrollments, For Madisyn Cox, she was set to start medical school in the 12

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“There are a few moving pieces that factor into whether I will be able to do so or not,” Cox said. “The first being the dates of both the Games as well as the start dates of medical schools I am still looking at. Another piece of it being which medical school I actually end up going to and if they will let me defer a year so that I can train. Like I said, I’m going to try my best to work it out so that I can swim.” US national team member Zane Grothe, who is a month away from his 28th birthday, will be chasing his first Olympic team spot in Tokyo next summer. As for his post-swimming plans, he ensured he was still going to swim past 2020 so this doesn’t change anything for him. “I’ve been a swimmer a long time now. What is one more year?” Grothe said. “As far as current training goes, I will have to get crafty. Indiana is currently on lockdown for two weeks. I’ve already been out of the water a week, too. I don’t mind taking a break from swimming but I’d really not like to be out of the water for more than a month. I’ll be doing calisthenics, yoga, abs, body weight circuits, and running to stay in shape the best I can. 2012 Australian Olympian Tommaso D’Orsogna, now a Western Australia Swimming Board Member, wrote a letter to his WA Olympic aspirants: “You face a new challenge now, on an unprecedented scale,” wrote D’Orsogna. “Extraordinary challenges can produce extraordinary results, but they require extraordinary strength and determination. Those that face this challenge with optimism, with innovation and creativity, will come out stronger than any single season of training could possibly make them. “Some will falter and give up, they will blame the situation, but success was never meant for them. Others will thrive, they will grow and steer themselves. To them, this is not a challenge, but an opportunity to prove themselves, to show they have what it takes to succeed – To be the best. “So, who will you be? The choice is yours and yours alone. Keep training, keep improving, keep pushing. Keep going.” There are positives and negatives to the postponement. “Most of my friends that I have met through swimming are closer to my age,” Foster said. “Fortunately for us another year will probably benefit us more than hurt us. We are lucky we are only 18, 19, 20 years old and we will continue to get better with age and keep getting stronger. I think we are lucky

in this situation.” Even though mostly everyone is quarantined in their own homes during the pandemic, many have kept in touch with their peers. “I’ve been checking in with Ashley (Twichell) the most,” said Sullivan. “At times like this, the most you can do is look back on memories and think back to something that made you laugh. Ashley and I were talking about how a year ago we were sitting in our room at Yeosu at Worlds, talking about the Olympic team in the next year and if only we knew all this back then.”

“But obviously everyone is in the same boat, I wasn’t the only one swimming well this summer. It’s motivation to keep working for another year. It feels far away now but it’s only a year out. It’s not that far away.” House, who is still in Tempe, had a lot of his ASU teammates go home while campus was shut down. He is able to train with the postgrad group which includes Schmitt, Worlds medalist Hali Flickinger and Arizona grads Giles Smith and Brad Tandy, and has taken on the role as ‘little brother’ with the postgrads.

Twichell, who will be 32 by the time the Tokyo Olympics finally come around, is already on the team for Tokyo by virtue of her top ten finish at the 2019 Worlds in the 10K. It is highly unlikely she will give up her dream when she has already qualified. But one more year is a long time to wait for someone with a grueling training schedule like her.

“They treat me like an equal which is very appreciated and respect goes around with all of us as well,” House said. “But it’s been nice to have to be around my peers reacting to this situation and it has kept me more calm and levelheaded. Having all that experience around me – it’s helped me immensely.”

The same goes for Grothe, who will be 29 by the time the 2021 Trials will roll around. But he has reaped the benefits of leaning on his friends in swimming who have been dealt the same cards.

These are just a few stories that have been affected by the Olympic postponement. The disruption to a four-year plan that had been set in stone can be a detriment to some and a benefit to others.

“The swimming community is an amazing group and we will all be coming together (not physically #socialdistancing) to help each other out,” Grothe said. “I’m ready for this adventure and for doing my part for our country to heal.”

“It’s going to be interesting,” Sullivan said. “It’ll definitely show who is the most resilient in the next year. I’m excited to see what the team is going to end up being.”

Foster still keeps in touch with members of the World Juniors team from last summer like Luca Urlando, who he had been training with a lot this year. Foster, Urlando and Regan Smith were all Olympic hopefuls that will be starting at their respective colleges in the fall. Foster will be at Texas under Eddie Reese. Urlando will be at Georgia under Jack Bauerle. Smith will be at Stanford under Olympic head coach Greg Meehan.

Everyone will react differently, but it will be rewarding for all of us when we finally get to Tokyo 2021 after a five-year wait. ◀

Their seemingly perfect plan of going to college and starting a new Olympic cycle under a new coach has been disrupted, and they have kept in touch with each other during this crazy time to have each other’s backs. “I think ever since January, I have been really hitting my stride in training,” Foster said. “I haven’t rested at any meet this year since US Open so I was looking forward to showing my cards at the end of the summer at Trials and I felt really good where I was at and what my chances were. BIWEEKLY

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by Matthew De George

ews of an Olympic postponement rippled across the world, not just for its symbolism in the coronavirus pandemic but for its sheer unprecedented nature. The Olympic Movement has weathered boycotts and world wars. It has navigated (often unsuccessfully but still without pause) such international catastrophes as Apartheid and the Nazi regime, plus dozens of civil wars and the full gamut of conflicts and chaos. The COVID-19 outbreak’s ability to knock the Olympics out of commission until 2021 is a testament to the virus’s threat to humanity and the gravity of the public-health situation across the globe. It’s only the fourth time in 14 decades of the modern Olympics that the Games have been postponed or cancelled. It’s notable to look at not just what has caused Olympic postponements before, but what massive events haven’t moved the Games in the way that coronavirus has, to appreciate the enormity of the moment. THE CANCELLATIONS: 1916, 1940, 1944 The 2020 Tokyo Games falls in line with these three for the ignominy of not going on as scheduled. This installment stands alone for, 1) not requiring a World War, and 2) having the possibility of continuing at a later date. But the IOC’s pattern of handling such decisions remains applicable. The 1916 Games were supposed to be held in Berlin, but the outbreak of World War I made that impossible. There were mooted discussions in 1915 about moving the Games to the United States, which didn’t enter the war until April 1917. Even then, the notion of nations engaged in war with each other competing together was far-fetched, and the overwhelming majority of Olympic nations and power was housed on a European continent riven by war. All Olympic meetings were suspended from 1915-18, making the 1916 cancellation little more than a formality. The 1940 Games present a prescient parallel to the IOC operations of the present. Despite Europe again exploding into war, the Games were officially on until April 1940, what 14

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the Associated Press then called, “a football for the world’s war lords for three years.” The decision to cancel was shockingly delayed in retrospect. The 1940 Games were awarded in 1936 to Japan. They were touted as the first Eastern Olympics, but there was immediate buyer’s remorse after seeing how the Nazi regime politicized the 1936 Berlin Games and the increasing imperialism of Japan, which invaded China in 1937. By the following summer, citing a scarcity of resources in a war effort, a growing movement to boycott the Games from the West and a retraction from the global stage, Japan relinquished the Games. Hosting duties went to Helsinki. But when Germany invaded Poland and the Soviet Union invaded Finland in the fall of 1939, those Games were doomed to become a Missing Olympics. (There’s an interesting theory about a 40-year curse in the Olympics, from the 1940 Tokyo Games to the 1980 Moscow Games that the U.S. and many western nations boycotted to the 2020 Tokyo Games. Buckle up for the 2060 Mars Games?) The IOC, though, continued to try to operate as normal. In 1939, it awarded the 1944 Games to London. Such was the ensuing battle and cost of lives to all of Europe that a 1944 cancellation hardly needed to be announced. THE GAMES THAT WENT ON: 1968, 1972 AND 1996 Many Olympic watchers waited weeks to see how the IOC would react to coronavirus. And compared to historical perspectives, this year’s actions to postpone were relatively swift and decisive. Often in face of past crises, the IOC has opted to barrel forward. The biggest black eye for the Olympic Movement since World War II, even more than Cold War boycotts of 1980 and 1984, was the 1972 Munich terrorist attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. Orchestrated by the Black

[ PHOTO COURTESY: ROB SCHUMACHER-USA TODAY SPORTS ]

The Tokyo Postponement in Perspective: What Has (and Hasn’t) Stopped the Olympics

September Organization, a Palestinian terrorist group, the attack also killed a West German police officer and left five terrorists dead. It delayed the Olympics for about a day, and even that was deemed monumental. Events continued even as the standoff with the terrorists, who had broken into the Olympic village to capture hostages, raged. The attack began in the wee hours of Sept. 5. By the evening of Sept. 6, after 80,000 people gathered in the Olympic Stadium for a public mourning, the Games continued, as decreed by Avery Brundage, the 84-year-old outgoing IOC president. “The Olympic peace was broken by a murderous attack by criminal terrorists,” read an IOC statement. “The entire civilized world condemns this barbaric act with disgust.” What remained of the second week of competition was diminished. Mark Spitz, who’d won seven gold medals in the Games’ first week, fled Germany, fearing that his Jewish heritage would make him a target. Members of the Norwegian and Dutch delegations withdrew from the Games, as did the entire Egyptian and Syrian squads. Terrorism blighted the 1996 Games in Atlanta with the bombing at Centennial Olympic Park. A pipe bomb went off just after 1 a.m. outside a concert venue July 27, killing one person and injuring more than 100 (a cameraman also died of a heart attack on the scene). mike-burton The bombing was condemned in the harshest of terms by American president Bill Clinton, realizing the country’s fears in what was called, “the largest peacetime security operation for a public event in American history.” But after consultation with his cabinet and Congress, the Games continued with minimal interruptions.

in Continuing Student Clashes The student demonstrations came to a head Oct. 4, a story that warranted Page 1 treatment by the Times: “Deaths Put at 49 in Mexican Clash; 500 wounded after troops fire on students at rally – 1,500 taken prisoner.” What was then known as La Noche Triste (the Night of Sorrows) involved hundreds of students being fired upon by soldiers in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. No official death toll has ever been tallied from the Tlatelolco Massacre. It was the culmination of a summer of protests by students, leading to skirmishes with police and the government seizing arms. Here’s the way the New York Times, in a stunning series of rhetorical hairpin bends, navigated it: “The atmosphere has grown particularly threatening since Wednesday night, when the conflict again exploded into a violent gun battle in which at least 30 people were killed. But despite the tension, the Olympics still seem to have the wholehearted support of most people, and visitors will find them friendly and eager to please. And most of the city looks festive, even if some of its citizens do not feel festive, and some of its sections still show the signs of battle.” The IOC, though, never wavered on its commitment to Mexico City. Like the 1940 Games, this was seen as a pioneering one, the first Olympics in the global south. So Brundage brushed the ideas off as “student manifestations,” even as the death toll climbed. In 2020, it’s taken the IOC weeks to weigh its decision, trying to balance the billions of investment from Tokyo in the Games with the needs of athletes and spectators the world over. But in ignoring its original four-week timeline and deciding more quickly, the IOC of today may end up in better standing than its predecessors. ◀

Both of those Games were underway by the time terror intruded. But the 1968 Games were a different story. And as utterly unprecedented as the current situation is, the circumstances in Mexico City present parallels. Consider these headlines, from the New York Times, ahead of the Oct. 12 opening ceremonies: •

Sept. 23: HUNDREDS SEIZED IN MEXICO CLASHES; One Killed and Dozens Hurt During a Night of Fighting by Students and Police Students and Police Clash Throughout Mexico City

•

Sept. 24: 40 Are Wounded in Mexico City As Police Clash With Students

•

Sept. 25: Students Fight the Police Through the Night 3 Are Killed and Many Injured in Mexico City Battle

•

Sept. 26: Mexico City Death Toll Increases BIWEEKLY

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Mona McSharry: It’s Not All About Rainbows And Sunshine On The Day Irish Olympic Trials Were Due To Start by Liz Byrnes

he McCullagh International concluded in Bangor, Northern Ireland, little more than five weeks ago but in reality a lifetime has elapsed since then with the world thrown into chaos with the march of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The four-day event at the Bangor Aurora Aquatic and Leisure Complex was attended by many of the Great Britain squad including Adam Peaty, Duncan Scott, Luke Greenbank and Siobhan O’Connor, the quartet boasting Olympic and world medals aplenty. So too was there a strong Swim Ireland presence including 2017 world and European junior 100m breaststroke champion Mona McSharry, Shane Ryan – with 50m backstroke bronze medals over European long and short-course – Darragh Greene, who missed out on the 100m breaststroke semis at last year’s World Championships by 0.07secs, and triple national record holder Brendan Hyland. One of the appeals of the meet was the schedule whereby finals were held in the morning to mirror the timeline in Tokyo and it gave the athletes a rare opportunity to practise swimming fast early in the day. Talk there was of the Olympic trials – for some their first, for others their last – but for everyone the knowledge that one race – one twitch, one slip – could make or break any aspirations and dreams for Tokyo. McSharry had enjoyed a fine meet with six medals and she joined Swimming World poolside to look ahead to the Olympic trials and beyond.

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Little did we know what was coming. Instead of Olympic trials, there is lockdown and rather than Tokyo 2020, there is Tokyo 2021. The Swim Ireland Olympic trials were due to begin – Tuesday April 1st – and elements of the interview with McSharry are now poignant and more pertinent than she could ever have imagined. Take this. “We do have loads of young talent coming through, it is just amazing. And you really do have to just let them know there are going to be tough times and you need to show them that. “It’s not all rainbows and sunshine. “They need to know the tougher bits as well and I think that is our jobs as well as role models – to let them know and to be there on their down days.” The Transition From Junior Waters And The First Taste Of Senior Success McSharry may be only 19 but she has been on the Ireland team for five years and enjoyed great success as a junior. Gold in the 50 and 100m breaststroke at the European Junior Championships in June 2017 was followed by another title in the longer race and bronze in the one-length sprint at the world juniors in August that year. McSharry’s time of 1:07.10 at worlds in Indianapolis, United

States, was an Irish senior record that still stands today. Then came the introduction to senior competition and the harsh reality of standing up against the world’s top swimmers after you had become accustomed to being at the head of the race. It was tough for McSharry who told Swimming World: “It’s crazy. It was quite a bumpy ride for me. I think I was fed the information it would be an easy ride to qualify for the Olympics. You know, you’re on top now but it’s such a different world coming from juniors to seniors, there is so much more talent and so many more athletes in seniors. You are not just going to jump from top of juniors to top of seniors and I did struggle with that for a while. “And then I got sick this time last year (late February) so I wasn’t even training and I guess that was another bump in the road. “But I am just slowly building now and it was nice to get the first senior medal then to show that I am going in the right direction. It takes time but you’ve just got to hang in there.” That first medal came at the European Short-Course Championships in Glasgow in December 2019 where she took bronze in the 50m breaststroke in a national record of 29.87secs, an invaluable signpost on her swimming journey. She said: “It’s a huge confirmation (that you are heading in the right direction). Even the fact that you are good enough to be up there with the top athletes in the top three. “Yes, you do have the ability to qualify for the Olympics: you do have the ability to be up there with the best. So I guess it is that confirmation for me and that is what I am trying to keep telling myself coming into the trials………”

“I would have been in and out of the sea before I could swim so I guess that is where the love of the water came from and then I learned how to swim.” McSharry joined the Marlins club in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, when she was 17 where she still trains under coach Grace Meade. The teenager is leading by example as a younger generation follow in her slipstream, McSharry now the inspiration. She said: “I have had a couple of people come up to me and say that which is lovely to hear obviously because that’s great. It’s nice to know that younger kids are aspiring and looking up to me and I am glad that I can be a role model in that sense. “I think it’s great: we do have loads of young talent coming through, it is just amazing. “And you really do have to just let them know there are going to be tough times and you need to show them that. “It’s not all rainbows and sunshine. They need to know the tougher bits as well and I think that is our job as well as role models – to let them know and to be there on their down days. “It’s kind of weird to say but I am one of the older female athletes on the team now and its strange because I don’t feel that old. “But travelling at Europeans we had a couple of younger ones and it was nice to be on the relay with them and to get to chat to them and that was kind of nice to get a new relationship with the younger swimmers.” Now she has to deal with something unprecedented in the modern era and certainly one of “the tougher bits”.

Growing up in Grange, County Sligo, in north-western Ireland, McSharry and brother Mauric – two years her junior – would be in and out of the sea.

At that point McSharry looked to the Olympic trials where she planned to race the 100 and 200m breaststroke and 100 freestyle.

She credits her parents Aidan, a keen kickboxer, and mother Viola, who played handball and volleyball, for instilling a keen sense of competition in her.

She talked of the expectation going into her second trials and how crazy it is that “it all comes down to that one race on that one day and you really have to go for it.”

“I think that fed into it and swimming was my outlet for my competitiveness. I am just so competitive: in all aspects of life to be honest.

Not that that changes but it is now delayed. Tokyo 2020 becomes Tokyo 2021. Sights are reset and new plans are made.

“I think that is why enjoy swimming so much – even training and stuff – and me and my brother started swimming when we were quite young and we lived beside the sea and we were always in there. I think it was just something I enjoyed from a very young age.

But the abiding memory of that day was sitting with the teenager on poolside, weeks away from “that one race on that one day” that would define her year. The confidence drawn from her first senior medal and channeling the success of her short-course season into long-course waters. ◀ BIWEEKLY

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[ PHOTO COURTESY: SWIMMING AUSTRALIA ]

Grant Hackett Says Tokyo 2021 Will Provide Inspiration to The World Just When It Needs It by Ian Hanson

ustralian Olympic legend Grant Hackett says Tokyo 2021 will be just the inspiration the world will need in 12 months time after the IOC confirmed the Games of the XXXII Olympiad would be postponed till next year.

single season of training could possibly make them.

The two-time 1500m freestyle gold medallist from 2000 and 2004, produced two of the most inspiring Olympic victories in a celebrated career.

“Others will thrive, they will grow and steel themselves. To them, this is not a challenge, but an opportunity to prove themselves, to show they have what it takes to succeed – To be the best.

“Postponing the Games was the only solution,” Hackett told Channel 9’s Today Show. “Our lives have been up-turned given Coronavirus and I think as an athlete you can fully appreciate the concern out in the community right now…no one could train, no one could prepare for the Olympics, there’s a whole qualification process and then there’s the Olympics themselves. “So having an event in a year’s time is the inspiration the world will need at that point…where we will see the best performances in the world it would be perfect timing and (really something to look forward to.)” Hackett’s 2012 London team mate Tommaso D’Orsogna, now a WA Swimming Board Member has written a letter to his WA Olympic aspirants which has been picked up by his fellow Dolphins. “You face a new challenge now, on an unprecedented scale,” wrote D’Orsogna. “ Extraordinary challenges can produce extraordinary results, but they require extraordinary strength and determination. “Those that face this challenge with optimism, with innovation and creativity, will come out stronger than any 18

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“Some will falter and give up, they will blame the situation, but success was never meant for them.

“So, who will you be? The choice is yours and yours alone. Keep training, keep improving, keep pushing. Keep going. “I’ll end with a quote from one of my favourite authors, Ernest Hemingway, in his book, ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’; “Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today.” Meanwhile Queensland born-and-bred World Championship gold and silver medallist and Rio Olympian Madison Wilson, has been training in Adelaide and now faces a 22-hour drive as she heads back to her family in Brisbane. “It has been the craziest 24 hours. For now we will put a pause on the dream and represent our country the best we can by staying home,” wrote Wilson. “The health of everyone around us is so important and in times like these it’s easy to feel sorry for ourselves but then we realise the bigger picture, it’s a time to come together and get through this the best we can. “Today I will begin a 22 hour drive to be home with my loved

ones. Keep smiling everyone, it is tough but we are tougher.” Rio relay golden girl Bronte Campbell said: “It’s moments like these that stoke the dream and keep it burning. Much love to all athletes around the world who are feeling the collapsing and recalibration of their dreams. “Very hard to process but in the end the right decision for health and safety and as for me in the words of ‘Arnie’ (Arnold Schwarzenegger): “I’ll be back… Olympics 2021.” Dual Olympian and Rio relay bronze medallist James Roberts said while it had been a heart-breaking day for many athletes around Australia (and the world) it was important to keep in mind that “tough times never last but tough people do.” “The world will come out the other side stronger, smarter and hopefully more compassionate. Stay positive. Stay safe,” Roberts wrote on his Instagram.. While WA’s Rio Olympian Blair Evans reflected on “how lucky are we to have the ability to wake up every day and chase our dreams.” “Saying goodbye to the pool and the dream for a while was tough but what’s going on around us right now, is much tougher, we must do everything in our power to protect our

loved ones…stay safe, stay indoors stay healthy,” said Evans. Aspiring Olympians Minna Atherton, Kaylee McKeown and Matthew Wilson are keeping their dreams alive. “Lapped up my last session for a while today….staring down 2021…ready whenever you are,” wrote Atherton on her Instagram. “Pressing pause on the dream for a while,” said Wilson… ”will be back bigger and stronger.” While McKeown said: “The dream has been put to pause… for now.” And this from Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers as he walked out of the pool in Adelaide….”Last lap swum for a while…that’s all she wrote.” MOSCOW FOOTNOTE: From 1980 Moscow Olympics swim team captain Lisa Forrest who reached out to Cate Campbell writing: “So sad for you and your team mates Cate, while not the same, the Moscow Olympians have some idea of what its been like for you to train for a Games under a cloud – we coped because we had to (and because others in the community had much tougher challenges) but we wouldn’t wish it on another. Be Well. May Tokyo 2021 be bigger and better.” ◀

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> Bill Sweetenham (right) with Brent Rutemiller

“Prioritize The Olympics, the Only Competition That Matters,” Says Swim Elder Sweetenham by Ian Hanson

ill Sweetenham, one of the elders of world swimming, has urged coaches and swimmers to “prioritise the Olympics first and foremost” now the dates of Tokyo 2020 have been set for 2021, “as historically no-one, but no-one, recognises or remembers any other result or competition”. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today named July 23-August 8, 2021 as the news dates of Tokyo 2020, the Games that will continue to be branded with the dateline of this year. The Meaning Of It All For Swimming It is not yet known what that will mean for the World Championships that would have taken place on the same dates in Fukuoka, also in Japan. As FINA, the international federation, talks to Fukuoka organisers (see statement in full below) who will stage the global gathering 20 years after first hosting the World titles, early suggestions hold that Worlds will follow straight on the back of Olympics. While that may make some financial sense, it also raises instant and obvious choices and challenges for many swimmers. Distance freestyle specialists such as double World champion Florian Wellbrock, of Germany, would face an impossible schedule if peak form is what he hopes to deliver in pursuit of Olympic glory and the defence of his global titles.

•

Week 4-5: 800m, 1500m freestyle (1500m title defence)

Sweetenham, former head of national programs in Australian Britain and mentor to a generation of Olympic podium placers, told Swimming World that his advice to those he works with is a message he hopes they hear ‘loud and clear’: “The Olympics is the only competition that matters, the rest are pretenders! They should prioritise the Olympics first and foremost as, historically, no-one, but no-one, recognises or remembers any other result or competition.” “Now is the first day of that journey (not tomorrow). Today matters! Commence strength and conditioning at home; invest in a home gym; given that Gyms are closing left right and centre there will be cheap gym weights and rowing machines etc going extremely cheap.” The Australian’s words grant the Olympics the status they have long held in swimming, a sport in which only Olympic gold has guaranteed lasting status, recognition and financial rewards. No other prizes in swimming, a sport yet in the infancy of turning professional, have come close to having the impact on athlete lives of the biggest of Olympic results. Sweetenham’s bucket list ran on: •

Commence a running program EVERY 2 days.

•

Week 1: Olympic 800m (inaugural event), 1500m freestyle

Be competitive in all of the above and measure achievement, improvement as you go

•

Video all of the above.

•

Week 2: Olympic marathon

•

Week 3-4: World 10km (swim marathon title defence)

•

Plan to perform no matter when the Olympics happen to be.

His schedule would be something like: •

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“I repeat the Olympics are the ONLY competition that counts. Find a private pool facility no matter what size and complete a planned and well designed tethered swimming program.

has skirted any move to talk to major stakeholders, including athletes, though many had already stated they would like to see a shift for a year in the 2020 dates. That they now have.

“See opportunity, as some of the greatest advantageous discoveries have been lead by innovative leaders in a ‘negative or down’ market.

It remains to be seen what FINA will do next. Says Sweetenham:

“The more challenge in adversity the more that favours the strongest and best prepared. Opportunity awaits these people. He advocated that all programs “get ahead on all nonswimming activities that will allow increased commitment to specific preparation” as soon as the coronavirus dies down enough to allow pools to re-open and a return to the water. Sweetenham added: “Use this opportunity to define exactly who YOU are: it’s not what you have or haven’t done it’s more than ever about how you think! Superior attitudes and character win ahead of all adversity.” He drummed home his core message once more with a direct address to coaches: “Remember, only the Olympics count! Forget FINA or any associated events. Maintain focus; handle distractions; manage emotions; and … instil all advantages in place for the athletes in your care. Win on YOUR strengths; superior in every possible way!” Sweetenham told Swimming World that the shifting of the Games and what that meant for the rest of the sporting calendar presented a golden opportunity for the spirt” “For me, this is a chance and opportunity to put a new system of global competition. And – No Sacred COWS!. The IOC could show some really great innovative leadership and stage a conference via the internet, no travel required, with ALL competition stakeholders and clients to come up with a fully integrated global competition plan and schedule/calendar that all can support and have confidence in and sign on.

“We can only hope.” In 2014-15, the Australian urged FINA’s leadership to submit the federation to “long-overdue and critical independent review with a view to improved governance and leadership of the sport” but was ignored. To this day, neither he nor the World Swimming Coaches Association of 17,000-plus members have received even a polite reply from the FINA leadership. The Backdrop The new dates for the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021 will see the Olympics end on the day they started in Beijing in 2008, when 08/08/08 was chosen as a lucky symbol for the Chinese hosts. Twelve years on and a virus that came out of China has wreaked havoc across the world and wiped out the sports calendar with a pandemic inflicting lasting damage on people and economies around the globe. China has countered criticism for its status as the source of the outbreak with moves that include providing core data and research on the SARS virus of 2003 with scientists around the world via the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help produce a vaccine for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to quell the current pandemic. Against a backdrop of political turmoil, argument rages on the wisdom or otherwise of current tensions and severing of ties in research projects the USA and China had worked on jointly after the 2003 SARS outbreak. Meanwhile, China is also sending medical teams and equipment out into the world to help others nations now fighting the peak phase of the spread of the virus. ◀

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“There should be no isolation of objectives other than providing the absolute best opportunity for all athletes. Buy in from ALL stakeholders would provide global swimming with a distinct advantage. We desperately need a global-leadership and direction-based strategy.”

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The Moscow Boycott: A Toxic Mix of Sports and Politics Proved Costly for Hard-Working Athletes by John Lohn With the announcement by International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound that the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo will be postponed to 2021, a blow was delivered to thousands of dedicated athletes around the world. Although the decision is the prudent one in light of the impact of the Coronavirus and what is unfolding around the world, it is impossible to not feel disappointment for the athletes affected by the delay of the Games. Of course, this year is not the first in which athletes have had the Olympic Games taken away – even if only temporarily. The Games were canceled in 1916, 1940 and 1944 for World Wars, and there were boycotts in 1980 and 1984. Here is the story on the Moscow boycott from the January issue of Swimming World, including comments from athletes who were impacted by the decision.

Moscow Boycott (From January Issue of Swimming World Magazine) Years of hard work went unfulfilled. Dreams turned into nightmares. Sadness and anger abounded. The repercussions of the United States’ decision to boycott the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow were severe. This summer marks the 40th anniversary of what was a toxic mix of sports and politics. ****************************** 22

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here was no proper reaction to the official announcement. The athletes, as was their right, reacted differently, and in fashions that were personally appropriate. Some immediately let the tears flow. Several instantly harbored intense anger. Others sat in disbelief, wondering how such a decision could be made. An adage that sports and politics do not mix has been uttered for years. Fans want their athletes to play. They want touchdowns. They want goals. They want baskets. More, citizens don’t need their elected officials to infuse government policy into the games they follow. Yet, when President Jimmy Carter announced on March 21, 1980 that the United States would not send a delegation to that summer’s Olympics in Moscow, instead choosing to boycott the Games, sports and politics were pureed in the same blender. Jimmy Carter Upon the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, Cold War tensions between the U.S.S.R. and the United States sizzled. For Carter, the invasion was an unacceptable overstep of force by the Soviets, and a move that called for a strong response. With Moscow set to be the focal point of the athletic world in the summer of 1980, Carter felt an American presence would legitimize the Soviet government and its actions. The consequence was an American boycott of the Olympic Games.

[ PHOTO COURTESY: SWIMMING WORLD ]

> Tracy Caulkins

In its decision to refrain from competing in the 22nd Olympiad, the United States was joined by more than 60 other nations. Still, what may have been deemed as the politically correct move left thousands of athletes, from swimming, track and field, gymnastics and beyond, emotionally crippled. While Carter may be known for his generosity wielding a hammer on behalf of Habitat for Humanity during his post-Oval Office days, the former president also used that tool – in a figurative sense – on athletes’ dreams.

[ PHOTO COURTESY: SWIMMING WORLD ]

“It is absolutely imperative that we and other nations who believe in freedom and who believe in human rights and who believe in peace let our voices be heard in an absolutely clear way, and not add the imprimatur of approval to the Soviet Union and its government while they have 105,000 heavily armed invading forces in the freedom-loving and innocent and deeply religious country of Afghanistan,” Carter said.

> Craig Beardsley

Pain and Agony With the 1980 Games on the horizon, the United States looked every bit prepared to continue its dominance. Despite the surge of East Germany, which was believed to be and later confirmed to be influenced by a systematic doping program, Team USA left the 1978 World Championships with a strut. Not only did the United States capture 20 of the 29 gold medals on offer, its 36 overall medals were 23 more than the Soviet Union managed for runnerup honors. A year later, the roll continued at the Pan American Games, where the United States won all but one of the 29 events. In the process, the likes of Jesse Vassallo, Mary T. Meagher and Cynthia Woodhead set world records, their confidence boosted for the upcoming biggest moment of their careers. Of course, that eagerness to shine on the international stage was replaced by heartache and what-if questions. For Brian Goodell, Moscow was supposed to be an opportunity to cement his distance legacy. At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, a 17-year-old Goodell won the 400 freestyle and 1500 freestyle in world-record time and was a member of an American men’s squad that won all but one event and is considered the greatest team the sport has seen. A second Olympiad offered Goodell the chance to repeat. Stronger and more mature, Goodell was at the peak of his career as he prepared for Moscow, and the American also yearned for the chance to clash with Vladimir Salnikov, a rising star from the Soviet Union who won world titles in the 400 free and 1500 free in 1978. But instead of a showdown with Salnikov, Goodell was left to watch the Soviet break his world record and become the first man in history to crack the 15-minute barrier in the 1500 freestyle. Left to wonder what could have been, Goodell still cannot reconcile Carter’s decision.

“I was 17 in Montreal,” Goodell once said. “In Moscow, I would have been 21 and in the prime of my career. And zippo. (Carter) screwed with everybody’s lives. I could have made some pretty good coin. It really did screw me up. It totally derailed me and changed my life. I didn’t know what to do with myself. My life took a totally different path than what I had expected. I was pretty clearly depressed. I couldn’t get up in the morning. Never got help, but I should have. I’ve tried to forget it a zillion times, but I’m still disgusted.” While Goodell was looking to solidify his Olympic legacy, Vassallo and Craig Beardsley saw Moscow as the chance to make their initial Olympic imprints. A year before the 1980 Olympics, Beardsley throttled his competition in the 200 butterfly at the Pan American Games. With each meet, Beardsley was improving, to the point where an Olympic title was more likely than not. Although the announcement of the boycott was devastating, Beardsley forged on with his career. He set his first world record in the summer of 1980, producing a time that would have won gold in Moscow by more than a second. A year later, Beardsley lowered his world record again, and a repeat of his Pan Am title followed in 1982. But at the 1984 Olympic Trials, Beardsley watched his Olympic dream vanish, as he finished third in the 200 butterfly. The effort left Beardsley off the team that would compete in Los Angeles. “The lesson I learned from that was actually a very good life lesson,” Beardsley said. “Sometimes, you do everything in your power, you do everything you’re supposed to do, but sometimes things are just out of your control. You’ve got to learn to put that behind you, let it roll off your shoulders, and just move on.” Move on was what Vassallo planned after the boycott robbed him of multiple medal opportunities. At the 1978 World CONTINUED >> BIWEEKLY

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[ PHOTO COURTESY: CHRIS GEORGES ]

> Jesse Vassallo

Championships, Vassallo was a leading force, capturing gold in the 200 backstroke and 400 individual medley, in addition to claiming silver in the 200 medley. At the 1979 Pan Am Games, Vassallo doubled in the medley events and was the silver medalist in the 200 backstroke. Had Carter not implemented the boycott, Vassallo was in line to be a highly decorated Olympian. He let the president know that fact when he visited the White House, along with fellow boycott victims, after the 1980 Olympics concluded. “(Carter) reached out to shake my hand and he said ‘How would you have done in Moscow?’” Vassallo recalled. “And I said, ‘I would have won two golds and a silver.’ And he just gave me this (pained) look. He didn’t ask anybody else that question.” Vassallo sought redemption in 1984 and qualified for the Olympics in the 200 backstroke and 400 medley. By that time, however, Vassallo was beyond his peak years, and his ninth-place finish in the backstroke and fourth-place effort in the 400 IM left him short of the medal that would have been a near guarantee four years earlier. “I kept swimming, but it wasn’t the same,” Vassallo said. “(1984) wasn’t a piece of cake. But I didn’t want to finish my career without being an Olympian.” A Measure Of Redemption The boycott of the 1980 Games can be categorized as a robbery of sorts. Yet, for some athletes, there was a sense of atonement. No, they never were fully repaid for what was lost in Carter’s decision, but they eventually realized a moment of Olympic glory atop the medals podium. In some eyes, Tracy Caulkins is viewed as the greatest female swimmer in history, her versatility spectacular in nature. At the 1978 World Championships, Caulkins was sensational, 24

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setting world records en route to victories in the 200 butterfly and both medley disciplines. More, she was the silver medalist in the 100 breaststroke and helped a pair of American relays prevail. The possibility of replicating those results certainly existed, until the boycott was announced. From that point, Caulkins was forced to look ahead to the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. While she was not as dominant as she once was, Caulkins captured gold medals in the 200 medley and 400 medley and as a member of the 400 medley relay. Still, there was lingering frustration over the boycott. “What really hits home to me about the boycott was the Soviets didn’t pull out of Afghanistan for nine years,” Caulkins said. “Did it put any pressure on them? No. It was just a missed opportunity for many athletes. It just doesn’t seem fair.” If there was a negative to Caulkins’ 1984 performance, it was found in the competition she faced in Los Angeles. In retaliation for the United States’ boycott of 1980, the Eastern Bloc nations – most notably East Germany and the Soviet Union – boycotted the 1984 Olympics, consequently weakening the fields across all sports. From a medal-winning standpoint, Caulkins was accompanied by Rowdy Gaines and Mary T. Meagher as athletes whose 1980 injustice was somewhat assuaged. Gaines collected three gold medals in 1984, including the title in the 100 freestyle. As for Meagher, whose butterfly prowess was untouchable, she doubled in the 100 and 200 fly events and helped the United States to gold in the 400 medley relay. “I felt physically at my peak in 1980 – and mentally up, too,” Gaines said. “It was tough, really tough. I had a chance for four golds. It was a long four years. There were a lot of peaks and valleys. I almost quit a few times. In fact, I actually did retire for six months in 1981 just after I finished college, but

I couldn’t stay away. I felt something was missing in my life. I looked back and realized it was the Olympics. Just to get a chance to compete. It was tugging at me.” Like many of her American teammates, Cynthia Woodhead (better known as Sippy) also felt the need to remain involved in the sport and chase Olympic glory. Woodhead was one of the best freestylers the world knew in the late 1970s, and the Moscow Games were supposed to be a shining moment. When she didn’t get the chance to race in Russia, her decision to forge ahead was admirable, but was not accompanied by the retention of her elite skills. At the 1984 Games, Woodhead was not the same athlete who once ruled over the 200 freestyle. Although she was able to win a silver medal in her best event, her time was more than a second slower than her personal best. Additionally, Woodhead didn’t get the chance to race the 400 free or 800 free, events that once were staples of her program. “It was awful,” Woodhead said. “Those four years (between Moscow and Los Angeles) felt like 10. It seemed like everything went wrong. But I felt I owed it to myself to compete in 1984, make the team, and actually go to an Olympics, so I pressed on. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t. It felt like I was watching a movie and wishing I could have been there in my top form, at my peak. It certainly wasn’t a highlight of my life.” Retaliation at a Cost The injustices suffered by the American athletes due to President Carter’s decision were also experienced by Eastern Bloc athletes in 1984. In an act of retaliation against the United States for its boycott of 1980, the Soviet Union led a boycott of the Los Angeles Games. The move could be summed up in a simple statement: “You did it to us. We’ll do it to you.”

Olympians gave the Soviet star a standing ovation for his achievement and perseverance. “They (political leaders) used us as pawns in their game,” Salnikov said of the boycott which deprived him of a repeat opportunity in Los Angeles. “I was shocked when I heard about the boycott. I felt emptiness inside me. My first desire was to quit, but after I thought about it, I realized that would only made me feel even worse. And I kept training more intensely than ever before so I could not think of anything else. If I had won in Los Angeles, I probably would have retired soon thereafter. But I stayed in the sport and won in 1988 when almost everyone had given up on me.” A Political Mess Sports have the power to forge bonds. Individuals from different backgrounds and beliefs often come together and cheer for the same team, forgetting their differences. Nearly 40 years ago, however, sports were used in a way that tore at athletes’ dreams. The boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games by the United States had a different impact on those who were affected. For some, the decision by President Carter served as an ultimate blow to Olympic dreams. Others qualified for the Games four years later, but not before their skills had diminished. Still more were fortunate to be strong enough in their events to claim medals they deeply desired. As political pawns, the American Olympic hopefuls of 1980 were helpless. What they experienced at the hands of government officials can be considered nothing short of an inescapable checkmate. ◀

Among the athletes caught in this latest political web – like his American counterparts – was the Soviet Union’s Vladimir Salnikov. After capturing gold medals in the 400 free and 1500 free at the 1980 Games, Salnikov was expected to defend his crowns in 1984. Instead, he played the role of spectator and figured his Olympic days were over. However, in similar fashion to several Americans, Salnikov couldn’t allow politics to end his Olympic career. At the 1988 Games in Seoul, and despite limited expectations, Salnikov won his second Olympic title in the 1500 freestyle. That evening, as Salnikov entered the dining hall in the Athletes’ Village, approximately 300 fellow BIWEEKLY

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> Ray Looze with Lilly King

Ray Looze Dishes On Difficulties of Coaching From Home, Denies Rumors Of Move To USC by Andy Ross | photos by Peter H. Bick

uch like the rest of the world, Indiana head coach Ray Looze has had difficulties processing the coronavirus pandemic that has caused normal life to be turned upside down. Looze and his Indiana team lost a chance to compete at the NCAA Championships and he has had to resort to coaching from home while trying to prepare for an Olympic Games that is now another 400+ days away. But he has put a positive spin on it. “Typically we take the month of August as a break time so we are trying to look at now as a break time. But I feel like this will be a much longer break than any of us are intending on taking, but we are taking it,” Looze said in a conference call on Friday morning. “We just did our first Zoom team meeting on Wednesday and I thought that went pretty well. It was really great for everyone to see each other. The level of maturity on that was not the best. You had some jokers making faces and making everyone laugh, but I think it was really positive for everyone to get a chance to see each other.” Ray Looze has a talented pro training group in Bloomington, Indiana littered with Olympic medalists Lilly King, Cody Miller and Blake Pieroni as well as Olympic hopefuls Zane

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Grothe, Annie Lazor and Zach Apple. With no access to their own pool in Bloomington, the postgrads have had to get creative with finding training. Some have gone home and some have found smaller pools within driving distance to keep their feel of the water. King for example, who is aiming to make her second Olympic team and defend her 100 breaststroke gold medal in Tokyo, is training three crossfit sessions a week and in the water four days a week. “It’s a lot less than she would normally be doing. But that is still more than a lot of people,” Looze said of King’s current training regimen. “These people that are world record holders or Olympic gold medalists, their degree of dedication and sacrifice is about as high as can be. We are making sure that we are safe and following the guidelines of health and safety.” There is still no word on when the virus will slow down enough so the rest of the world can continue with normal life like getting back in the water and training for the Olympic Trials. Luckily for many, the Trials and the end-be-all Games have been pushed back to 2021, so the dire need for training is lessened. But for some, like this year’s 2020 senior class that wanted to end their careers at Olympic Trials, had to make the difficult decision of retiring now rather than competing in

Omaha next summer. “I’m a big believer in moving on in life – if you’ve done what you can in your sport and not hanging on to hang on,” Ray Looze said. “That’s kind of my thought process but ultimately it’s a personal decision. It’s a bummer how that ended for the seniors and life is not fair. “This was something bigger than anybody could imagine and continues to get bigger. I think missing a meet is such a minor thing when you’re watching things unfold.” With the NCAAs being cancelled this year because of the coronavirus outbreak, that senior class lost out on a chance of ending their college careers on their own terms. Spring sports had their whole seasons wiped out because all schools have closed down campus activities, but they were allowed an extra year of eligibility to make up for a season that was lost and out of anyone’s control.

starting with those weekly zoom calls, and giving them dry land exercises they can perform in the safety of their own homes. But Looze admits that that is starting to get a little stale. “Typically you have a whole bunch of things going on with distance people, sprinters, and what-not, so this general thing has been OK but we are thinking of ways to do more specific work,” he said. “I talked to our soccer coach and I think we are able to send some equipment home with them. I think that’s OK but I will have to check with compliance. In swimming, there’s a lot of on-land cords you can use. If that is permissible we will start to send that stuff home to the kids

The NCAA did not grant the same privilege to the winter sport student athletes, which did not sit well with many, which we have detailed on this website. But Looze was glad the decision was made in the way it had been handled. “I don’t think it is fair to institutions. The NCAA has a tremendous amount of funding that is meant for its institutions and it gives these spring athletes another year so it is up to you to pay for it and we are not going to help you,” Looze said. “I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that. I’ve thought about it and I don’t think there is any fair way to do it. Say you have a big senior class – that means you are bringing in a big freshman class and those situations by happenstance and they become super teams and there is just no level playing field. “I am relieved because that would have been a mess to try and deal with it and fund it. We are as well positioned as everybody but it gets concerning – how do you pay for all of this?” Right now, his Indiana swimmers are not allowed to be in organized practices per NCAA rules. And Looze is trying to stay as engaged as possible with them

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and give them something to do.” Like mentioned earlier, there is no end date to when it will be safe to go back to the pool and have organized practices. And even then, it’s still going to take some time to get back into a groove with training. “I don’t think this is going to be a situation where you can ring the bell and everyone will come back and start from 100% effort. And I mean that in a sense of it will be a very gradual return for everyone. I’m preparing myself for not until the fall to have a normal resumption of training.” “We are just trying to keep people as fit as we can now and once we get back in, we can build them up and really have our sustaining period of training going into Trials, which I believe will be right around the same place they were. If this were a normal time period, you would be training very intensely right now as an Olympic potential athlete or medalist. We have to keep that in mind where we don’t be de-trained.

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Ray Looze’s name has also been circling around the rumor mill with the open USC job after Dave Salo stepped down. Looze swam at USC but has been at Indiana for nearly two full decades. When asked about his potential of interviewing for the job, he denied on all fronts, saying he wanted to help bring a national championship back to Indiana. “I’m going to be staying at Indiana. Although my alma mater means a great deal to me, I wish that they are successful as possible. I’ve been at Indiana 18 years now and I’m excited about where we are going as a program,” Looze said.

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“I feel really good about our future and where we are at. It’s one of the best programs in the country presently and we have unfinished business here. I think the institution, the kids, and the coaches would really like to bring that national title back so I’ll be staying here.” ◀

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Associate Head Coach NCAA All American

Rick Bishop

Associate Head Coach USA National Team Staff

Cauli Bedran

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Roger Karns

Lewis University Head Coach

Nikki Kett

Sam Wensman

Assistant Coach NCAA All American

Kurt Kirner

Assistant Coach CW Elite Coach

Hillsdale College Head Coach

Jim Richardson

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Kieran Smith Hopes Stellar Sophomore Year Is Just The Beginning by Andy Ross | photos by Connor Trimble Kieran Smith’s breakout sophomore year is a sign of bigger things to come for the Ridgefield, Connecticut native.

hen the NCAA cancelled its winter championships last month due to the coronavirus that has affected the entire world, it was a huge blow to all involved. Coaches and athletes would miss out on seeing their hard work pay off, left to wonder what could have been. Fans of swimming missed out on seeing records, a tight team race – all the things that make the NCAAs so enjoyable. Florida sophomore Kieran Smith was an athlete who many were itching to see. In February at the SEC Championships, Smith broke the American record in the 500 freestyle with a 4:06.32. The night before, he led off the 800 free relay with a 1:30.11, which put him fourth all-time in the 200 freestyle. With the NCAA cancellation, he missed out on an encore performance where he could have gone even faster. It was a disappointing end to the year, but he knew it was the necessary precaution. “When everything started to unravel, I was disappointed at first,” Smith said. “But I knew it was necessary after how fast everything started to move and ultimately, it was the best decision for public health. I got back from Florida on Monday (last week) and I’ve been doing a good job of self-isolation and following social guidelines.” 30

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Smith is back home in Connecticut where he is trying to stay in shape on land as best as possible so that whenever the quarantine is lifted, he can hit the ground (pool) running. The Olympics have officially been moved back to 2021, meaning the dire need for training is lessened. Being out of the pool is hard, especially because no one knows when it will be safe to train again. Smith views the water as therapeutic but is finding ways to fill that void. “It’s really good to clear my head,” Smith said of swimming. “I’m just trying to keep my mental game strong. Kind of taking time to find an edge over your competition while I have the time. It’ll probably end up being the longest period in recent memory without swimming.” Smith was on a roll in 2020. He had a fantastic SEC championships, breaking the 500 free American record. Heading into the meet, his goal was a 4:08, which would have been right around the NCAA record of 4:08.42 set in 2017 by Clark Smith. Kieran Smith’s best time was a 4:18 from a January duel meet against Tennessee this season, so a 4:08 was realistic, but he didn’t know what he was capable of yet. He not only blew that 4:08 goal out of the water, but he also lowered the American record that Zane Grothe set in 2017 (4:07.25).

“I can’t say that I expected a record like that or a big swim like that,” Smith said. “When I was writing down my goals before the meet, it’s kind of hard to imagine something or write something down that someone hasn’t done before. So usually I don’t go under my goal times, but I blew my goal times out of the water which was surprising but very rewarding at the same time.” Smith led off the 800 free relay to start the championships, using that as an opportunity to swim the 200 free from a flat start since he would do the 400 IM at SECs. “I thought that was going to be my best race of the weekend,” Smith said of the 800 free relay. “I was spot-on where I thought I could have been. I didn’t swim it very pretty, because I went out a little fast. I was very very excited to get the meet going.” Two nights in a row, Smith was on fire. And all of a sudden he was the hot ticket in NCAA swimming. People wanted to see what he could do next. Taking after what former Gators Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Lochte did in year’s past in their college careers. Kieran Smith had been thought of as a rising star when he made the national junior team in high school. But he’d been known as an IM’er at Ridgefield Aquatic Club under Emmanuel Lanzo. In 2017, he made the World Juniors team in the 200 & 400 IM and 200 back. In his first trip with Team USA, Smith won a silver medal in the 200 IM and was fourth in the 400.

day of freestyle quality and one day of IM quality. I’m doing a tiny bit more freestyle but I’m still keeping all the strokes in check and tune. I’m just making sure to hit all the cylinders.” Smith made a big jump from his freshman year. He did not have a bad rookie year by any means, scoring in all three of his events, finishing seventh in the 400 IM and eighth in the 200 IM. In the 200 back, he received Honorable Mention AllAmerican honors with a 15th place.

But this year, Smith branched out to the 200 & 500 free, putting up the top dual-meet time in the 200 at 1:33. He insists his recent freestyle success came from his medley background, which is still in his training repertoire.

He had all best times and nothing to complain about. But Smith admits he knew he hadn’t hit his potential yet as a freshman. He knew how to train in the pool, but the added weight training was a big shock to him. This year’s improvement started with the work he put in during the summer. That was when he started to hit his stride in the weight room, improving his strength-to-weight ratio. At US Nationals in August, he was second in the 200 free (1:46.25), fourth in the 400 IM (4:15.17) and fifth in the 200 IM (2:00.14), with best times in all three.

“In high school I like to think I was an IMer with a really good freestyle. Now I am a freestyler with a really good IM,” Smith said. “I’m still a medley swimmer and I still train IM all the time. The training for freestyle and IM benefit each other so much and I think it’s really helping that I get to do both.”

Nationals was the meet he needed mentally. Long-course was the Gators’ focus this season as an Olympic year (before the postponement). Coach Anthony Nesty decided not to take a group to the November Georgia Tech Invite, which was held in yards, to instead focus on the US Open, which was held in long-course, two weeks later in Atlanta.

“I’m still doing all my power stuff for IM. Last year I did mostly IM quality. This year we have shifted towards one

At that meet in December, Smith was second in the 400 free with a 3:47.72, the second-fastest time by any American man

When he joined the Gators in the fall of 2018, he was still thought of as an IMer, reaching the A-Final in both the 200 & 400 IM at NCAAs in 2019.

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in the 2019 calendar year. Being withheld from a short-course rested meet gave Smith the hunger he needed to attack SECs. Though Florida was the seven-time defending champion, it faced plenty of doubt than an eighth title would follow. The Gators lost guys to transfers, including a major contributor in Maxime Rooney. Sophomore Trey Freeman had decided to redshirt to nurse an injury. But the Gators also had a lot to prove. Smith – as well as fellow sophomore Bobby Finke, senior Khader Baqlah and junior Clark Beach – did not swim at the mid-season invite, leaving them with slower entry times for the postseason. “I was itching to suit up for a short course meet all year and I think I can speak for a lot of the guys that went to the US Open,” Kieran Smith said. “It was really good strategy. Nesty said we are not showing any of our cards yet. Everyone else was playing their cards and we all know where they are at. No one knew what we were going to do yet and I think it helped us a lot.” They quickly lost that underdog tag by winning the 800 free relay, thanks in part to Smith’s lead-off. And the Gators took off from there. Two nights later, Florida went 1-2-3 in the 400 IM with Smith leading the way ahead of senior Grant Sanders and Finke. Baqlah won the 200 freestyle, recapturing the conference title that he won in 2018. Smith was the first one to congratulate Baqlah behind the blocks. “That was amazing,” Smith said. “He kind of struggled with his mind game in the 500 free. He didn’t have the best swim 32

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and added a couple seconds. I don’t know what he did before that 200 free but he shifted his mind and his gear into another planet because he swam that race so gutsy and he swam it perfectly. And after he got third last year as the defending champion, I was so happy for him to be back on the top of the podium. He deserved it.” All in all, they helped Florida win that eighth straight SEC title. “The team culture and the environment is so much better than last year,” Smith said. “Despite losing points on paper, we ended up gaining a lot of points from guys that really stepped up. Our senior class is going to be a big loss next year. They all did their part this year in leadership and in the pool. We all performed the way we needed to in order to win, and we over-performed because we won by over 200 points, which was incredible.” Florida was seeded for a top four finish at NCAAs but didn’t get that chance. Now the mindset shifts away from swimming. Back in Connecticut, Kieran Smith is focused on finishing off his sophomore year remotely and staying in shape by biking, core workouts on the track, and running on the street. Academics is taking the main focus before quarantine ends and he heads back to the pool to try and attack the 2021 Olympic Trials, where he is aiming to make his first Team USA senior team. “That’s the end all, be all for our sport,” he said. “To represent the United States is a great honor. It helps represent something bigger than yourself, which is something I really enjoy doing. I want to go down as a name to remember, so the Olympics is a good way to start.” ◀

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HOW THEY TRAIN

LUKE PAXTON AND OWEN TAYLOR BY MICHAEL J. STOTT

> Luke Paxton

[ PHOTOS BY MIKE LEONARD ]

“A student of the sport, Owen is also a tremendous competitor, and his high-level training makes him a strong leader for his teammates. His knack for swimming for others and excelling on relays was on full display at the OHSAA Championships in February,” he says. *** FAVORITE SETS: LUKE PAXTON • 1 x 500 @ 7:05 Free - Pull > Owen Taylor

n deck, Coach Mike Leonard of Powel Crosley Jr. YMCA (Cincinnati, Ohio) enjoys an embarassment of riches. At the moment, he trains two of the Buckeye state’s best high school juniors. Luke Paxton is an Ohio State commit ranked fourth in Ohio and 120th nationally by Collegeswimming.com. Teammate Owen Taylor helped Cincinnati’s St. Xavier win its 12th consecutive (41st overall) high school title. Ranked third in Ohio and 96th nationwide, he will matriculate at the University of Louisville in fall 2021. Both recently concluded outstanding showings at the Ohio High School State Championships. Luke Paxton Paxton, swimming for Division 2 Hamilton Badin, won the 200 yard freestyle (1:39.16) after finishing second (1:40.94) and seventh (1:42.93) the previous two years. On this year’s third-place medley relay, his fly split was 21.64/1:35.78. As leadoff swimmer on the fifth-place 400 free relay, he clocked a 45.77/3:15.00. His YMCA LC credentials are equally impressive. In 2019, he registered 56.41 (4th, 100 fly), 2:07.69 (4th, 200 fly) and 25.29 (5th, 50 fly). Like all good coaches, Leonard trains his athletes as a team while exploring ways to fully develop their individual potentials. “Luke trains primarily a middle distance free/IM combo with speed, fast kicking and underwater work laced into the main sets. He has fully bought into our training program, and his underwater skills set him apart from others. “Our goal is to swim fast at the end of a training session while still maintaining proper skills and execution. Luke is extremely competitive and has embraced swimming tired when others may not train as hard,” says Leonard. Owen Taylor Like Paxton, Taylor is a multi-time USA Swimming junior national qualifier as well as a YMCA SC and LC national finalist. In February, he anchored all three St. Xavier state high school winning relays, going 19.99 (1:27.97 medley relay), 19.69 (1:20.86 200 free relay ) and 44.48 (2:59.30 400 free relay) in addition to placing third in the 100 free (44.94). “As a sprinter, Owen’s strengths are power and speed,” says Leonard. “Like Paxton, he trains primarily middle distance free/ IM combo with slightly more speed work laced into the main sets along with fast kicking embedded within the sets. He is constantly working on the finer points of stroke technique.

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• 2 x 100 @ 1:10 Free - Red} x 2 Luke is able to repeat :58-lows on these swims • 1 x 100 @ 2:10 Free - Blue} He holds :54 or faster on these swims. In February, he pushed a :48 at the end of practice as a challenge. 1:00 Rest • 1 x 400 @ 6:00 Free - Pull • 2 x 100 @ 1:10 Free - Red} x 2 • 1 x 100 @ 2:10 Free - Blue} 1:00 Rest • 1 x 300 @ 4:30 Free - Pull • 2 x 100 @ 1:10 Free - Red} x 2 • 1 x 100 @ 2:10 Free - Blue} 1:00 Rest • 1 x 200 @ 3:00 Free - Pull • 2 x 100 @ 1:10 Free - Red} x 2 • 1 x 100 @ 2:10 Free - Blue} Underwater Work: • 8 x 25 @ :40 Free - 6 Underwater Kicks - 2 strokes non-breathing - breathe every 3rd stroke} x 3 • 1 x 200 @ 2:30 Free - Pink • 8 x 25 @ :45 Underwater Fly Kicks - Green} • 1 x 100 @ 1:45 Free - Pink} FAVORITE SETS: OWEN TAYLOR • 20 x 50 @ :45 Free - 10 @ 200 Pace Owen has held :24s on his pace 50s Cords: • 3 x 25 @ 1:00 - 14 Cycles Kick Green} x 4 • 2 x 25 @ 1:30 - Resistance/Assistance Swims}v

TOTAL ACCESS MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO SEE LUKE PAXTON’S AND OWEN TAYLOR’S PROGRESSION OF TIMES. NOT A TOTAL ACCESS MEMBER? YOU’RE JUST A CLICK AWAY: SWIMMINGWORLD.COM/VAULT

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[ PHOTO COURTESY: FABIO FERRARI/LAPRESSE ]

FINA Urged To Hand Northern Winter To ISL & “Use Coronavirus” Storm To Reinvent Swimming by Craig Lord

INA, the international federation, is under pressure from its major stakeholders, swimmers and coaches, to embrace a major overhaul of the sport of swimming.

It is understood that there is now support within FINA for WSCA’s proposal after the organisation’s president George Block wrote:

Proposals seen by Swimming World include: • handing the northern winter season over to the International Swimming League (ISL) in a new ProSports partnership

“From the 14,000 WSCA members, even the thought of having a World Championships, post-Olympics, is ludicrous. It looks to most of us like [the sport is being] asked to choose between 2-weeks post-Games and 8-weeks post-Games. To most of us, that seems like a false choice.”

•

shunting the World long-course Championships to 2022 or even 2023

•

dropping universality regionalism; and

soccer-style

He urges the FINA Coaches Commission to “help FINA to see this [the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic) as an opportunity, rather than a problem” adding:

•

using the knockout blow of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic “as an opportunity to de-clutter the international schedule, create co-branding strategies … and to re-think international swimming, rather than focus on short-term finances”.

“We see this as an opportunity to de-clutter the international schedule, create co-branding strategies with FINA, and use this as the opportunity to re-think international swimming, rather than focus on short-term finances.

favour

Growing demands from many of the world’s top swimmers to drop plans to host the Fukuoka 2021 World Championships either immediately after the new July 23-August 8, 2021 dates for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games or in SeptemberOctober 2021 are just one side of a pincer-movement of pressure building win the FINA leadership, Swimming World has learned. The World Swimming Coaches Association (WSCA) has written to colleagues on the in-house FINA Coaches Commission to ask it to back the views of an organisation representing more than 14,000 coaches worldwide.

“This is a chance to bring the many new and traditional meet hosts to the table – under the guidance of the coaches – to rebuild a quadrennial schedule.” In a three-point plan, the WSCA, with backing from some key figures within FINA, urges the international federation and the ISL to return to the negotiation table and set aside “ignoring coaches” and “overreaching on their schedule”. The coaches urge FINA to: Bring the ISL back to the table … Give them the SC months of October through March and let FINA reclaim the LC season of April through August. CONTINUED >>

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[ PHOTO COURTESY: SAN ANTONIO SPORTS ]

> George Block

Get rid of universality. Instead, replace it by cobranding the regional championships (African, European, Asian, PanAmerican, etc.) and allow their champions to be qualifiers for the World Championships that don’t count against national totals. Make it like FIFA, where the regional championships lead to the World Championships. Return to one World Championship per quadrennium. Perhaps the first year of the quad would focus on Juniors, the second on Regional Championships, the third on the World Championships and the fourth on the Olympics. That is just one example, but one that focuses on the natural development of athletes, development of media stories, development of heroes from around the globe, and all of that develops our sport. In his letter, Block adds: “If FINA learns how to co-brand, they could make much more money with one championship, rather than two (ask FIFA).” Swimming World understands that Block’s offer of support for the FINA Coaches Commission has been welcomed and that figures inside the FINA structure will put restructuring plans to the FINA leadership. Such moves in the past have been met with complete silence. WSCA backed a request from swimming mentor and elder Bill Sweetenham in 2014-15 for FINA to engage in an independent review process with a view to reform of an 36

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organisation athletes have accused of “holding swimming back because we’ve been stuck in the same rut for more than 30 years”, in the words of Olympic champion Adam Peaty, of Britain. To this day, neither Sweetenham nor WSCA have had a reply from FINA. Meanwhile, Fina Vs ISL legal action is ongoing in the United States, where the ISL separately and a class action for swimmers led by Katinka Hosszu, Tom Shields and Michael Andrew are challenging what they describe as “FINA’s monopoly of swimming”. A Time Of Great Challenge For Coaches And An Opportunity For Swimming Block confirmed that the letter was his when contacted by Swimming World. Asked what the postponement of the Games had meant to coaches and athletes at a time of great challenge, he suggested that events were much bigger than the moving of dates for one or two competitions, noting: “This is a ‘pressure relief valve’, but coaches and athletes still have no idea how to plan. Many areas of the world are still in lockdown. China is just coming out of it. Others will soon be going in. This creates a totally UN-level playing field for training and preparation even for a 2021 Games. On the more sinister side, the announced pull-back in antidoping testing has created a great opportunity for doping on a massive scale.”

He saw this summer of competition wipeout as “a good chance” for the sport to breathe and take stock. There was an opportunity “even at the local levels [to] let teams reconvene and begin gradually retraining. Maybe let everyone build to some regional or national meets in December, then get on a more traditional rhythm.” On the de-cluttering of the swimming calendar and shunting the World Championships to a new date, even if that means only holding the global gathering in Fukuoka while cancelling Doha 2023 altogether, Block concluded: “This opens a bigger, philosophic question. There are already too many “championships”. The International Federations (in all sports) have created – strictly for financial reasons – additional World Championships, World Cups, World Qualifiers, etc. The profits from these events grew the corruption capacity of the IFs, but it also lessened the importance of the unique, historic and traditional regional events. “I cannot see FINA (or any of the other IFs) giving up their revenue-generating events, but this would be a wonderful opportunity to relook at the world calendar and rebuild it around the local events.” Swimming World has asked for comment from FINA and will publish a reply should we receive one. ◀

Considering the jobs and lives of coaches, Block noted the subsidised and unsubsidised nature of the coaching profession and the uncertain future ahead: “In the US, many of them are more concerned about their economic future than about their athletic future. I think, worldwide, most elite coaches have some sort of government or National Federation job. Those coaches, however, can only be as successful as their pipeline of club swimmers is successful and healthy. My son recently left a very secure coaching position with a government pay check to start his own club with two of his coaching friends. They are all quite worried. Young families. Young kids. No income.”

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PARTING SHOT Katinka Hosszu of Hungary competes in the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 400 IM heats during the swimming competition held at the Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary, July 30, 2017, during the 17th FINA World Championships. [Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer]

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