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CONTENTS
JANUARY 2021 FEATURES 011 A YEAR LIKE NONE OTHER by Dan D’Addona The top story of 2020—the COVID-19 pandemic—impacted all of the year’s stories in aquatics...from age group, high school, college and Masters competition all the way to the Olympics! 012 THE TOP 10 PERFORMANCES OF THE MILLENNIUM’S FIRST 20 YEARS (2000-19) by John Lohn One month after we selected the Swimmers of the Millennium (to this point), we have picked the top 10 performances of the millennium’s first 20 years. The swims that were selected were not just based on speed, but carried a certain level of significance or marked a defining moment in the sport. 020 TAKING THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED by David Rieder Michael Andrew has been the target of criticism the last seven-and-a-half years for his decision to turn pro at 14, his unique training style (USRPT), his training plan and more. But he’s also enjoyed success along the way and is ready to move to the next level as he prepares to qualify for the 2021 Olympics. 024 WHO “SHOT” THE SWIMMERS? by Bruce Wigo This is the first part of a series that highlights an International Swimming Hall of Fame exhibit showing the history of swimming through the eyes of the photojournalists who have covered the aquatic sports for more than 150 years. 028 A SHOOTING STAR IN SEOUL by John Lohn American Matt Biondi had it all. The physique. The pure talent. The inner drive. Add those traits together, and it is no surprise that Matt Biondi—over the span of three Olympiads—cultivated one of the finest careers the sport has ever seen. 031 2020 WORLD & AMERICAN RECORD PROGRESSION compiled by Andy Ross 033 NUTRITION: IF YOU WANT TO BE AN OLYMPIAN OR WORLD CHAMPION, THEN TRAIN LIKE ONE! by Dawn Weatherwax A strong immune system means fewer days out of the water.
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ON THE COVER: To many disconnected observers around the swimming community, Michael Andrew, 21, remains a polarizing figure—if only because of his unorthodox background and the nonconforming decisions that have steered his career. Considering the normal standards by which swimming careers are judged, he is already one of the country’s top swimmers. His biggest chance yet to test himself on the Olympic level is quickly approaching, and Andrew is certain he will be ready. (See feature, pages 20-23.) [PHOTO BY MINE KASABOGLU/ISL]
038 MENTAL PREP: BEFORE THE BEEP WITH OLIVIA SMOLIGA by Shoshanna Rutemiller
COACHING 015 SELLING PROCESS TO SWIMMERS (Part 1) by Michael J. Stott In 1993, Swedish cognitive psychologist Anders Ericsson wrote that greatness wasn’t born, but grown. His ideas later formed the basis for the “10,000-hour rule” described in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Outliers” (2008), which holds that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in a skill or field. Known by the term, “process,” to coaches, Swimming World details how they use that learning curve to improve the performance of their swimmers. 036 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: FREESTYLE TECHNIQUE FOR SPRINT AND DISTANCE (Part 1)
world records in the 400 and 1500 meter freestyle. The halcyon era was a time of mega yardage being done by the likes of DeMont and fellow Olympians Brian Goodell, Bobby Hackett and Australia’s Steven Holland. When it came to designing tough sets, you could say that Swartz had a front row seat. 043 Q&A WITH COACH KATIE ROBINSON by Michael J. Stott 044 HOW THEY TRAIN MIRIAM GUEVARA by Michael J. Stott
TRAINING 035 DRYSIDE TRAINING: RESOLUTIONS FOR SWIMMING FASTER IN 2021! by J.R. Rosania
by Rod Havriluk Many sources suggest that swimmers use a different freestyle technique for sprint and distance events. However, science (both physics and research) shows us that a swimmer can optimize performance in events of all distances by using the same arm motion with a different arm coordination.
JUNIOR SWIMMER
040 SPECIAL SETS: TOUGH SETS THE DON SWARTZ WAY
027 DID YOU KNOW: ABOUT SPORTS CARTOONS?
by Michael J. Stott Don Swartz, now at North Bay Aquatics, was Rick DeMont’s coach at Marin Aquatic Club in the early 1970s when he set
042 THE OFFICIAL WORD
047 UP & COMERS: LEVENIA SIM by Shoshanna Rutemiller
COLUMNS 008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT
046 GUTTERTALK 048 PARTING SHOT
SWIMMING WORLD MAGAZINE (ISSN 0039-7431). Note: permission to reprint articles or excerpts from contents is prohibited without permission from the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for errors in advertisements. Microfilm copies: available from University Microfilms, 313 N. First St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103. Swimming World Magazine is listed in the Physical Education Index. Printed in the U.S.A. © Sports Publications International January 2021.
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A VOICE FOR THE SPORT
NO NEED FOR
COMPARISONS BY JOHN LOHN
A
s 2020 neared its end—with few moments in the sport to celebrate during a tumultuous year—Caeleb Dressel backed up his superstar status. Over the final two weeks of the International Swimming League season, the American broke short course world records in three individual events (50 meter freestyle, 100 butterfly, 100 individual medley) and set American records in two other races (100 free, 50 fly). Dressel was superb at the Duna Arena in Budapest, obliterating some of the finest competition in the world. Not surprising, Dressel’s performances generated ample excitement ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, of course delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite racing in a pool half the size of the one he will occupy in Tokyo (provided the Games take place), Dressel used the ISL campaign to make a statement: He is well-positioned for a grand Olympiad. But there was also a problem in the way Dressel’s excellence was digested. Almost as quickly as he covered the 50 freestyle, some media outlets felt the need to compare the 24-year-old to Michael Phelps. Specifically, the question was asked: Can Dressel eclipse the eight-gold showing of Phelps from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing? I will be the first to admit that, in the past, I have compared athletes from different eras. Janet Evans and Katie Ledecky. Mark Spitz and Phelps. Based on their schedules and pursuits, these comparisons seemed appropriate. Yet, over time, I learned of the problematic nature of deeming someone as “The Next (Fill in the Blank).” Not only is the athlete from the past not paid proper due for his/her achievements, the rising star is not given the opportunity to emerge with his/her own identity. Leading into the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Matt Biondi was the headliner name on the Team USA roster. Scheduled to compete in seven events, Biondi found himself constantly compared to Spitz, with journalists almost always wondering whether he could match Spitz’s seven gold medals from the 1972 Games in Munich. “I don’t feel it’s a fair comparison,” said Nort Thornton, Biondi’s coach at Cal-Berkeley. “But people are going to do it. You can’t stop them. It is unfortunate people get compared, but that’s human nature. The rules have changed, and people can’t swim as many events as they were able to in 1972. There are certain comparisons like the speed they both travel through water, but Matt is definitely not Mark. He is his own swimmer. Someday, people will be comparing another young swimmer to Matt. That’s the way it works.” Even before the emergence of Biondi, Spitz was caught up in the comparison game. As Spitz developed into a global force, he was touted as the heir to Don Schollander. So, in the ensuing months and with Dressel headed for a multi-event schedule in Tokyo, brace yourself for a flurry of comparisons to Phelps. Never mind that they share just one common event, the 100 butterfly. Never mind that Dressel is a pure sprinter and Phelps was better known for his endurance. Never mind that Tokyo will be Dressel’s second Olympiad, and Phelps competed at five Games. The comparisons are on the way. In an ideal world, whatever Dressel pulls off in Tokyo should be viewed for its individual worth. As the current face of USA Swimming, Dressel should be appreciated for his skill set, an arsenal defined by spectacular starts and the fact that he is encouraging a younger generation of talent to follow in his footsteps. The truth is, Caeleb Dressel probably doesn’t care about the comparisons. And neither does Michael Phelps...or his longtime coach, Bob Bowman. While Dressel is focused on handling what awaits him in Tokyo, the 28-medal Olympic legacy of Phelps is going nowhere. Still, for the sake of separating athletes and allowing them to receive their proper credit, we should try to leave the comparisons in the call room. It’s where they truly belong.
John Lohn
Associate Editor-in-Chief Swimming World Magazine
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[PHOTO BY MIKE LEWIS/ISL]
“My first heart-felt thoughts go out to the seniors,” said Georgia coach Jack Bauerle at the time of the announcement. “It is an absolute nightmare. It is powerful stuff when you have to mess with kids’ dreams. It is like getting all dressed up with nowhere to go. All the banners were in the pool when we got there, the place looked perfect...and then, no meet. It was a downer.” For most seniors, the pandemic deprived them of a final swim meet to conclude their collegiate careers—something that was incredibly painful mentally and emotionally on hundreds of swimmers in the U.S. The Division I and Division III NCAAs were canceled nearly a week before the competition was supposed to begin. The Division II meet was canceled after the second day of prelims.
>> At the end of the year’s ISL competition (SCM), Lilly King bettered U.S. records six times in the 50-100200 breaststroke and was part of a world record 400 medley relay.
CONTINUED DISAPPOINTMENT From there, more meets were canceled—from age group to Masters and everything in between, including the remainder of the high school season. Then countries began to cancel their Olympic Trials, putting pressure on the International Olympic Committee to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were scheduled to begin in July. The Games were eventually postponed to take place a year later in July 2021, but there were several weeks before that announcement when athletes around the globe feared the competition would be canceled altogether, leaving all of their years of hard work for naught. Disappointment continued through the summer as all things aquatics were put on hold. Come fall, the start of college and high school swimming was delayed across the U.S. Some states saw high school state meets canceled or postponed just days before the meet was to take place.
A YEAR LIKE NONE OTHER The top story of 2020—the COVID-19 pandemic—impacted all of the year’s stories in aquatics...from age group, high school, college and Masters competition all the way to the Olympics! BY DAN D’ADDONA
U
sually, this is a time when Swimming World recounts top stories of the year. It’s a time to generate memories of great swims, great meets and great performances. In this issue, the magazine should have been recalling the epic performances during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and all of the Trials performances that defined the Olympic teams. However, this past year was different. Every story in 2020 was under the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic. The storyline had dominated the sport of swimming just like it had dominated headlines around the world. No Olympics. No Olympic Trials. No NCAA Championships. No water polo. No diving. No artistic swimming. MARCH “MADNESS” TAKES ON A NEW MEANING The chaos began in March as all three divisions of the NCAAs were canceled. After a full season, including the conference championship meets, swimmers and divers lost out on a chance to compete for a national title.
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST There were a few bright spots between October and December, but the competition was still very different because of the pandemic. The U.S. Open went virtual with smaller numbers of swimmers competing at nine sites across the country in early November. Yet, there were some great performances even without the energy of fans cheering in the stands and not having a national meet with the country’s top swimmers competing in the same place. The biggest positive, though, in 2020 had to be the International Swimming League’s six-week season, held in a bubble in Budapest, Hungary, with 10 professional teams competing in 13 meets from Oct. 16-17 through Nov. 21-22. The Cali Condors, led by epic performances from Caeleb Dressel and Lilly King, won the ISL title. World records (short course meters) were broken nine times, while American records were bettered 30 times. But, perhaps, the biggest victory was that there were no positive COVID-19 tests among the swimmers! It was something the swimming community so desperately needed as everyone prepares to turn the page to 2021...with the pandemic still very much a factor. JANUARY 2021
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THE TOP 10 PERFORMANCES OF THE MILLENNIUM’S FIRST 20 YEARS (2000-19) BY JOHN LOHN
A tradition at Swimming World is the annual compilation of the 10 best performances of the past year. But with the COVID-19 pandemic limiting the number of competitions that were held in 2020, putting together that list for the past 12 months didn’t make sense. Yet, there was another option, one that complemented a celebration from the December issue of the magazine. One month after we selected the Swimmers of the Millennium (to this point), we have picked the top 10 performances of the millennium’s first 20 years. The swims that were selected were not just based on speed, but carried a certain level of significance or marked a defining moment in the sport. To say the task was difficult would be an understatement, as several tremendous performances didn’t make the cut. However, we feel the selections that were made stand up as extraordinary. Enjoy the choices, which are listed in chronological order.
[PHOTO BY GEORGE OLSEN]
IAN THORPE, AUSTRALIA
400 Meter Freestyle (3:40.59 WR) Sept. 16, 2000 Racing in front of his home crowd at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Ian Thorpe was under immense pressure as his country’s rising teenage star. As a World champion at 15 in 1998, nothing less than Olympic gold was expected of Thorpe. Despite the pressure heaped on his shoulders, all Thorpe did on the opening night of the Games was set a world record and capture gold by nearly three seconds in the 400 freestyle. Thorpe put the spectators at the Sydney Aquatic Centre into a frenzy, and maintained that madness later in the evening when he anchored Australia to gold in the 400 freestyle relay, marking the first time the United States lost the event in Olympic competition.
INGE DE BRUIJN, NETHERLANDS
100 Meter Butterfly (56.61 WR) Sept. 17, 2000 As the female headliner at the 2000 Olympics, Dutchwoman Inge de Bruijn stood on top of the podium on three occasions. While she prevailed in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle, what she did in the 100 butterfly was her most impressive showing. Winning gold by more than a second, de Bruijn set a world record that would endure for nearly nine years. She was so ahead of her time that her mid-56 performance remains an impressive mark two decades later and would keep her highly competitive in currentday international competition. 12
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>> Natalie Coughlin, USA (2002 U.S. Nationals)
[PHOTO PROVIDED BY INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME]
NATALIE COUGHLIN, USA
100 Meter Backstroke (59.58) Aug.13, 2002 Before Natalie Coughlin claimed backto-back Olympic titles in the 100 backstroke, she etched her name in history at the 2002 United States National Championships in Fort Lauderdale. Completing a feat that was long anticipated, Coughlin became the first woman to break the minute barrier in the 100 back and did so in emphatic fashion, as she sliced 58-hundredths off the previous world record of China’s He Cihong. Coughlin followed that iconic swim by winning gold in the 100 back at the 2004 Olympics and duplicated the feat at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
LIBBY LENTON, AUSTRALIA
[PHOTO PROVIDED BY INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME]
100 Meter Freestyle (52.99) April 3, 2007 What Libby Lenton achieved in the >> Libby Lenton, Australia (2007 Duel in the Pool) 100 freestyle at the 2007 Duel in the Pool in Sydney is not recognized by the sport’s record book. However, those with step toward the eventual completion of his goal was sensational. an appreciation for history view Lenton’s swim as a significant En route to repeating as the Olympic champion in the 400 IM, moment. Phelps obliterated the field and set a world record that has not been Coming off a superb five-gold-medal showing at the World sniffed in the 12 years since it was registered. Simply, Phelps put Championships just two days earlier in Melbourne (including a together a four-stroke exhibition that will long be identified as the 53.40 victory in the 100), Lenton became the first woman to break model of medley perfection. the 53-second threshold when she touched the wall in 52.99. However, her leadoff-leg performance was not ratified as a world record because it arrived while racing against Michael Phelps in a mixed 400 freestyle relay, which was not an official event at UNITED STATES the time! Men’s 400 Meter Freestyle Relay (3:08.24) Aug. 11, 2008 For eternity, Jason Lezak will be remembered as the guy who delivered one of the greatest relay legs in history, a split that MICHAEL PHELPS, USA preserved Michael Phelps’ chase of eight gold medals. 400 Meter Individual Medley (4:03.84) As Lezak entered the water for his anchor leg of the 400 freestyle Aug. 10, 2008 relay at the 2008 Olympics, he trailed France’s Alain Bernard by a When Michael Phelps arrived at the 2008 Olympic Games, the sizable margin, and remained behind heading into the last lap. But hype surrounding his pursuit of eight gold medals was immeasurable. Every move made by the American was chronicled, and his first with every stroke over the last 50 meters, Lezak pulled closer to
>> USA Men’s 400 Free Relay: from left, Garrett Weber-Gale, Jason Lezak, Michael Phelps, Cullen Jones (2008 Olympics) CONTINUED ON 14 >> JANUARY 2021
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[PHOTO BY PATRICK B. KRAEMER]
TOP 10 PERFORMANCES OF THE MILLENNIUM / CONTINUED FROM 13
>> Adam Peaty, Great Britain (2019 World Championships)
Bernard and ultimately clipped him by 8-hundredths of a second at the wall. Lezak’s split of 46.06 is legendary...and it kept alive Phelps’ bid for history.
a medal in international competition during the current era.
KATIE LEDECKY, USA PAUL BIEDERMANN, GERMANY
200 Meter Freestyle (1:42.00) July 29, 2009 How can we possibly include a performance from the charade that was the super-suit era? Well, when Paul Biedermann clocked 1:42-flat at the 2009 World Championships in Rome, it marked a tipping point in the sport. En route to that time, which remains the world record, Biedermann trounced Michael Phelps and confirmed that technology had replaced pure talent as a deciding factor in races. In light of Biedermann’s effort, Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman stepped to the forefront and threatened to keep his pupil out of competition until FINA banned the suits and returned the sport to a battle of ability. Not surprising, FINA buckled to the pressure and eliminated tech suits at the conclusion of the 2009 campaign.
REBECCA SONI, USA
200 Meter Breaststroke (2:19.59) Aug. 2, 2012 At the 2008 Olympics, Rebecca Soni secured her first Olympic title by upsetting Australia’s Leisel Jones in the 200 breaststroke. By the time she defended her crown in London four years later, Soni was the undisputed queen of the event and took the discipline to never-before-seen heights. In the final of the 200 breast at the 2012 Games, Soni became the first woman to break 2:20 in the event. She was more than a second clear of her opposition, and her time would remain in contention for 14
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800 Meter Freestyle (8:14.63) Aug. 3, 2012 A glance at Katie Ledecky’s historical performances in the 800 freestyle prompts a head-shaking reaction, such is her dominance. But it was her effort at the London Olympics that launched her to international stardom. Racing against reigning Olympic champ Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain, Ledecky left no doubt she had assumed the distancefreestyle torch, as she bolted into the lead off the start and never looked back. More, Ledecky took down Janet Evans’ 22-year-old American record and set the foundation for a career unmatched in women’s swimming history.
ADAM PEATY, GREAT BRITAIN
100 Meter Breaststroke (56.88) July 21, 2019 Barrier-breaking performances define careers, and Adam Peaty knows all about entering zones that have previously been unvisited. Already the only man to go sub-58 in the 100 breaststroke, the British star became the first man to crack the 57-second barrier—a once unimaginable feat. The achievement, pulled off at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, was the fulfillment of what Peaty and Coach Mel Marshall titled, “Project 56.” At the time of that 56.88 outing, Peaty sat 1.41 seconds clear of the No. 2 performer in history, an unreal margin for a two-lap event.
SELLING PROCESS TO SWIMMERS (Part 1)
BY MICHAEL J. STOTT
[PHOTO BY MICHAEL ARON]
In 1993, Swedish cognitive psychologist Anders Ericsson wrote that greatness wasn’t born, but grown. He proposed that a minimum of 10,000 hours was required to perfect performance. His ideas later formed the basis for the “10,000-hour rule” described in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Outliers: The Story of Success” (2008), which holds that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in a skill or field. Known by the term, “process,” to coaches, Swimming World details how they use that learning curve to improve the performance of their swimmers.
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yler Fenwick, former Mission Viejo national team coach and now associate head coach at the University of Virginia, notes “that each generation of coaches faces the same challenge: capturing the attention of their athletes.” To that end, “selling the process is a vital part of our jobs. As coaches, it’s essential to know the audience to fully harness athlete capabilities,” he says. Few know their athletes as well as Michael Brooks, head coach of the Weymouth Club Waves in Massachusetts. A student of learning cognition, Brooks, among other things, is an international aquatic clinician and coach of national age group record holders and team champions. “I consider myself a club, age group and developmental coach,” he says. “My life is filled with the idea of taking a swimmer, divining his strengths and weaknesses from watching him practice and race, and then figuring out what needs to be improved so that the swimmer can reach his highest level. “I love the analogy of training and development as building a beautiful cathedral brick by brick. Most of the time this is not fancy or exciting. We come to practice, get a little better, go home, sleep and then come back the next day and do it again. The improvement— the moving just a little closer to perfection—is the motivation.” As just one example: in the last two years, Brooks has employed his process orientation to get a 16-year-old Thomas Hagar to drop significant time in his four best events: 100 back (8.86 seconds), 200 back (21.62), 100 fly (6.82) and 200 fly (16.66). (For a more in-depth description of his work with Hagar, see the “How They Train” feature in the December 2020 issue of Swimming World).
TRUSTING THE PROCESS Twelve years after earning NCAA All-America honors at Cal (2007), Richard Hunter won the first of his two Virginia Swimming Senior Coach of the Year awards. Before becoming head coach for TIDE Swimming in Virginia Beach, Hunter mentored age groupers from 8 to 18 at Mission Viejo while also serving as the 13-14 division director. Those experiences have broadened his perspective on how to elicit the best from his swimmers. “In sports, we talk about process as if it is some mystical intangible, but almost always in the context of the end result. Seven years ago, the NBA Philadelphia 76ers made ‘Trust the Process’ their slogan as a means to sell their organization, players and fans on patience and short-term sacrifice for long-term gain. “It is certainly the way coaches speak to athletes: ‘If I grind for the next three years, I will attain this promotion’ or ‘You need to work really hard for six months, and you can qualify for that meet.’ While skipping the process is rarely an option, it is much more of an individual journey,” notes Hunter. “When you try to sell a group of individuals on one way of doing things, the end result dictates their ability to ‘trust the process’ in the future,” he says. “So, even if a positive outcome is achieved, CONTINUED ON 16 >> JANUARY 2021
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SELLING THE PROCESS / CONTINUED FROM 15
“I love the analogy of training and development as building a beautiful cathedral brick by brick. Most of the time this is not fancy or exciting. We come to practice, get a little better, go home, sleep and then come back the next day and do it again. The improvement—the moving just a little closer to perfection—is the motivation.” —Coach Michael Brooks, Weymouth Club Waves
it is still results-centric. It is a trade-off, a sacrifice with a goal in mind. There is a shelf life to this sort of approach. Alternately, as we have learned during this pandemic, training without a clear picture of what competitions will look like, presents its own challenges. THREE-STEP BUILDING PLAN “In swimming, building a successful process with athletes is centered around three areas. First, I try to involve and educate them. While it is easier to tell athletes what they ‘need’ to do, it is more effective for them to know ‘why’ they are doing it. It doesn’t mean I am asking them to write a practice. It means I want them to see a practice, know how it is structured, the focus for the day and how they can tailor it to themselves. On my end, as I see how they approach and understand what is being asked, I can adjust my explanation and feedback to them. As we begin a season, it is a lot more ‘what,’ and as we progress it becomes much more ‘how’ and ‘why.’ “Secondly,” says Hunter, “the goal for them is to figure out their process rather than mine. Once they understand what we do, the goal is to get them to learn what to do. For instance, when it comes to taper, I have moved away from telling them, and moved toward presenting options. Each day, we will have two to three different options in terms of focus, volume, etc., and I let each individual choose what they want to do. If they choose the task, they are much more likely to do it well—to evaluate their choices more accurately—which allows them to make future adjustments. “This approach has largely eliminated the conversation around not ‘hitting a taper” as the focal point for a sub-par performance. If athletes needed more rest, they can make those choices next time. If they needed more speed focus, they can go in that direction. The first year is usually a challenge,” opines Hunter, “as many of them do not know what they need, so I may provide some guidance, but I still want them choosing their path each day. “Thirdly, at some level, this sport is too difficult not to find some enjoyment in the day-to-day. I believe that variety is key to keeping them engaged and enjoying the process. While I want them to understand why we do what we do, I don’t want them knowing exactly what to expect each day. Celebrating small successes is something I have to work on more. It is so easy just to look at times, splits and pace and allow those measurables to dictate success or failure. “What was a failure on Monday may be a success on Wednesday based on how a swimmer went about the attempt or what kind of effort was put forth based on outside stress and fatigue. If the pace is :29, and the best one can do that day is :30, then we can celebrate the effort in a more relevant way. A :30 might be a failure in relation to the goal time, but so is :34. The failure at :30 is workable and can still be progress toward a goal, whereas the :34 is not. Regardless, we cannot ask athletes to just grind and expect them to be happy 16
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“In swimming, building a successful process with athletes is centered around three areas. First, I try to involve and educate them.... Secondly, the goal for them is to figure out their process rather than mine.... Thirdly, at some level, this sport is too difficult not to find some enjoyment in the dayto-day.” —Coach Richard Hunter, TIDE Swimming
[PHOTO BY SWIMMAC CAROLINA]
a high level for the foreseeable future. I think the question is not one of success vs. failure,” suggests Hunter. “A better one is: Have they found a way to embrace the opportunity and enjoy the process... rather than just trust it?”
“Getting kids to buy in to the process is less about asking them to take a leap of faith or have blind loyalty and more about communicating on a consistent basis about what the process is and why. They don’t need to know every decision you made as you developed the season plan, but they should know you have a plan and that you put quite a bit of thought and knowledge into its design.” —Coach Megan Oesting, SwimMAC Carolina
simply because they achieved a goal.” OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE Hunter continues with a story that legendary ASCA Hall of Fame Coach Bill Rose shared with him: “He had an age group athlete with a chance to break a few national age group records. They came up with a plan, worked and worked and likely overworked. The boy broke the records, and while Coach Rose was celebrating afterward, the boy came up to him and said something along the lines of, ‘I did it. I’m glad you’re happy. I quit.’ “Enjoying the daily grind is easier for some than for others. But it is the responsibility of both the coach and the athlete to come up with a plan that highlights the athlete’s strengths and gets them excited about the daily opportunity to improve. “Former national junior team director Jack Roach likes to say that we want to identify what we do well, and do it better. If you have someone who is a bad kicker, you don’t put them off to the side and give them kick sets. That just reinforces that they are bad at them. You give them opportunities to improve, and focus more on their strengths that have gotten them to this point. “In the example of the 76ers, they are seven years into ‘The Process’ with no championships to show for the effort. Does that mean the approach is a failure? Well, they are perennially in the playoffs, and look to have the opportunity to continue to compete at
THE IMPORTANCE OF BUY-IN In November, Megan Oesting, 2019 ASCA Age Group Coach of the Year, became head coach of SwimMAC Carolina. Previously she was head coach and owner of the Eastern Iowa Swimming Federation. She has been on the staff of various USA Swimming select camps and leadership organizations. As an athlete, she was a national junior team member, multi-time high school and NCAA All-American, Pan-American gold medalist and a No. 1-ranked Masters swimmer. These days, she is devoting her considerable talents to helping athletes get better. “Getting kids to buy in to the process is less about asking them to take a leap of faith or have blind loyalty and more about communicating on a consistent basis about what the process is and why. They don’t need to know every decision you made as you developed the season plan, but they should know you have a plan and that you put quite a bit of thought and knowledge into its design,” says Oesting. “For instance, ‘This set is to help you find your bounce off the walls, even when you’re tired, and to carry the momentum all the way through the breakout and into the swim.’ When you explain the set, focus on how it relates to that purpose. Define what bounce is or what it feels like. Explain how they can practice it fresh and off a turn. Stress the importance of being at full speed before setting the approach to the wall. Remind them where to look when they get tired. Challenge their air capacity. Tell them to remain calm while holding momentum as far down the pool as they can. “Keep teaching them how to execute as they run through each of the set components. I can do this throughout the entire practice by using MySwimEars underwater hearing devices, which allows for connection, teaching, encouragement and direct feedback. “When the purpose of each set, string of sets, practices and string of practices have become obvious and clearly communicated, it’s easy for them to buy in to the process. Then when it comes time for the race, it’s easy to talk about ‘bouncing off the walls and riding speed,’ or whatever else you have purposefully and directly taught them. “With this approach, everything is ‘process,’ says Oesting, “because you’ve already discussed how these elements will benefit them and how to pull them off.” Next month in Part 2, Swimming World explores how college coaches employ process to improve their swimmers’ performance.
Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach whose Collegiate School (Richmond, Va.) teams won nine state high school championships. A member of that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, he is also a recipient of NISCA’s Outstanding Service Award. TOTAL ACCESS MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT SELLING PROCESS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A HIGH SCHOOL COACH. NOT A TOTAL ACCESS MEMBER? YOU’RE JUST A CLICK AWAY: SWIMMINGWORLD.COM/VAULT
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TAKING THE ROAD
LESS TRAVELED Michael Andrew has been the target of criticism the last seven-and-a-half years for his decision to turn pro at 14, his unique training style (USRPT), his training plan and more. But he’s also enjoyed success along the way and is ready to move to the next level as he prepares to qualify for the 2021 Olympics. BY DAVID RIEDER | PHOTOS BY PETER H. BICK
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>> When Andrew won his first U.S. national title in 2018, much of the swimming community shrugged off the accomplishment since it came in the non-Olympic race 50 fly—even if he did beat out Caeleb Dressel in the process! But Andrew kept winning, with a national title each of four straight nights, including a U.S. Open record in the 50 breast, first place in a deep 100 breast heat and a dominant victory over Dressel in the 50 free.
ach time Michael Andrew has achieved success in his swimming career, criticisms and questions have followed. When he first became a professional swimmer at just 14 years old after breaking an endless stream of age group records, traditionalists slammed the move as improper. His training system became a constant matter of debate on pool decks. Some viewed Andrew as a swimming outcast, while others saw a teenager destined to become the world’s best swimmer. As Andrew reached his late teens, he became one of the top junior-level swimmers in the United States, but his abilities to match up on the senior level came into doubt. Then, once he started having success on the senior level, the question became: “Could he be anything more than an exceptional talent in 50-meter races?” Undoubtedly, Andrew has followed a career path much different than any other acclaimed American swimmer. His mother, Tina, is his agent and manager, and his coach is his father, Peter. The father-son duo swears by Ultra-Short Race-Pace Training (USRPT), seen for years in conventional wisdom as the complete antithesis of how every other swimmer trains (a faulty notion, if not entirely incorrect). So close is the Andrew family that when Michael speaks about his own preparation and his own success, he uses the pronoun “we” instead of “I.” That “we” includes Michael, his parents and his younger sister, Michaela. “Growing up, I’ve always kind of understood that I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if it weren’t for the team behind me. Really, that team mostly consists of my family, and so when I speak about what I’m doing in the sport or something I’m going to do, a competition I’m preparing for, it’s really us as a unit who are getting ready,” Andrew said. “It’s just very natural for me to refer to us as ‘we’ because I understand that we operate just as a team.” While most club swimmers seek to build toward the NCAA level, Andrew prioritized breaking national age group records and then venturing out onto the World Cup circuit, where he wracked up wins and prize money. He prioritized a racing format, short course meters, that held little relevance to most of his American compatriots, and he actually won his first short course World title (100 IM in 2016 at Windsor) a full 18 months before qualifying for his first senior 20
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international team in long course. Along the way, Andrew accumulated numerous sponsorship deals that made him one of the more profitable swimmers in the country, even while he was a teenager. And then, when the then-19-year-old Andrew won his first U.S. national title in 2018, much of the swimming community shrugged off the accomplishment since it came in the non-Olympic race 50 fly—even if he did beat out Caeleb Dressel in the process! But Andrew kept winning, with a national title each of four straight nights—and each win brought him further validation and vindication. That included a U.S. Open record in the 50 breast, first place in a deep 100 breast heat (his first title in an Olympic event) and a dominant victory over Dressel in the 50 free. “I do feel like this is kind of the kickstart of my adult professional career,” Andrew said that week. “It’s the first official long course international team that I’ve made, so I definitely think it gives me a lot of credibility, especially with the way we train being so different: race-pace, all short. It just goes to show that it works, and there’s different ways to do things.” A few weeks later, Andrew won his first-ever senior-level international gold at the Pan Pacific Championships, and his time of 21.46 bested Dressel by nearly a half-second and ranked Andrew as the sixth-fastest swimmer in the world for 2018. Questions remained, sure...like “How did Andrew’s event schedule fit together?” But Andrew had finally established himself firmly as an international force in a long course Olympic event.
BE THE BEST IN ALL YOU DO
At 2018 Nationals, Andrew faced the question of what was his best stroke, but he would not commit to just one or two. “I could never put that label on myself,” he said. “I will always swim all strokes. I definitely think there’s seasons where one stroke may be more dominant than the others, but the goal is to be the best in the world in all four strokes in the 50s, and then the 100s can come after that.” And in 2019, he was absolutely among the best in the world at all four strokes in the 50s. At the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, he became the first swimmer ever to make the final in all four, and his highest finish was fourth, just 1-hundredth out of the
medals in the 50 fly. He also finished fifth in the 50 back, sixth in the 50 free, seventh in the 50 breast and a relatively disappointing 19th in the 100 breast. He did earn a silver medal as a prelims medley relay swimmer. More ammo in the tank for the “Michael Andrew is just a 50s swimmer” crowd? Yes, but his swims in the early parts of 2020 would shift the narrative again, setting up Andrew as potentially a major force for the American team heading into the Tokyo Olympics. At the TYR Pro Swim Series in Des Moines, Iowa, Andrew swam lifetime best times in three events, none of them 50 meters in length: 59.14 in the 100 meter breast, 51.33 in the 100 fly and 1:56.83 in the 200 IM. His 100 breast made him the seventh-fastest man in U.S. history, and his 200 IM moved him up to sixth in the all-time domestic rankings. That built up some serious momentum heading into the Olympic summer, but within days, the country began to shut down as COVID-19 spread...and within weeks, the Olympics had been postponed to 2021. Andrew had grown up in Kansas and trained in a two-lane backyard pool, but his family moved to Encinitas, Calif., in late 2018. No longer armed with their own pool, the COVID shutdown put Andrew out of the pool for almost two months. Gifted with a mental break from the pool, Andrew spent time surfing and playing volleyball and building relationships. While so many have dealt with loneliness during the pandemic, Andrew experienced emotional growth. “It was an interesting year, but looking back on it, I’m really, really grateful because we had extra time to prepare mentally. And I think it was really special, really a season that I needed in terms of creating community and doing things like that,” Andrew said. “We really kind of stepped back 100% from the pool and decided, ‘We’ll take this season to be away from the pool and focus on strengths... and we’re just enjoying the paradise we live in.’”
LEARNING FROM THE ISL EXPERIENCE Given Andrew’s extensive experience and success in short course meters racing, it was no stretch to expect that he would be one of the stars of the International Swimming League. When the first eight ISL teams were announced in 2019, the Andrew family put their stamp on one, the New York Breakers, with Tina announced as general manager and Michael as team captain. But in 2020, when the ISL’s six-week bubble in Budapest turned out to be the year’s only major swimming competition, Andrew failed to make a significant impact. Andrew swam five individual events (plus sometimes skins) in each of the five meets in which the Breakers competed, but he finished in the top three just nine times all season. And his lone win came in the 100 IM in the semifinal, his last meet. Even in the 50 free, he was not competitive with the likes of Dressel and Florent Manaudou, and he didn’t make any impact in the skins elimination races. “I think I swam decent considering where we were in training,” Andrew said. “I was very physically unready, which was unfortunate, and it was something that we just couldn’t control. I swam to my potential in terms of what I had prepared for, but leading up to it— and I don’t want to make any excuses—it was just a very weird year in terms of training. I did what I could with what I had physically.” So what happened to Andrew this year? He admitted that prior to arriving in the bubble, he made a rare but significant change in his training. During a training trip in Turkey, he swam “purely traditional” practices after struggling to hit his paces for several weeks. “What I realized from looking back on that is I need to be conditioning all via pace,” he said. “I believe in pure USRPT.” But “pure USRPT” doesn’t mean just 25s, and it doesn’t mean
>>At the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, Andrew became the first swimmer ever to make the final in all four strokes. His highest finish was fourth in the 50 fly, just 1-hundredth out of the medals. CONTINUED ON 22 >> JANUARY 2021
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MICHAEL ANDREW / CONTINUED FROM 21
>>To many disconnected observers around the swimming community, “Andrew the Swimmer” remains a polarizing figure—if only because of his unorthodox background and the nonconforming decisions that have steered his career. Considering the normal standards by which swimming careers are judged, he is already one of the country’s top swimmers, with a chance to cement that by earning his first Olympic berth.
all that short, either. Andrew said that for the foreseeable future, including the leadup to the rescheduled U.S. Olympic Trials in June, his morning practices will be “long,” consisting of 4,500 to 5,000 meters of 200-pace efforts, with easy warm-up and recovery in between. A practice might consist of a 200 fly set, a 200 free set and then a 200 IM set, working 75s and 50s with 20 seconds rest in between. At maximum, a single set might stretch to 30 x 50. Afternoon doubles practices would incorporate 100 pace and speed. Andrew believes those grueling pace sets, spending upwards of 20 minutes straight at race pace with no recovery, build the endurance required to successfully complete 100-meter races and the 200 IM. Long race-pace sets are staples of swim training programs throughout the country, but the difference with Andrew’s training is his exclusivity to USRPT. However, when he broke through at U.S. Nationals in 2015, Andrew described his training sessions as “2,500 to 3,000 meters max” and never much more. Now, the distance and length of intense swimming has increased, and Andrew has noticed significant payoffs. “When I was my most physically fit and finished my races the best—like when I went my 1:56 in March—I was doing a lot of 200 butterfly sets,” Andrew said. “For that, I was mentally confident that if I can get 30 x 50 on a certain pace butterfly, and I can finish any race...sure enough, I was able to step up and be able to do it.” And, in another change from his 2018 stance, Andrew had no equivocations about his primary event focuses heading into the Olympic summer: the 200 IM, 100 breast and 50 free. Two years of racing on the senior international level showed Andrew what he does best. He and his father may choose to add another event or two—the 100 fly or possibly the 100 free—but the training will 22
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center around those first three events. And should Andrew return to the form that saw him shine at the Des Moines Pro Series meet in March or at Pan Pacs back in 2018, he will undoubtedly be among the short list of contenders for U.S. Olympic team spots in all three of those races.
NO REGRETS
When Andrew turned pro at 14, he was committed to his path: there would be no changing his mind and trying to regain his eligibility for high school or NCAA competition. Now, sevenand-a-half years down the line, Andrew expresses no regrets, but sometimes, like during a period when he’s not performing at his best, he wonders what the alternative path would have looked like. “I would have probably gone to the University of Texas,” he said. “I have a lot of friends out there. I know they have a really good group, a lot of guys who really push each other. I wonder sometimes, ‘What would I be doing in terms of the training or the events? Would my event lineup be completely different? Maybe I would be a 400 IMer?’ Those types of things. “But I never regret it because I realize, man, I’ve had an incredible career up to now, but I also just love the opportunities that I’ve been blessed with through going pro and being able to travel... and the freedoms that I’ve been given, just in terms of being able to create our own brand.” Andrew believes that other athletes and coaches, inspired by his success, became more comfortable deviating from more traditional methods of training, and he has been encouraged seeing those athletes achieving success. Yes, he knows he missed out on the team atmosphere, camaraderie and relays that come from the
NCAA swimming experience, but he of the country’s top swimmers, with a chance to cement that by earning his first has enjoyed seeing those elements “It was an interesting year, but looking back Olympic berth. of swimming elsewhere—with the However, when Andrew mentioned New York Breakers and with the U.S. on it, I’m really, really grateful because we had national team. extra time to prepare mentally. We really kind of Dressel—just named MVP of the ISL But with the decision to follow stepped back 100% from the pool and decided, final for a second consecutive year after breaking world records in the 50 free, a very different direction for his ‘We’ll take this season to be away from the pool 100 fly and 100 IM and winning all five swimming career came criticism, and Andrew and his family have dealt with and focus on strengths...and we’re just enjoying of his individual events in the final—he commented, “I know I’m meant to be plenty of feedback and criticism over the paradise we live in.’” there,” referring to Dressel’s level of the years. These days, Andrew finds superstardom. But at this point, he is not most of the chatter he reads positive at the tip-top of the world’s elite, the goldand encouraging, but previously, he had medal level. Even if it’s unfair to expect that level of achievement to learn how to filter out negative chatter so that it didn’t affect him. from a 21-year-old, however long he has been in swimming’s “When I was younger, I enjoyed reading the comments section spotlight, Andrew seems to expect that of himself. and seeing what people had to say. A lot of times it was snarky or Swimmers’ careers are most commonly judged by their negative or would break me down a little bit in terms of who I am as accomplishments at the Olympic level and, to a lesser extent, at the an athlete. And that’s people making judgments off of no basis. They long course World Championships, and that’s a level Andrew has didn’t know who I was. And then it’s cool to see that over the years, not yet conquered. So the 2021 Olympic season represents a key as people got to know me, it’s turned more positive than negative,” juncture in his career, even if his unconventional path has allowed Andrew said. Andrew to achieve massive successes totally separate from that “I never wanted to use negative criticism as a means to motivate Olympics-centered path, including the World Cup and short course myself when training. I definitely would feed off of it a lot of times wins, numerous high-value sponsorship deals and family control of in the right light, but I realized I had to stop kind of looking at it. one of the original ISL teams. As I obviously matured and got older, I realized that I don’t need to “I feel a little more pressure personally this year because I had a give any attention to what somebody so far out of my circle has to great season in 2018, and then 2019 was pretty rocky, and then 2020 say because ultimately, their input isn’t going to make a difference.” was pretty nonexistent,” Andrew said. “I’m at a point where I want
EXPECTING GREAT THINGS Today, Andrew is 21, and he is a good-natured and insightful individual, but to many disconnected observers around the swimming community, “Andrew the Swimmer” remains a polarizing figure—if only because of his unorthodox background and the nonconforming decisions that have steered his career. Considering the normal standards by which swimming careers are judged, he is already one
to really solidify myself as a swimmer capable of showing up when it really matters. I know I have to do it now, so there’s a little more pressure there.” So, yes, Michael Andrew is a swimming star, just not quite in the same mold as a Dressel, a Sarah Sjostrom, a Katie Ledecky or an Adam Peaty—those with numerous world records and gold medals. But his biggest chance yet to test himself on that Olympic level is quickly approaching, and Andrew is certain he will be ready. JANUARY 2021
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INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME
WHO “SHOT” THE SWIMMERS? This is the first part of a series that highlights an International Swimming Hall of Fame exhibit showing the history of swimming through the eyes of the photojournalists who have covered the aquatic sports for more than 150 years. BY BRUCE WIGO PHOTOS BY INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME
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ithout cameras and the photographers who have used them, the history of our sports would be nothing but printed words and fading memories. It is through the miracle of photography that the heroes and great moments of the past and present are remembered and will live on. For most of the early years of sports photography, photographers were technically handicapped by primitive equipment, limiting
Pictured > Hans Ertl with his camera equipment at the Berlin Olympic pool.
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photos to posed images of swimmers. THE GENIUS OF HANS ERTL The first major breakthrough in photography came with the development of the hand-held, 35mm Leica camera in the 1920s. But the first great photographer, whose creativity and innovations ignited the imaginations and artistic genius of future generations was Hans Ertl. Ertl was born in Munich, Germany in 1908 and first made a name for himself as an expert mountaineer and mountain guide. His career took a turn when he was hired as a stuntman for mountain films that were popular in Germany in the early 1930s. It was during these shoots that he became fascinated with filmmaking. After teaching himself the principles of photography, he began working as an assistant cameraman. He was a workaholic, extremely ambitious, and he soon developed his own creative and innovative techniques. THE RISE OF LENI RIEFENSTAHL Ertl’s work at the 1936 Winter Olympics in GarmischPartenkirchen, Germany, greatly impressed Leni Riefenstahl. Born in 1902, Riefenstahl’s early childhood was marked by a love of the outdoors, climbing trees, running and swimming. “Nothing was too high for me or too steep or too dangerous,” she later recalled. Then she discovered dancing, and by her early 20s, she was performing all across Europe until an injury forced her off the stage and into acting. Between 1925 and 1929, she starred in five successful motion pictures before realizing her dream of writing and directing herself in a film called Das Blaue Licht (The Blue Light) in 1931. When it was released in 1932, the script and her acting received mixed reviews, but the cinematography received universal acclaim. “I can’t remember a single picture in which every shot had such
>> One of Riefenstahl and Ertl’s favorite subjects was Olympic diving champion Dorothy Poynton Hill (top row). Also shown in this collage of Ertl’s photography (bottom row, from left) is an underwater shot of two-time Olympic 200 breaststroke bronze medalist Teófilo Yldefonso (1928 and 1932) and Jack Medica, a three-time medalist at the 1936 Games in Berlin (one gold/400 free, two silver/1500, 800 FR).
startling beauty,” raved the critique in the New York Times. At the time of Das Blaue Licht’s release, Adolf Hitler’s popularity was on the rise, and Riefenstahl was an early admirer. She wrote him a note requesting a personal meeting, and it turned out that the admiration was mutual. Later, when Hitler secured his power-base, he called upon her to film the infamous Nazi party rally at Nuremberg in 1934. The resulting film, Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will) was considered at the time to be an artistic masterpiece that won many international awards. Then, after Hitler reluctantly agreed to support the Olympic movement, he selected Riefenstahl—over the objections of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels’ choice—to shoot the official film for the 1936 Summer Games. It was remarkable for a woman of her day to oversee production and lead a team of over 40 male cinematographers and cameramen. Of course, she had Hitler’s backing and his assurance that she would have unprecedented access to athletes and shooting locations. But it was her passionate determination that inspired her all-male crew to be innovative and creative and to cover every event from every possible angle. FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM OF THE OLYMPICS While Riefenstahl gets the well-deserved credit for Olympia (her film of the 1936 Summer Games), many of her most artistic
and innovative shots came from her collaboration with her chief cameraman, Hans Ertl, whom she had met years earlier when he was an assistant cameraman on one of her films. When Riefenstahl was hired to produce and direct the 1936 Olympic Games film, one of her first hires was Ertl as her chief cameraman. In Berlin, Ertl immediately began experimenting and developing equipment for shooting sporting events in ways that had never before been conceived. At the Winter Games in Garmisch, he had mounted movie and still cameras on skis, and for the Summer Games, he developed a remote-controlled camera that moved on rails to keep pace with runners and swimmers during their races. His inventions and ideas transformed modern photography for years to come. To capture unique perspectives on diving, he shot athletes from all angles—from a ladder atop the 10-meter diving platform, up from water level and under the surface of the water. He built a special underwater housing that enabled him to adjust the focus and exposure for above-and-below-the-water scenes. With this camera in hand, he would climb onto the high board, focus his lens...and dive with the diver while adjusting the focus and exposure as they dropped into the water. He also utilized a rubber raft that was pulled backward while swimmers swam toward him, or alongside him while he was filming them. Because many of Ertl’s innovations and shooting angles would have interfered with competitions, most were staged before or after CONTINUED ON 26 >> JANUARY 2021
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WHO “SHOT” THE SWIMMERS? / CONTINUED FROM 25
>> Hans Ertl utilized a rubber raft that was pulled backward while swimmers swam toward him, or alongside him while he was filming them. With Leni Riefenstahl directing, Ertl filmed breaststroker Teófilo Yldefonso, who became the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to win an Olympic medal (bronze, 200 breast, 1928 and 1932).
the Games and were cut into the final edit to appear as though they had been filmed during the competitions. When Olympia was finally released in 1938—after over two years in post-production—it was regarded throughout Europe as a cinemagraphic masterpiece that glorified sport and won many awards. But it was never seen in America, as its release coincided with Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), the nationwide pogrom of looting, arson, murder and state terrorism against the Jews in Germany. When Riefensthal brought the film to America, the film industry turned its back on her. It would be 1958 before it was distributed, and although it was considered a Nazi propaganda film, allied censors removed less than three minutes from the edited version. In spite of its many innovations and contributions to sports photography and cinematography, one cannot ignore Riefenstahl’s role as part of the Nazi propaganda machine that was ultimately responsible for the deaths of millions of people. POSTSCRIPT Although Hans Ertl showed an early enthusiasm for Hitler, he, like Riefenstahl, was never a member of the Nazi Party. In 1939, as he was preparing to leave Germany to shoot a mountaineering film in Chile, Ertl was conscripted into the German Army. For the next six years, he served the Third Reich filming the exploits of General Rommel in Africa. After the War, he fled to Bolivia, where he lived in relative anonymity as a farmer until 1969, when his favorite and youngest daughter, Monika, joined Che Guevara’s guerrilla army. It was a choice that pained her father. Two years later, she became the most wanted criminal in Latin America after she assassinated the general responsible for Guevara’s execution at an outdoor café. She was finally captured and killed in 1973 after a failed attempt to kidnap Klaus Barbie, the “Butcher of Lyon,” and have him tried for war crimes. 26
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>> “Olympia”—shown on the book cover of “Taschen” in 2002—was the most talked-about sports documentary film in history. Directed by Leni Riefenstahl, the film about the 1936 Summer Olympics was released in 1938.
?
INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME
DID YOU
KNOW ABOUT SPORTS CARTOONS?
BY BRUCE WIGO PHOTOS BY INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME
I
n the first half of the 20th century, sports cartoonists depicted the action that early cameras were unable to capture because of low light and slow shutter speeds. Once photographic technology overcame these hurdles and displaced the “news” role of sports cartoonists, their work became more of a sports page feature. Cartoonists drew more upon their imagination and knowledge of personalities rather than attending sporting events as visual reporters. And in the early 20th century, no American newspaper of any size was without its regular sports cartoonist. These artists blended the skills of a caricaturist with the mindset of a columnist. They were entertainers and ink-stained jokesters. They were newsroom denizens and deadline artists who churned out five or six cartoons a week that received > In its sports cartoon collection, the International Swimming Hall of prominent display. Fame has over 100 caricatures of the world’s greatest aquatic stars Sports cartoons were usually more amusing and informative than critical, drawn during the first half of the 20th century. which reflected the times when the sports section was the “fun-and-games department.” And they provided their audiences with entertaining images that reporters could not with their words. In 1929, Hardin Burnley became the then-youngest artist to have a syndicated feature producing cartoons of sports stars. He later worked for D.C. Comics and was the first artist to portray Superman with Batman and Robin on the same cover. In the 1920s, Johnny Weissmuller was the Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps of his era, and when he retired, many predicted that American supremacy in the pool would end with him. If the present generation remembers him at all, it is as a somewhat portly and inarticulate fellow swinging from jungle trees and wrestling crocodiles in old black-and-white “Tarzan” movies—not as the great swimmer who regularly received more votes than Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Ty Cobb and Jim Thorpe as the World’s Best Athlete...or as the man who won four Olympic gold medals and set a world record in the 100 yard freestyle that lasted 17 years! In timed sports such as swimming, retired champions lose much of their glamour with each passing season. Even though Weissmuller’s “unbeatable” record of 51.0 for the 100 yard free is slower than the 12-and-under girls record for the same event set by Missy Franklin 90 years later, we should remember that in his day, he was “the best in the world.” As a prelude to the 1932 Olympic Games, Hardin Burnley predicted that American swimming was in good hands and that Buster Crabbe would be America’s new star. At the Olympic Games, the Japanese men were dominant, and Crabbe was the only U.S. swimmer to win gold (in the 400 free). While Crabbe didn’t surpass Johnny’s record in the pool, he did top his predecessor as a Hollywood film star, appearing in over a hundred films— remembered most TOTAL ACCESS MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO SEE ANOTHER SPORTS CARTOON as the original Flash OF SOME OF AMERICA’S GREATEST SWIMMERS AND DIVERS. NOT A TOTAL ACCESS MEMBER? YOU’RE JUST A CLICK AWAY: Gordon, Billy the Kid > If Hardin Burnley were alive today, he might have previewed the 2021 Tokyo SWIMMINGWORLD.COM/VAULT and even as Tarzan! Games with cartoon caricatures of Michael Phelps and Caeleb Dressel. JANUARY 2021
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American Matt Biondi had it all. The physique. The pure talent. The inner drive. Add those traits together, and it is no surprise that Matt Biondi—over the span of three Olympiads— cultivated one of the finest careers the sport has ever seen.
[PHOTO BY INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME]
A SHOOTING STAR IN SEOUL
BY JOHN LOHN
I
f a Mount Rushmore of American male swimming legends were constructed, the first three names would be slamdunk selections: Michael Phelps. Mark Spitz. Johnny Weissmuller. Although the final spot is slightly more complicated, it is typically handed to Matt Biondi, with the Cal-Berkeley star getting the nod over Don Schollander, another Hall of Famer. As Swimming World continues to examine some of the epic moments in Olympic history as we approach the 2021 Tokyo Games, it was easy to choose what Biondi managed at the 1988 Games in Seoul for inclusion. After all, it’s rare for an athlete to walk away from an Olympic Games with seven medals—and that is exactly what Biondi pulled off.
A SPECTACULAR RISE
Certain stories go down in the sport’s lore as entertaining tales, and Rowdy Gaines can share a doozy when it comes to Biondi. At the 1984 Olympic Trials, the meet that catapulted him to three gold medals at the Los Angeles Games, Gaines didn’t just earn his first Olympic invitation. He also received an education that can be laughed at decades later. When Gaines scanned the results of the 100 freestyle at Trials, he stopped at the name in the fourth position. It was unfamiliar, and prompted Gaines to utter two words: “Matt Who?” Simply, Gaines had no clue about Biondi’s potential and was caught off guard by the emergence of a man he would shortly team with in Olympic-relay action. “When I said, ‘Matt Who,’ little did I know he would become one of the greatest swimmers in history,” Gaines said. “I always say I came along during a perfect time in history, post-Spitz and pre-Biondi!” Biondi might have been an unknown commodity in 1984, but that under-the-radar freedom would not last for long. Legendary coach Mark Schubert knew greatness when he saw it, and he immediately pegged Biondi for stardom. That status was attained the next year 28
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when Biondi collected seven medals at the 1985 Pan Pacific Championships (five gold, highlighted by triumphs in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle). A year later at the 1986 edition of the World Championships, Biondi won another seven medals, including gold in the 100 free. When he produced six more medals at the 1987 Pan Pacific Champs, there was no curtailing the lofty expectations placed upon him at the 1988 Olympics. “He was born with all the right tools,” said Biondi’s coach, Nort Thornton. “He has an incredible feel for the water. It’s hard to describe. It’s the same feel a pianist has for the keys and an artist’s brush has for the canvas. He is able to sense the water pressure on his hands. He sets his hands at the right pitch, like a propeller on a boat. He is able to pitch his blades at the right angle. A lot of people don’t have that awareness.” As much as Biondi wanted to go unnoticed in preparation for his work in Seoul, there was no stopping the hype his talent had created. Sixteen years after Spitz won seven gold medals at the 1972 Games in Munich, Biondi was scheduled to race seven events in Korea—four individual and three relays. Of course, the question arose: “Could all seven be gold?” In the years following Spitz’s achievement, the sport had changed significantly. There was now more depth around the world, and the United States, while still a heavy favorite, would face greater challenges in the relays. Still, the media did not care. Journalists saw the chance to measure Biondi against Spitz, even if Biondi wanted nothing to do with the comparison. He knew he was in a no-win situation. “The burden of public expectation is tremendous,” Biondi said. “It’s like a ladder. When you start out, you’re at the bottom and work up. There’s satisfaction every time you climb one more rung. You see your accomplishments. The people keep getting smaller and smaller at the bottom. But when you reach the top, there’s nowhere to go, only down. You look down, and you have to fight people off. You lose a race, and people sound as if you let them down. How could you do this to them?”
THE CHASE IS OVER
The alignment of Biondi’s seven-event schedule at his second Olympiad was front-heavy. Not only was the 200 freestyle, his most challenging event, the opener to his program, but the 100 butterfly was his second event, which included a showdown with West Germany’s Michael Gross. When Biondi failed to win either event, some members of the press posed the question: “What is wrong?”
FINISHING STRONG
The bronze-silver start by Biondi not only ended the comparisons to Spitz, but alleviated the pressure that followed him to
[PHOTO BY KENJI KINOSHITA]
> He might have been an unknown commodity in 1984, qualifying fourth in the 100 free at the U.S. Olympic Trials for a spot on the gold medal-winning 400 free relay in Los Angeles. The next year, however, Biondi attained superstar status, winning seven medals (five gold, highlighted by triumphs in the 50 and 100 free) at the inaugural Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo.
[PHOTO BY SWIMMING WORLD]
Basically, Biondi proved prophetic when he suggested he might be held to an impossible standard. For Biondi, the 200 freestyle was the ultimate stretch of his prowess. The distance maximized Biondi’s range, and when he earned the bronze medal behind Australia’s Duncan Armstrong and Sweden’s Anders Holmertz, there was a sense of pride in the accomplishment. Biondi knew a medal in the event was no foregone conclusion, and to stand on the podium was a superb result. Yet, NBC Sports anchor Bob Costas noted that Biondi “settled for bronze.” It was a statement that didn’t sit well. More, Biondi did everything in his power to win the race. Aware that his speed was his biggest asset, Biondi attacked the early laps and built a lead. It was a gutsy strategy that surely enabled him to medal, but he couldn’t fend off Armstrong or Holmertz, who were better known for their endurance and closing speed. “It was (a feeling) of more relief than anything else because we had trained four or five years for that moment, and the race takes less than two minutes,” Armstrong said, referring to the work he did under the watch of Coach Laurie Lawrence. “You go two minutes on one day every four years. That’s the clock. You do an enormous amount of training and then you get there, and we had the perfect race. We had the great strategy and some good competition in the water. We had a world record. All my dreams and hopes in swimming came true in one touch of the wall. It was just wonderful. It was the perfect moment for us. It was the pinnacle of my swimming career.” In the 100 butterfly, Biondi’s search for his first gold of the Games ended in excruciating fashion. While the American was able to beat Gross, his co-favorite, Biondi was doomed by a poor finish, and he lost the race to Suriname’s Anthony Nesty by 1-hundredth of a second. The frustration at the outcome was evident on Biondi’s face, and he didn’t hold back when writing about the race in a diary he kept for Sports Illustrated. “I fouled up,” he said. “I’d do anything to do it over again, but I can’t. Maybe if I had grown my fingernails a little bit longer or kicked a little harder, I would have won. The wall came up at an odd time, at midstroke. I was caught halfway through a stroke and had to decide whether to take another stroke or kick in. I decided to kick to the wall.”
> For his career, Biondi piled up 11 Olympic medals over three Olympiads (1984-88-92) and complemented that excellence with the admiration of his teammates and rivals. There is no doubt, though, that the 1988 Games stand as his iconic moment, when he won seven medals—five gold, one silver and one bronze. CONTINUED ON 30 >> JANUARY 2021
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[PHOTO BY TONY DUFFY]
MATT BIONDI / CONTINUED FROM 28
> “He was born with all the right tools,” said Biondi’s coach, Nort Thornton. “He has an incredible feel for the water. It’s hard to describe. It’s the same feel a pianist has for the keys and an artist’s brush has for the canvas.”
Seoul and lit a fire for his final five events. Not long after he endured his narrow loss to Nesty in the 100 fly, Biondi climbed the blocks for the United States in the 800 freestyle relay and carried his country to a come-from-behind victory over East Germany in world-record time. Covering his anchor leg in 1:46.44, Biondi delivered the fastest split in history. From that point forward, the Californian couldn’t be stopped. Biondi followed with gold medals in the 100 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay over the next two nights, and backed up those performances with victories in the 50 free and 400 medley relay. When he left Seoul, Biondi had five gold medals, a silver and a bronze. Years later, he also had an appreciation for the difficulty of his program. “To think of Seoul, I was able to distinguish myself not just in America, but as a great Olympian. That was my high-water mark,” Biondi said. “That was a peak year. It’s hard to think about it. Like other people, I’m a guy who will burn a bagel in the toaster, but I got to take that trail. It’s kind of amazing.” Biondi’s sweep of the sprint-freestyle events was a mixture of expectation and satisfaction. While Biondi delivered as the favorite to win the 100 free, his ascent to the top of the podium in the 50 required him to traverse a more difficult path. Squaring off with countryman Tom Jager, Biondi went into Seoul as an underdog in that event. Jager won the World title in the 30
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50 free ahead of Biondi in 1986, and followed a year later by beating him again at Pan Pacs. But on the biggest stage, it was Biondi who found a way to prevail. How much did the victory mean? There is a well-known photo in the sport of Biondi thrusting his arm into the air in celebration, and it is an image that Biondi has long adored.
ONE MORE LAP
With Seoul in the rearview mirror, Biondi initially thought his career was over. Yet, as is the case with many elite athletes, the sport pulled him back into the water. Another solo World title was added to his résumé at the 1991 World Championships, and he left his final Olympics in 1992 in Barcelona with two more gold medals in relay action and a silver medal in the 50 freestyle. For his career, Biondi piled up 11 Olympic medals and complemented that excellence with the admiration of his teammates and rivals. There is no doubt, though, that the 1988 Games stand as his iconic moment. “I always dream in the future,” he once said. “I think about the Olympics a lot, mostly when I’m walking between classes or home from swim practice. I run through a race in my mind, as if it’s really happening. In that respect, I’m a dreamer. I’m like a little kid who thinks about being an astronaut and going to the moon.” He was a shooting star in Seoul.
2020
WORLD AND AMERICAN
RECORD PROGRESSION COMPILED BY ANDY ROSS
WORLD RECORDS LONG COURSE — WOMEN No world records were set in 2020
LONG COURSE — MEN
Following is a list of the world and American records set this past season for long course, short course meters and short course yards. The record progression begins with meets swum Jan. 1, 2020 for long course and Dec. 1, 2019 for short course meters and yards. The list was last updated Dec. 1, 2020. The initial time listed per event is the previous record.
3:44.52 USA — Budapest 11-21-20 Olivia Smoliga, Lilly King Kelsi Dahlia, Erika Brown
SHORT COURSE — MEN
LONG COURSE — MIXED
50 METER FREESTYLE 20.26 Florent Manaudou, FRA — Doha 12-5-14 20.24 Caeleb Dressel, USA — Las Vegas 12-20-19 20.16 Caeleb Dressel, USA — Budapest 11-21-20
4x100 METER MEDLEY RELAY 3:38.56 USA — Budapest 7-26-17 Matt Grevers, Lilly King Caeleb Dressel, Simone Manuel
100 METER BACKSTROKE 48.88 Xu Jiayu, CHN — Tokyo 11-11-18 48.58r Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS — Budapest 11-21-20
3:38.41p China — Qingdao 10-1-20 Xu Jiayu, Yan Zibei Zhang Yufei, Yang Junxuan
100 METER BREASTSTROKE 55.61 Cameron van der Burgh, RSA — Berlin 11-15-09 55.49 Adam Peaty, GBR — Budapest 11-15-20 55.41 Adam Peaty, GBR — Budapest 11-22-20
No world records were set in 2020
SHORT COURSE — WOMEN 50 METER BACKSTROKE 25.67 Etiene Medeiros, BRA — Doha 12-7-14 25.60 Kira Toussaint, NED — Budapest 11-14-20 200 METER BACKSTROKE 1:59.23 Katinka Hosszu, HUN — Doha 12-5-14 1:58.94 Kaylee McKeown, AUS — Brisbane 11-27-20
100 METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY 50.26 Vladimir Morozov, RUS — Eindhoven 9-28-18 50.26= Vladimir Morozov, RUS — Tokyo 11-9-18 49.88 Caeleb Dressel, USA — Budapest 11-16-20 49.28 Caeleb Dressel, USA — Budapest 11-22-20 400 METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY 3:55.50 Ryan Lochte, USA — Dubai 12-16-10 3:54.81 Daiya Seto, JPN — Las Vegas 12-20-19
AMERICAN RECORDS LONG COURSE — WOMEN No American records were set in 2020
LONG COURSE — MEN No American records were set in 2020
SHORT COURSE METERS — WOMEN 50 METER FREESTYLE 23.82 Dara Torres — Berlin 11-17-07 23.79 Abbey Weitzeil — Budapest 10-24-20 23.45 Abbey Weitzeil — Budapest 11-9-20 100 METER FREESTYLE 51.63 Mallory Comerford — Hangzhou 12-13-18 51.26 Abbey Weitzeil — Budapest 11-10-20 50 METER BACKSTROKE 25.88 Olivia Smoliga — Hangzhou 12-15-18 25.74 Olivia Smoliga — Budapest 10-16-20 100 METER BACKSTROKE 55.47 Olivia Smoliga — Hangzhou 12-11-18 55.04 Olivia Smoliga — Budapest 11-22-20 50 METER BREASTSTROKE 28.92 Lilly King — Windsor 12-7-16
[PHOTO BY MINE KASAPAOGLU/ISL]
4x100 METER MEDLEY RELAY 3:45.20 USA — Indianapolis 12-11-15 Courtney Bartholomew, Katie Meili Kelsi Worrell, Simone Manuel
100 METER BUTTERFLY 48.08 Chad le Clos, RSA — Windsor 12-8-16 47.78 Caeleb Dressel, USA — Budapest 11-21-20
SHORT COURSE — MIXED
No world records were set in 2020
>> Caeleb Dressel of the United States CONTINUED ON 32 >> JANUARY 2021
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WORLD & AMERICAN RECORD PROGRESSION / CONTINUED FROM 31
SHORT COURSE METERS — MEN
[PHOTO COURTESY OF SWIMMING AUSTRALIA]
50 METER FREESTYLE 20.43 Caeleb Dressel — Hangzhou 12-14-18 20.24 Caeleb Dressel — Las Vegas 12-20-19 20.16 Caeleb Dressel — Budapest 11-21-20 100 METER FREESTYLE 45.62 Caeleb Dressel — Hangzhou 12-16-18 45.22 Caeleb Dressel — Las Vegas 12-21-19 45.20 Caeleb Dressel — Budapest 11-16-20 45.18 Caeleb Dressel — Budapest 11-21-20 45.08 Caeleb Dressel — Budapest 11-22-20 200 METER FREESTYLE 1:41.08 Ryan Lochte — Dubai 12-15-10 1:40.49 Townley Haas — Budapest 11-22-20 50 METER BREASTSTROKE 25.99 Ian Finnerty — College Park 11-16-19 25.75 Nic Fink — Las Vegas 12-20-19 >> Kaylee McKeown of Australia
28.90 Lilly King — Las Vegas 12-20-19 28.86 Lilly King — Budapest 10-16-20 28.77 Lilly King — Budapest 11-21-20 100 METER BREASTSTROKE 1:02.92 Katie Meili — Berlin 8-30-16 1:02.50 Lilly King — Budapest 11-22-20 200 METER BREASTSTROKE 2:16.39 Rebecca Soni — Dubai 12-19-10 2:16.04 Lilly King — Budapest 10-26-20 2:15.80 Lilly King — Budapest 11-5-20 2:15.56 Lilly King — Budapest 11-21-20 50 METER BUTTERFLY 24.93 Kelsi Dahlia — Hangzhou 12-13-18 24.80 Madeline Banic — Budapest 11-22-20 100 METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY 58.02 Katie Meili — Berlin 8-31-16 57.94 Melanie Margalis — Budapest 10-27-20 200 METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY 2:04.18 Melanie Margalis — Indianapolis 10-6-19
SWIM MART
2:04.06 Melanie Margalis — Budapest 10-16-20
100 METER BREASTSTROKE 56.29 Ian Finnerty — College Park 11-17-19 56.16 Nic Fink — Budapest 11-22-20
400 METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY 4:24.46 Melanie Margalis — College Park 11-16-19 4:24.15 Melanie Margalis — Las Vegas 12-20-19
200 METER BREASTSTROKE 2:02.33 Cody Miller — Indianapolis 12-11-15 2:02.20 Nic Fink — Budapest 11-21-20
4x100 METER MEDLEY RELAY 3:45.20 USA — Indianapolis 12-11-15 Courtney Bartholomew, Katie Meili Kelsi Worrell, Simone Manuel
50 METER BUTTERFLY 22.21 Caeleb Dressel — College Park 11-17-19 22.06 Caeleb Dressel — Las Vegas 12-21-19 22.06=Caeleb Dressel — Budapest 11-10-20 22.04 Caeleb Dressel — Budapest 11-16-20
3:44.52 USA — Budapest 11-21-20 Olivia Smoliga, Lilly King Kelsi Dahlia, Erika Brown 4x100 METER FREESTYLE RELAY 3:27.70 USA — Doha 12-5-14 Natalie Coughlin, Abbey Weitzeil Madison Kennedy, Shannon Vreeland 3:27.65 USA — Las Vegas 12-20-19 Olivia Smoliga, Kelsi Dahlia Natalie Hinds, Mallory Comerford
100 METER BUTTERFLY 48.63 Tom Shields — Indianapolis 12-11-15 47.78 Caeleb Dressel — Budapest 11-21-20 200 METER BUTTERFLY 1:49.05 Tom Shields — Indianapolis 12-12-15 1:49.02 Tom Shields — Budapest 11-16-20 1:48.66 Tom Shields — Budapest 11-22-20 100 METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY 50.71 Ryan Lochte — Istanbul 12-15-12 50.48 Caeleb Dressel — Budapest 11-10-20 49.88 Caeleb Dressel — Budapest 11-16-20 49.28 Caeleb Dressel — Budapest 11-22-20
SHORT COURSE YARDS — WOMEN 100 YARD BUTTERFLY 49.43 Kelsi Worrell — Atlanta 3-20-16 49.38 Erika Brown — Auburn 2-20-20
SHORT COURSE YARDS — MEN
REACH LONG
KICK STRONG
NZCordz.com 800.886.6621
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500 YARD FREESTYLE 4:07.25 Zane Grothe — Columbus 11-30-17 4:06.32 Kieran Smith — Auburn 2-19-20 1650 YARD FREESTYLE 14:18.25 Zane Grothe — Columbus 12-2-17 14:12.08 Bobby Finke — Auburn 2-22-20
NUTRITION
IF YOU WANT TO BE AN OLYMPIAN OR WORLD CHAMPION,
THEN TRAIN LIKE ONE! A strong immune system means fewer days out of the water. BY DAWN WEATHERWAX
T
op swimmers who medal at major events have one thing in common: they experience less frequent and shorter duration respiratory and gut infections than their competition. Ill health accounts for one-third of all lost training days or performance alterations. Sleep, hydration and nutrition quality and amount are the top influencers. Athletes need a minimum of nine to 11 hours of sleep on a regular basis to maximize recovery and repair. Lack of continuous sleep weakens the immune system and opens up the opportunity to get sick or injured. It is important that swimmers understand that if “lack of time management” is the cause, then they need to re-evaluate their goals. Shortage of hydration intake not only impairs performance, but impacts the integrity of the mucosal lining in the gut. A weak gut leads to The average female an increased opportunity to get sick. swimmer needs The goal is to drink a minimum of 2,200 to 3,500 of half your weight in fluid ounces a high-quality calories day plus four to 20 ounces per hour per day. per activity (how much you sweat impacts the amount needed). Daily nutrition has the most impact on all aspects of training, especially immunity. However, 75% of athletes chronically undereat or have too much added sugar or saturated fat. Undereating—otherwise known as “low energy availability”—is a significant factor. The body needs to be nourished properly to recover, repair, grow and to do back-to-back trainings optimally. Carbohydrtes, protein and healthy fats are involved in a variety of immune processes, whereas micronutrients (vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc and probiotics) are important for decreasing the impact of the illness. If you are serious about swimming—even at a young age—eating enough of high-quality foods at the right times is imperative for optimal growth and performance. An easy way to know if you are getting enough high-quality carbohydrates is by total grams of daily fiber and added sugar intake. You want to aim for a minimum of 20g of fiber a day and less than 25g of added sugar a day. Next is getting enough protein (1.2-1.7 g/kg/BM/day). Your muscles act like a sponge—they can only absorb so much protein at one time, so spread it out. Lastly, you want to make sure you are eating a minimum of 30% of your diet from healthy fats. Salmon, oysters, walnuts, chia, flax, non-GMO canola oil, non-GMO firmed tofu, navy beans, Brussels sprouts and avocado are some ideal options. When it comes to micronutrients, you want to make sure you are consuming at least 100-200mg of vitamin C a day. Vitamin C impacts inflammation, kills bacteria and fights infections. Guavas, kiwi, bell
>>Dawn Weatherwax
peppers, strawberries, oranges, papayas, broccoli, tomatoes, snow peas and kale are a few top choices. Vitamin D directly impacts immune cell functions. Reaching 20 micrograms or 600 international units (IU) daily is the goal. Salmon, eggs, pork chops, cremini mushrooms (exposed to ultraviolet light), non-GMO firm tofu and fortified yogurt, milk, milk substitutes, orange juice and breakfast cereals are leading picks. Zinc is an essential mineral for wound healing and immune system function. The target is 11mg of zinc a day and more if you are vegan. Beef, chicken, pork, seafood, yogurt, lentils, lima beans, non-GMO tofu, oatmeal, hemp, shitake mushrooms, green peas, spinach and asparagus are excellent selections. Pre and probiotics impact the health of our gut microbiome. A healthy gut impacts how well we fight illness. Currently, there are no dietary recommendations, but try to aim for one daily serving of a pre or probiotic food. Yogurt, kefir, kimchi, slightly green bananas, plantains, sauerkraut, garlic, and rice, potatoes and pasta that have been cooked and reheated or eaten cold are options. It is evident how sleep, hydration The average male and daily nutrient intakes impact swimmer needs performance. Staying healthy is a 2,500 to 5,000 of must if you want to be the best. Start high-quality calories planning out next week’s food plan per day. to ensure your success. Please enjoy the sample menu to get you started.
3,000-CALORIE TRAINING MENU Pre-Swim Practice (4:30-5:15 a.m.) 2 slices Dave’s Killer Bread 2 T
Natural nut or seed butter
1/2
Banana slice
1
Grapefuit or large orange
16 oz
Water
Training (5:30-6:45 a.m.) 4-16 oz Water an hour (amount needed depends on sweat rate) CONTINUED ON 34 >> JANUARY 2021
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TRAIN LIKE A CHAMPION / CONTINUED FROM 33
If you are vegan or restrict dairy, a sports nutrition consultant is highly recommended to ensure meeting all your nutrient needs for short- and longterm health and performance goals.
Breakfast (6-7:30 a.m.) Egg sandwich: 1 Dave’s Killer English Muffin 3 Whole eggs (cooked with 1 chopped bell pepper and 1/2 cup spinach) 1 Slice of Canadian bacon
2 Kiwi 16 oz Water Lunch (11 a.m.-12:45 p.m.) 30 Triscuit Thin Crisps Original Crackers 2 oz Lean turkey 1 oz Lean ham 1 oz Provolone 1 oz Cheddar cheese 1/4 cup Sliced cucumbers 1-1/2 cup Grapes 2 cups Snow peas 1/3 cup Hummus 16 oz Water with cucumbers
Afternoon Snack (2-3:30 p.m.) 1 Garden of Life high-performance bar Trailmix: 1/8 cup Raw almonds 1/8 cup Pepita seeds 1/8 cup Golden raisins 1T Cacao nibs 1T Dried cranberries 16 oz Water Training (3:30-5:30 p.m.) 10-20 oz Water (an hour with one NUUN tablet—optional tablet—per 20oz) Post-recovery within 30-45 minutes: 1020 oz chocolate milk/soy milk or Clif Builder Bar (* If you can have dinner within that time, then no need for this snack) Evening Meal (6-7 p.m.) 3-6 oz Salmon 1-2 cups Asparagus 1 T Olive oil or non-GMO canola oil 1 cup Red potatoes with garlic 1 tsp Land O’Lakes butter with olive oil 16 oz Water Evening Snack (8-10 p.m.) 1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt 2 cups Raspberries 2 tsp Cinnamon Dawn Weatherwax (RD, CSSD, LD, ATC, CSCS) is a registered/licensed dietitian with a specialty in sports nutrition and founder of Sports Nutrition 2Go. She is also a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics, which is the premier professional sports nutrition credential in the United States. In addition, she is an athletic trainer with a certification in strength and conditioning from The National Strength and Conditioning Association. Weatherwax brings a comprehensive and unique understanding of the athlete’s body—and its nutritional needs—to those interested in achieving specific performance goals and optimal health. She is also the author of “The Official Snack Guide for Beleaguered Sports Parents,” “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Sports Nutrition” and “The Sports Nutrition Guide for Young Athletes.” She is an official speaker for the Gatorade Sports Science Institute and was on the approval speaker list for the NCAA. She has also been featured on television and magazines, including: Good Morning America, MSNBC, Oxygen, Spark and Shape. TOTAL ACCESS MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE REFERENCES FOR THIS ARTICLE. NOT A TOTAL ACCESS MEMBER? YOU’RE JUST A CLICK AWAY: SWIMMINGWORLD.COM/VAULT
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DRYSIDE TRAINING
RESOLUTIONS FOR SWIMMING FASTER IN 2021! BY J.R. ROSANIA • DEMONSTRATED BY NORIKO INADA • PHOTOS BY EMMI BRYTOWSKI
In this month’s “Dryside Training” article, let’s take a look at some New Year’s resolutions that will help us become more fit and efficient swimmers. Following are some “how-to’s” for improved body composition, efficiency and speed. Start by taking a close look at your nutrition. Avoid or limit fast food, fried foods and any high-calorie, high-fat foods. Focus on lean meats, fruits and vegetables. Use a BMI formula for determining how many calories a day you should consume. Next, try out these dryland exercises that are designed to improve your overall strength and balance for a healthier lifestyle and a stronger swimming performance. Perform the exercises two to three times per week with 15 repetitions and two to three sets. Also, consider adding another form of aerobic activity to your weekly training program twice a week. Something as simple as daily walking, easy jogging or hiking are activities that can help burn calories, improve your body composition and drop your body fat or weight. Remain consistent with these resolutions for the new year...and in a few months, you will begin to reap the benefits from the new you.
^ JUMP ROPE Jump for 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off for 10minutes. If you cannot perform a jump rope activity, just jump on your toes up and down.
< TUBE EXTERNAL ROTATION Holding some stretch cords or surgical tubing and having your elbow touching your side, rotate your wrist away from the point of resistance. Do not let your elbow leave your side. Alternate arms.
^ STABILITY BALL DUMBBELL CHEST PRESS Lying on your back on a stability ball with your feet on the ground and knees bent to 90 degrees, perform a dumbbell chest press movement while maintaining stabilization on the ball. Lower and repeat.
TUBE RHOMBOID ROW > Holding stretch cords or surgical tubing and facing the point of resistance, perform a row and squeeze your shoulder blades together.
MEET THE TRAINER J.R. Rosania, B.S., exercise science, is one of the nation’s top performance enhancement coaches. He is the owner and CEO of Healthplex, LLC, in Phoenix. Check out Rosania’s website at www.jrhealthplex.net.
MEET THE ATHLETE Noriko Inada, 42, swam for Japan at the 1992, 2000 and 2004 Olympics. She now swims Masters for Phoenix Swim Club, and owns Masters world records in the women’s 25-29, 30-34, 35-39 and 40-44 age groups.
NOTICE All swimming and dryland training and instruction should be performed under the supervision of a qualified coach or instructor, and in circumstances that ensure the safety of participants.
^ STABILITY BALL TO LEG HAMSTRING CURL Lie down with your upper body on the floor and your ankles on top of the stability ball. Lift your hips up, bend your knees and roll the ball toward your glutes. Then extend your legs back to a straight position. JANUARY 2021
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SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS BY ROD HAVRILUK
FREESTYLE TECHNIQUE FOR SPRINT AND DISTANCE (Part 1)
M
any sources suggest that swimmers use a different freestyle technique for sprint and distance events. For example, a “straight-arm” underwater motion is often promoted for sprinting, and a “bent arm” is frequently suggested for distance events. However, science (both physics and research) shows us that a swimmer can optimize performance in events of all distances by using the same arm motion with a different arm coordination. SIMILAR ARM MOTION FOR SPRINT AND DISTANCE Technique differences between sprint and distance specialists were examined in two studies (McCabe, Psycharakis & Sanders, 2011; McCabe & Sanders, 2012). Elite male swimmers were tested swimming at sprint pace (about 1.8 meters per second) in the first study and at distance pace (about 1.5 meters per second) in the second study. The analysis included stroke rate and stroke length as well as numerous arm motion variables. The studies reported comparisons between the sprint and distance groups at both sprint and distance pace. The data from the studies also allowed for comparisons between sprint and distance pace for both sprint and distance swimmers. For all arm position variables, the differences were three centimeters or less. For all elbow angle variables, the differences were 10 degrees or less. The authors concluded that there was no reason for sprint and distance specialists to develop different techniques. SIMILAR PROPULSION PHASE FOR SPRINT AND DISTANCE With an increase in swimming velocity from distance to
sprint pace, both the sprint and distance specialists similarly and predictably increased their stroke rate and decreased their stroke length (Fig. 1). To increase stroke rate, swimmers change the time duration of the phases within the stroke cycle. A stroke cycle consists of propulsion (pull and push) and non-propulsion (entry and recovery) phases. Six studies reported remarkably similar values for the duration of the propulsion phase, regardless of swimming pace (sprint or distance). The duration of the entry phase, however, decreased substantially from distance to sprint pace to increase stroke rate and swim faster, as shown in Fig. 2. (Study 1: Seifert, Boulesteix & Chollet, 2004; Study 2: Chollet, Chalies & Chatard, 2000; Study 3: Potdevin, Bril, Sidney & Pelayo, 2006; Study 4: Millet, Chollet, Chalies & Chatard, 2002; Study 5: Schnitzler, Seifert, Alberty & Chollet, 2010; Study 6: Schnitzler, Seifert, Ernwein & Chollet, 2008). The studies reported that the duration of the propulsion phase is about 0.6 seconds for either sprint or distance pace. The duration of the entry phase, however, varied considerably—from about 0.6 seconds at distance pace to about 0.3 seconds at sprint pace. As swimmers changed their pace from distance to sprint, they increased their stroke rate primarily by decreasing the entry phase (i.e., reducing wasted time). ARM COORDINATION OPTIONS Decreasing the duration of the entry phase also impacts the relative position of the arms within a stroke cycle. During a typical distance pace, the excessive time in the entry phase (usually due to gliding) allows the opposite arm to partially “catch-up” to the
FIG. 1 > The graph shows stroke rate and stroke length for sprint and distance swimmers at both sprint and distance pace. 36
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COACHING
entry arm (Fig. 3, top image). During a typical sprint pace, the arms move in opposition (bottom image). (Arm coordination options were initially explained by Chollet, Chalies & Chatard in 2000.)
FIG. 2 > The graph shows the duration of the propulsion phase (in red) and the entry phase (in yellow) for male and female swimmers at sprint and distance pace from six studies. The labels on the bars indicate the study number and the sex of the study participants.
FIG. 3 > The model demonstrates catch-up (top) and opposition (bottom) arm coordination.
FIG. 4 > Hand-force curves for opposition (solid lines) and catch-up (dotted lines) arm coordination.
SUMMARY
Research shows that freestyle technique for sprint and distance swimming is similar. Research also shows that at distance pace, swimmers waste time during the entry phase. An excessive duration of the entry phase slows the stroke rate and limits arm coordination. Swimmers can swim a faster distance pace with opposition arm coordination than with catch-up coordination while generating the same force on each underwater arm motion.
TYPICAL ARM COORDINATION FOR DISTANCE Hand force curves for opposition and catch-up coordination are shown in Fig. 4. Both the opposition and catch-up curves have a 0.6-second propulsion time. The opposition curves (solid lines) also have a 0.6-second non-propulsion phase (e.g., 0.3 seconds for both the recovery and entry phases) for a 1.2-second stroke cycle time. The catch-up curves (dotted lines) have a 0.7-second non-propulsion phase to account for 1-tenth of a second of extra wasted time in the entry phase so that a stroke cycle requires 1.4 seconds. The impact of arm coordination on performance is shown by calculating swimming velocity for each coordination option. The average force for each underwater arm motion is the same for both catch-up and opposition coordination. However, since the stroke cycle time is different, the average force per cycle is different: 17 pounds for catch-up and 20 pounds for opposition coordination. Substituting values that are typical for fast swimmers (a body cross-sectional area of 1,000 cm2 and an active drag coefficient of 0.8) into the drag equation, swimming velocity is calculated to be 1.4 meters per second for catchup and 1.5 meters per second for opposition coordination. The calculations show a substantial improvement using opposition coordination. OPPOSITION ARM COORDINATION FOR DISTANCE Based on the example in Fig. 4, opposition coordination eliminates wasted time and increases the average force per stroke cycle. The resulting increase in swimming velocity produces a five-second improvement per 100 meters. Swimmers benefit from opposition coordination by swimming faster than with catch-up coordination while generating the same force on each underwater arm motion. In addition to increasing swimming velocity at distance pace, swimmers can also use opposition coordination to transition to faster sprint swimming, which will be addressed in Part 2 (SW Feb).
Dr. Rod Havriluk is a sport scientist and consultant who specializes in swimming technique instruction and analysis. His ebook, “Swimming Without Pain, A Comprehensive Guide to Preventing and Rehabilitating Shoulder Injuries,” is available at swimmingtechnology.com. Contact Rod through info@swimmingtechnology.com. All scientific documentation relating to this article, including scientific principles, studies and research papers, can be provided upon demand.
TOTAL ACCESS MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE REFERENCES FOR THIS ARTICLE. NOT A TOTAL ACCESS MEMBER? YOU’RE JUST A CLICK AWAY: SWIMMINGWORLD.COM/VAULT
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[PHOTO BY FINIS, INC. PHOTOGRAPHY]
MENTAL PREP
BY SHOSHANNA RUTEMILLER
O
livia Smoliga, by her own accounts, has officially made it! Read on to get a glimpse of the mindset that makes Smoliga a “I made it when I was able to go into work every day world-class athlete: without feeling like I was doing work—I was simply loving what I do.” HOTEL “Work” looks a little different for the 2016 Olympic gold medalist “A lot of swimmers think that (national team members) are and 14-time champion at Worlds (4 LC, 10 SCM) between 2012 and focused on swimming 1,000% of the time and that we never let our 2019. While work for the non-professional athlete might involve attention wander,” says Smoliga. “But really, when we’re out of the going to school, studying for an exam or working on a presentation, pool, we’re not wasting too much mental energy on something that Smoliga’s work involves countless hours and laps in the pool mixed hasn’t happened yet.” together with tough mental and physical preparation. And her big Smoliga reflects back on payoff would be qualifying for her her time at the 2019 World second Olympic team in 2021. Championships in Gwangju, South Smoliga’s list of accomplishments Korea, where she won gold in the are impressive. She was named 50 meter backstroke and bronze in “In the age of social media, Swimming World Magazine’s 2013 the 100 meter backstroke. Smoliga High School Swimmer of the Year was roommates with two-time focus on other people has and is the current American record Olympian Lia Neal. taken away from the focus on holder in the 50 meter backstroke “While the boys were playing (27.33). She also placed first at the cards or Nintendo DS, Lia and I ourselves. All of that energy 2016 Olympic Trials, beating out would watch countless hours of Love that I’m focusing on someone heavyweight backstroke names Island,” says Smoliga, laughing such as Missy Franklin and Natalie about the sheer silliness of the UKelse could be harnessed Coughlin for the team. based reality TV dating show. “We instead.... We stress a lot about “I feel like I’ve ‘made it,’ but I would mimic the British accents of also feel like I have barriers I want everyone on there to take our minds what happens in the moment, to break. I’m still working toward off of a stressful situation.” but as long as we’re working my greatest accomplishment. If I’ve Even though Smoliga and already had it, then I’m not learning.” her teammates are professionals hard, everything will be fine. That sense of always learning and focused on their goals, they goes hand-in-hand with Smoliga’s still know there’s a time to give view that to be truly mentally themselves a break from the prepared, you have to be in tune pressure—even if that break means with yourself. She says swimmers should continually “check in on watching lots and lots of reality TV shows. themselves” because nobody knows them better than themselves! “In the age of social media, focus on other people has taken away WARM-UP from the focus on ourselves. All of that energy that I’m focusing on The morning before a big race—like her gold-medal 50 meter someone else could be harnessed instead,” she says. backstroke at the 2019 World Championships—Smoliga gets up Coaches often tell their swimmers, “Stick to your own early and gets to the pool. This “wake-up swim” is an important part race”...“Focus on your work”...and “Visualize, then enact your of many swimmers’ routines, as it gives the athlete the day’s first plan.” Smoliga is a testament to the fact that this advice works, feel of the water. and she’s more than happy to share her pre-race mental preparation “My wake-up swim is usually an 800 loosen and maybe a shakeroutine with other swimmers because, says Smoliga, “We stress a out from a massage therapist,” says Smoliga. After her quick dip in lot about what happens in the moment...but as long as we’re working the water, it’s all about making her body and mind primed with the hard, everything will be fine.” proper fuel.
”
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“Racing is such an emotional experience,” says Smoliga. “My mind goes completely blank, and I’m ready to go. I just focus on hearing the beep...and then it’s on.” [ PHOTO BY PETER H. BICK ] “I try my best to stay hydrated throughout the day. We don’t have much control over what we eat (since) most of the food provided is buffet-style. There was a lot of fried food in Korea. Team USA supplements it with quick energy food, like protein shakes, oatmeal, granola bars and Gatorade.” After her warm-up, Smoliga grabs a protein shake, puts on her compression gear and heads back to the Village to try and nap and visualize her race. Several hours later, Smoliga is heading back to the pool. On deck, she’s quickly into her dryland warm-up, which includes jumping jacks and abdominal exercises. Following that, it’s a dive into the pool for about 1,200 meters of loose swimming, underwaters, underwater blasts and 15-meter blasts. It’s all about speed for Smoliga! READY ROOM “This is the point where I’m getting butterflies,” says Smoliga. “I have my game face on, and I know it’s business time.” Smoliga’s ready room routine has evolved over the years. In the past, she might have talked to her competitors, but lately she’s more likely to take deep breaths and visualize her race. And it’s not just about visualizing the race—it’s also about visualizing the celebration afterward! Smoliga admits that when she started consistently visualizing as an age group swimmer, it became a “game changer.” In terms of music, Smoliga is all about heavy rap. She needs something blasting through her headphones that will “get her cocky” and ready to rule the pool. In her NCAA days, Smoliga would blast Wiz Khalifa’s “King of Everything.”
BEHIND THE BLOCKS After her name is called, Smoliga quickly switches off the music and zones in on the task ahead. Even though she doesn’t have her music blaring anymore, the scene is hardly quiet. “Being a part of Team USA entails a lot of cheering,” says Smoliga. “When they call your name, you can hear your teammates cheering for you. Even when the officials are blowing the whistle, they are cheering for you!” Even with all of the cheering, Smoliga chooses not to look at the crowd, but instead focus on the water in her lane. When she’s in her own mind, the crowd turns to white noise. In the pool, it’s all autopilot. Smoliga lives by the mentality that what you do in practice will or won’t happen in a race. Your muscles should know what to do once you hit the water. “Racing is such an emotional experience,” she says. “My mind goes completely blank, and I’m ready to go. I just focus on hearing the beep...and then it’s on.” And in the end, win or lose, Smoliga reminds young swimmers to “be easy on yourself” and embrace the failures. “Failure is an interesting thing because people handle it in different ways. A failure to me might not be a failure to you and vice versa. That perceived failure could be translated into what can I fix or change and do better next time. A lot of people—myself included—are hard on themselves. Life and swimming are growing and learning processes. If you feel there is nothing more you can learn from it, then why are you even trying?” JANUARY 2021
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[PHOTO BY MARGIE SHUER]
SPECIAL SETS
TOUGH SETS THE
DON SWARTZ WAY
Don Swartz, now at North Bay Aquatics, was Rick DeMont’s coach at Marin Aquatic Club in the early 1970s when he set world records in the 400 and 1500 meter freestyle. The halcyon era was a time of mega yardage being done by the likes of DeMont and fellow Olympians Brian Goodell, Bobby Hackett and Australia’s Steven Holland. When it came to designing tough sets, you could say that Swartz had a front row seat. >> Don Swartz (1972) BY MICHAEL J. STOTT
D
on Swartz began his club coaching career at Ladera Oaks Aquatic Club in northern California. However, he is best known for coaching Rick DeMont to a 1972 Olympic team berth and world records in the 400 meter freestyle (3:58.18, Aug. 6, 1972, U.S. Olympic Trials) as well as the 1500 (15:52.91, Sept. 9, 1973, Belgrade World Championships). These days, ASCA Hall of Famer Swartz coaches at North Bay Aquatics with his former swimmer (and brother of Rick) Ken DeMont. A deep, introspective and inspirational thinker, Swartz is credited with introducing cycle training to the aquatic world. It is a process that he still employs with impressive results.
BOUNDARIES OF UNCOMFORTABLENESS
Swartz coached two Olympians: DeMont and Robin Backhaus. “I wrote down every workout that whole crew ever did,” he says. “A swimmer makes a set tough by rolling up his sleeves and being willing to take advantage of the opportunity. We only trained hard three days a week. I was more interested in athletes exploring the boundaries of their uncomfortableness.
“One set we did was done with a one-minute buffer—i.e., if you could do 100 on 1:10, you could do six in seven minutes. If you could do 100 on 1:02, you’d get 30 done. If you could average 1:01, you could do 60. “Rick did 60 once. Remember: This is in the early ’70s. Two weeks later, he attempted it again to see if he could do more. It was that kind of experimentation we thrived on,” says Swartz. “Rick was never swimming for time—always for place. He loved to race. He was one of those guys who would be fine going to a race with no times on the scoreboard, just place. Robin Backhaus (1972 Olympic bronze medalist in the 200 meter butterfly and a three-time medalist—two gold, one bronze—at the 1973 World Championships) was another. It was all about the competitive opportunity. “In my opinion, it is the athlete that makes the set a killer set. You can take almost any athlete and tune the interval to the athlete, and make it a hard set. And they don’t have to be Olympians. The Olympians are doing everything faster than the Junior Olympians. That’s what makes it look harder,” says Swartz. “The credit for the hard set goes to the athlete, not the coach. The coach gets credit for
>> Don Swartz is best known for coaching Rick DeMont (pictured) to a 1972 Olympic team berth and world records in the 400 and 1500 meter freestyles. [ PHOTO BY AL SCHOENFIELD ]
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Set # 1
Set #2
50/1:00
75/1:00
75/1:00
75/:45
150/2:00
75/1:00
175/2:00
50/:30
250/3:00
75/1:00
275/3:00
25/:15
350/4:00
75/1:00
375/4:00
50/:30
Rest 1 minute
75/1:00
21 minutes
75/:45 200 kick/4:00 Rest 2 minutes (15 minutes)
>> Robin Backhaus moved from the Riverside Aquatics Association after the 1972 Olympics to train with Don Swartz at Marin Aquatic Club. In 1973, he won two gold medals and a bronze at the Belgrade World Championships. “A workhorse in training, Robin loved anything that challenged him—short stuff, longer stuff, fly and free,” says Swartz. “He was 100% interested in being fast.” [ PHOTO BY TONY DUFFY ]
engaging the athletes and enticing them to test themselves, but the athlete gets the credit for making the set hard.
SAMPLE SETS AT NORTH BAY AQUATICS
“At NBA (North Bay Aquatics), we have been working hard in the last year on pain tolerances and pain thresholds. Rick used to think of pain as banking ‘pain points’ so he could withdraw them when needed. “NBA swimmers do a set where we ask swimmers to pick a touch-and-go interval that is difficult for them. For high school girls, that might be 5 or 6 x 100 under a minute on 1:05. I’ll challenge them by saying, ‘I know you can do one; can you do five and still make the 1:05 interval?’ Then next time, I’ll have them go on 1:04. “When they do that, I’ll have them pick another interval. We’ve had a lot of success with that. Some days are better than others. As a result, swimmers find themselves living in an uncomfortable place for a considerable period of time. “Another set (see sets at the end of the story), we do four times a year. We got it from Steve Brown when he was coaching distance swimmers at Arizona. We call it a ‘truth serum’ set. It is done primarily by our 500-yard swimmers after a group warm-up of 2,300. “For our high school-age kids, the thing that makes this super challenging is the last three swims in Set #1 equal 1,000 yards in 11 minutes. Some of the 1-minute rest gets eaten up if you fail on the 375/4 minutes. The goal is to be under 4:00 on the third and final round. “In Set #2, the interval keeps bouncing back and forth from one minute to a 1:15 base—college swimmers can do this, especially the higher-level ones. High school swimmers find it much more challenging—not impossible, but rigorous for sure. “Last fall we had one boy make all intervals on all rounds, and a couple of boys came close. In the winter of 2020—pre-COVID-19— we had three boys make it, and one of our girls was close...maybe 15 seconds over on the last 375/4. “It is a good measurement device, and the ones who love pain and suffering look forward to it—by the way, we say pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. They enjoy bragging rights of going 9,300 in a single workout.
Repeat Set #1, then Set #2, then Set #1 one more time
*** “Total including warm-up is 9,300 in 135 minutes. This is a lot— let’s see how far we can get,” says Swartz. “WHY? BECAUSE WE CAN!”
Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach whose Collegiate School (Richmond, Va.) teams won nine state high school championships. A member of that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, he is also a recipient of NISCA’s Outstanding Service Award.
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SWIM MEETS MODIFIED TO LIMIT TRAVEL AND ENSURE SAFETY TOYOTA U.S. OPEN Traditionally, the Toyota U.S. Open is held in early December. In an effort to provide athletes an opportunity to race long course as we enter an Olympic year, the Toyota U.S. Open was moved from one location in early December to nine locations in midNovember. Each site followed the same protocols and operated under strict COVID guidelines. The meets were flighted by gender when required. The change to multiple sites helped offset limits imposed on facilities and also provided venues that would require less travel for teams while increasing the number of competitors who could attend. Each site had participant limits that reflected the local guidelines. The format of the meet was also changed to four timed finals sessions instead of prelims/finals. In addition to the meet information, each of the sites filed a site-specific safety plan that outlined the steps being taken to safeguard athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers and spectators. Waivers were required for swimmers as well as all other meet personnel. Results from all sites were combined by USA Swimming and published in a comprehensive results report. Overall, 1,136 athletes competed. Three new Toyota U.S. Open meet records were established, as well as three national age group records. Across all sites, there were 45 new Olympic Trials qualifiers. Richmond, Va. led all sites with 12 new qualifiers, followed by Greensboro, N.C. (9), Indianapolis (7), Des Moines, Iowa (5), Sarasota, Fla. (4), Huntsville, Ala. (3), Irvine, Calif. (3) and Beaverton, Ore. (2). Most importantly, USA Swimming provided opportunities for athletes and coaches to attend safe and highly competitive events after months of training and waiting for such an opportunity. 18 & UNDER WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS Like the Toyota U.S. Open, the traditional Speedo Winter Junior National meets were canceled. In an effort to limit travel while providing as many opportunities for competition as possible, each LSC was invited to host its own meet between Dec. 1 and Dec. 13. The format was short course yards, but many other aspects of the competition were left up to each host, including the schedule, order of events, format (prelim/final or timed final) and whether the event was open to outside clubs. Just as the Toyota U.S. Open site results were combined, results from across the country were consolidated from these competitions and published as the official 18 & Under Winter Championships. Awards were given for the top three girls, boys and combined teams, the top eight individual finishers in each event and for the individual girls’ and boys’ high-point winners.v 42
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EXCELLENCE AWARD
SCOTT BOGGS Florida Gold Coast’s Scott Boggs has been officiating since 2006. He started when his kid’s coach from the North Palm Beach Swim Club approached him to become an official because of his leadership qualities. Boggs is responsible for training and seeing that every one of the officials associated with the club is certified. He also has mentored many more officials in Palm Beach and Martin County. Scott has served as referee, starter, chief judge and stroke-and-turn judge at meets ranging from Wellington North (just west of West Palm Beach at the top of the Florida Gold Coast LSC) to the bottom of the state. He is active at high school and Masters meets as well as NCAA competitions in his area. He is often on deck as a referee at the Florida high school state finals as well as the district and regional meets. Every other year, Boggs also serves as referee at the Florida Gold Coast Junior Olympics.
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COACHING
[PHOTO BY HOPE CARPINELLO, NORTHWESTERN ATHLETICS]
Q&A
KATIE
ROBINSON One of only two females to coach a Power 5 conference men’s and women’s swim team, Katie Robinson is empowering her charges to maximize their intellectual and athletic potential as she leads them to compete with the Big Ten elite.
Coach Katie Robinson Director, Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois • University of Texas, B.S., kinesiology, 2007 • Director of men’s and women’s swimming, Northwestern University, 2020-present; associate head coach, 2018-20 • Head women’s coach, Tulane University, 2013-18 • Assistant women’s swim coach, Rutgers University, 2011-13 • Assistant swim coach, University of Virginia, 2008-11 • Graduate assistant, University of the Pacific, 2008 • Winner of V.F. “Doc” Neuhaus Endowed Presidential Scholarship (Texas women’s athletic department’s highest endowed honor), 2007 As a swimmer, Katie Robinson was a 9x high school and 11x NCAA All-American. Swimming for South Dearborn High School (1999-03), she was a 6x Indiana high school state champion, a state record holder in the 100 yard fly, and was inducted into the Indiana High School Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame. At the University of Texas, she was a 3x Big 12 Conference champion in the 200 fly and captain of the 200607 team. As a senior, she was the Big 12 nominee for NCAA Female Athlete of the Year.
BY MICHAEL J. STOTT
Q. SWIMMING WORLD: Where and when did you get your aquatic start? A. COACH KATIE ROBINSON: As a young girl in rural Indiana, my older brother started swimming...and I had to tag along. I was a competitive gymnast, but my mom didn’t want me just sitting during my brother’s swim class, so she enrolled me in a twoweek clinic. At the end of every session, a different coach tried to convince her to put me on the team. She thought it was just a moneymaking tactic, but by the last day of the clinic, “Coach Z”—who would end up coaching me for the majority of my early swimming career—convinced her. SW: You were recruited by Cal and Stanford, among others. Why did you decide to swim for Texas? KR: Texas was my first recruiting trip, and it really wowed me in all the right ways. I felt the coach-swimmer connection, and I could tell they really believed in me. I had the same feeling with the women on the team. I really loved the Texas Pride in Austin, and I came away from the recruiting weekend with a sun tattoo of the longhorn shape from the sticker on my cheek at the football game. SW: Jill Sterkel influenced you. How? KR: Jill is absolutely the reason I coach today. I admired and deeply respected her as a coach and also as the dominant swimmer she was. There is nothing fake or superficial about her. I loved her passion for the sport and her direct, straightforward coaching approach, while still showing great care and love for all of us. She encouraged us to be our true selves. We also had a wackiness to our culture that was fun and spirited. At the end of my sophomore year, I knew I wanted to grow in this profession, being like her.
SW: What did you learn from Greg Meehan at the University of the Pacific? KR: Greg was—and continues to be—an awesome mentor. The transition from swimmer to coach is a massive learning curve. Greg was patient and shepherded me through that. Watching him coach and lead practices was huge in my development as a coach. He was a great model in respecting our profession and never showing up sloppy. His sets were brutally hard, and everyone knew that if you did his sets even 50%, they were getting faster and stronger. He also treated his student-athletes with respect, always starting the day off with a cheery, “Good morning!” SW: And what did you learn from Mark Bernardino at Virginia? KR: Mark is a phenomenal motivator. He had equally brutal sets that challenged the swimmers daily and truly made the team tough and proud. As a coach, I learned to be tough, too, which has been very important in my professional development. At my roots, I have always been a positive and empathetic person, and in our profession, there are times for that as well as being tough. Working on the staff at Virginia allowed me to practice that balance. SW: You had great success while at Tulane. What drew you to Northwestern? KR: I started to dream big and wanted the experience of coaching a combined program among the Power 5 conferences. I had admired Northwestern from afar as a department, and I also had a sense that the program had a great amount of potential. SW: How would you characterize the support you get in Evanston? KR: Second to none. I need to feel in CONTINUED ON 45 >> JANUARY 2021
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how they train
MIRIAM GUEVARA BY MICHAEL J. STOTT
[PHOTO BY HOPE CARPINELLO, NORTHWESTERN ATHLETICS]
:54-second 100 fly.
A
5-5 dynamo from El Paso, Texas, junior Miriam Guevara hit the Evanston campus two years ago like a torpedo. In her first competitive collegiate meets for Northwestern, she was a part of two school relay records and closed out the 2018-19 college campaign as an NCAA qualifier in the 100 yard back and fly. She is the Wildcats’ school record holder in the 100 and 200 fly (52.20, 1:54.31) and 200 and 400 medley relays (1:36.37, 3:29.48). She also sits fourth in the 100 back with a 53.20, having qualified as a sophomore for last season’s NCAA Division I Championships (that were canceled) in the 100-200 fly and 100 back. Guevara has represented Mexico on both the national and national junior teams, having competed in the 2018 Central American Games, the Youth Olympic Games and the 2019 World Championships. Says her coach Katie Robinson, “Miriam is a stud and only has just started to scratch the surface of what she can do in college. She is a bright, young lady eager for coaching and feedback. Miriam is a true student of the sport, constantly working to perfect her stroke. Her feel for the water is top level, and her ability and commitment to kicking underwater is world class. “She is a team player and puts everything on the line for her teammates. I’ve seen her do a 200 fly/200 back double in a dual meet and push the kicks out to the 15 meters on every wall, winning both events. This past year, she really committed to training the 200 fly on a regular basis. She spends most of her time in the training pool underwater, and her lung control is impressive. I’ve watched Miriam grow from letting sets get the best of her, to dominating them and encouraging others to keep it up as well. “Her practice performance can be a sight to behold. For example:
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Her 200 fly broken swims with 10 seconds rest on the 50 walls add up to 1:47s most of the time.
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Recently at the end of a brutal 200 fly training session, she finished with 4 x 100 fly with solid rhythm on 1:20, 1:00 rest, 100 fly as fast as possible. She pushed a
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She holds 27s on 50s on :50 for up to 10 in a row (and I bet she could go longer).
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Her fastest 100 kick for time (dolphin kick on her back) is :54.”
SPECIAL SET 200 Fly Group Tuesday a.m. (Nov. 17, 2020) “The pain that you hold is yours. There is not a single pain quite like it. Nobody else on God’s green earth can feel this pain, or have the indescribable feeling of pride you will have when you overcome it. This pain is not your curse, this pain is your privilege.” —Arnold Schwarzenegger •
6 x 100 @ 1:40 (swim, kick/drill, choice) x2 (equipment optional)
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6 x 50 @ :50 (choice 1-3, descend 4-6, equipment optional)
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6 x 175 @ 3:00 (50 dolphin kick no board/75 fly no breath, 3 cycles post-breakout/50 free)
2x the following (Round 2 with fins): • 10 x 50 @ 1:00 (odds = 25 underwater/25 smooth fly, evens = choice) •
5 x 50 @ :50 fly (no breath off breakouts, no breathing every stroke)
Round 1 = RACE Round 2 = AFAP (as fast as possible), 100 choice 3x the following: • 4 x 100 @ 1:20 smooth fly (Round 2 with fins) •
1:00 bonus rest
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1 x 100 @ 1:30 AFAP fly
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300 shake-out (kick/drill/choice by 25)
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Warm-down
PROGRESSION OF TIMES “Miriam’s time progressions from before college through her second year at Northwestern (two-year time drops) are listed below, and she is still hungry for more,” says Robinson. • 200 Fly 1:58.3 to 1:54.3 •
200 Back
1:59.4 to 1:57.9
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100 Fly
52.4 to 52.2
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100 Back
54.3 to 53.2 v
Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach whose Collegiate School (Richmond, Va.) teams won nine state high school championships. A member of that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, he is also a recipient of NISCA’s Outstanding Service Award.
[PHOTO BY HOPE CARPINELLO, NORTHWESTERN ATHLETICS]
Q & A / CONTINUED FROM 43
>> Coach Katie Robinson instructs Northwestern swimmer Miriam Guevara on her butterfly technique.
alignment with my administration and really value the ideals of the department to feel good about coaching. It’s also important to feel valued as a part of the department instead of feeling second class to the football and basketball teams. The value that our department puts on ALL student-athletes to be world class in every aspect—to coach and teach with urgency and patience—is exactly why this is my dream destination as a coach. The integrity and support we get inspires coaches to lead and develop at the highest level.
SW: How do you establish relationships with your swimmers? KR: Time, attention, follow-through, humor—making sure I am seeing, hearing and valuing them. SW: How do you make that work with such a large roster? KR: The current roster is 31 men and 31 women. Time management is critical, as is maintaining focus in the moment. Hiring a great staff keen on getting to know each student-athlete is also key. SW: How do you manipulate schedules to train that many people properly? KR: We always are adapting our training schedule. Currently, we train by event three times each week and by physiology (energy systems) the other sessions. We make sure to start the week off together with a kick set and end the week together with fast swims off the block. We also do a “choose-your-ownadventure” afternoon that is recovery and skills-based to allow our student-athletes a chance to really pick what they need that afternoon and to work with our different coaches. SW: How has COVID-19 affected your training arrangements? KR: Knock on wood...it’s manageable! We train two to a lane—one on each
side of the pool—and have a few lanes of three where the third person floats out by the flags and pushes off 10 seconds back. The coaches have worked hard to make practices interesting and competitive to maintain a high level of motivation. It’s a tough world right now for studentathletes and keeping tabs on the pulse of the team is crucial. We have phenomenal captains who help in that regard.
SW: What training group do you lead at NU, and how do you designate the roles of your assistant coaches? KR: Currently, I work with the IMers and breaststrokers while also writing the full team kick and Saturday team sets. My talented coaches work with their specialty groups. I think that’s important—and thanks to our training schedule, most of our athletes have various coaches throughout the week. That requires all coaches to have great communication about each swimmer. SW: What does a normal in-water and dryland training week look like for your athletes? KR: In the fall, we have had a total of nine swimming practices and three lifting sessions. Depending on the athlete, two of those nine swimming practices included quite a bit of dryland. We box, do core work and also have abbreviated yoga sessions on deck. SW: Your goal at one time was to direct, empower and show women how to successfully navigate in a changing world. Leading both men and women, how challenging is this task, and does this role change your perspective on how you lead? KR: I will always have a special place in my heart to empower women, and I continue to strive for that. I also have a growing passion to teach and build young men into confident, capable, powerful and respectful people in our society. Whether it’s wrong or right, I coach each of our student-athletes as people first. In general, I try not to stereotype the genders, but rather learn and lead them as
these two teams evolve and change. When it comes to the team of men and the team of women, you have to be aware of the group motivation and lead with that in mind. I am my best coaching self when I’m coaching from an authentic place rooted in my care and passion to help these young men and women be the best they can be and to challenge any limits that were put upon them.
SW: Your résumé is littered with academic and character awards. What accommodations, if any, do you make to help your athletes stay on top of their classroom requirements? KR: For the most part, the student-athletes who come to Northwestern are extremely gifted in the classroom and have a work ethic to back it up. For them, it’s most important to calm their nerves and remind them to take time for self-care on the weekends, too. For those who have to put in more work to receive good grades at a top-10ranked academic institution, we remain encouraging and flexible. Our academic services—advisors, tutors, etc.—are full of wonderful people who are amazing and a big part of the great balance between school and swimming. SW: Talk about your commitment to community service and team activities outside the pool. KR: We just finished a food drive for the local Evanston community! Every year we host a Breaststroke for Breast Cancer Awareness swim-a-thon that raises money for breast cancer research. Additionally, we are partnering with Team Impact and have a young woman who is joining our squad— virtually for now—to enhance her social skills and help her gain confidence. As a department and team, we’ve also focused attention on social and racial justice, doing what we can to normalize conversation about race and racism and create action for change with the platform we have. SW: As a sprint freestyler and champion butterflyer, your 1:57.21 200 yard fly time would place you at the top of the NU 2020-21 women’s list. Any plans to take on your current roster in that event? KR: Not a chance. Gone are my swimming days, but I challenge them to pull-ups on a regular basis. Gotta keep ’em honest.v Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach whose Collegiate School (Richmond, Va.) teams won nine state high school championships. A member of that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, he is also a recipient of NISCA’s Outstanding Service Award. JANUARY 2021
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COLUMNS
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guttertalk
EVEN IN A TUMULTUOUS YEAR SUCH AS 2020, WHAT WERE SOME POSITIVES THAT YOU TOOK AWAY FROM THIS YEAR? BY ANDY ROSS CHASE BLOCH Assistant Coach, University of Southern California [PHOTO BY KATIE CHIN, USC ATHLETICS]
This year was definitely unusual for our sport that is all based on direct contact, but I think there were a lot of good ideas and adjustments that came out of it. There were coaching groups that were founded over Zoom, which allowed for dialogue on our sport— something that sometimes can be a difficult topic for coaches because they are afraid of their “secrets” on workouts and planning being exposed. Another opportunity that being home with Zoom allowed for us to do was as a coaching staff, we could have more “home visits” with recruits and their families. Here at USC, we want to make sure that everyone in the family is included in the process and feels a part of the Trojan Family, so the more opportunities we have to put a face to the name, the better.
JESS BOOK Head Coach, Kenyon College [ PHOTO BY KENYON ATHLETICS ]
What I’ve enjoyed seeing this year is the flexibility and adaptability of our students and coaches. We’ve learned to take advantage of opportunities (to train and race) whenever they arise. If that means shifting a meet, a training schedule or even a practice, that’s what we do. We keep finding what we CAN do, and taking advantage of that opportunity.
doing a really detailed season plan—that really helped me evaluate what I had done that did or didn’t work, what I wanted to do and get a good evaluation of that. I always had a season plan, but having weeks where I could just think it over and be writing stuff out and processing it, that helped me come up with stuff that my group would be excited for. They are really having fun swimming and understanding the challenge. That part from a coaching standpoint in terms of workouts has been great. Something I learned from a college football coach was the theory on Maslow’s Conscious Competence, and it is something I’ve always used when I teach, but I’ve never presented it. So what I did on our Zoom calls, I put this theory up and talked through it, and it really helped set the stage when we start doing things and how we progress in the skills we want to do. I was able to present that theory and allow them to mull it over, and now when we are working on something, they know we are in a certain stage where you know what you’re doing, but you’re not in this stage where you can do it without thinking. It helped out a lot, and I was really pleased with our athletes when they got back because they forgot all their bad habits. I wanted to keep plowing forward and really think and visualize the workout before doing it. Those habits were easier because they simply forgot what they didn’t do well, so it made it really easy to teach.
TYLER FENWICK Assistant Coach, University of Virginia [PHOTO BY AZARIA BASILE]
DAN CARRINGTON Assistant Coach, Florida State University [ PHOTO BY D’VEL PHOTO ]
This year gave me time to slow down and do a full evaluation of what I have been doing from a coaching standpoint. All of the conversations I’ve had with other coaches who coach the same group that I do—and learning from them, putting it down on paper and 46
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During the summer, we were able to have practices but only one coach, and Todd (DeSorbo) ran those workouts. I was away from the pool deck for a long time. I was go-go-go for so long, and the break gave all of us a chance to hit the pause button and take a deep breath, and then come back to swimming renewed and refreshed with a new excitement. It wasn’t just for coaches, but also for swimmers. You don’t really know how much you love something until it is taken away, and I think a lot of people thought that.
JUNIOR SWIMMER
UP & COMERS AGE GROUP SWIMMER OF THE MONTH
[PHOTO BY PATRICK SIM ]
BY SHOSHANNA RUTEMILLER
Levenia Sim
I
n February 2020, as a 13-year-old, Levenia Sim clocked 1:58.77 in the 200 yard butterfly to break Southeastern Swimming’s 13-14 girls record that was set by three-time Olympic gold medalist Tracy Caulkins 42 years ago in 1978. Swimming for TNT Swimming of Daphne, Ala., the multistroke athlete also holds the NAG record for the 11-12 girls 50 yard backstroke at 25.65. That record was previously held by Regan Smith, the current world record holder in the 100-200 meter back and 400 medley relay. Sim, now 14, is prepared to compete at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials in June in the 100 meter backstroke, qualifying with a time of 1:01.89. “Levenia has taken on more challenging sets and is now one of our group’s top workout performers,” says her coach, Jan Mittemeyer. “She is an amazing underwater kicker and has clocked a 10.6 from the blocks for 25 yards underwater. She is self-motivated, follows directions and loves to race and have fun.” Before finding her passion in swimming, Sim was actually a competitive gymnast. She started gymnastics training at the age of 4, and was the Level 3 Overall Champion for Alabama in 2006. Sim still enjoys handstands, backflips and tumbling when she’s out of the pool! v
WHAT IS THE BEST THING YOU DO IN SWIMMING? Talking myself through tough sets is something I do best in swimming. Sometimes, I feel like I want to stop or give up in the middle of a set, but I always remind myself of the goals I want to achieve and how finishing this set will get me one step closer to those goals. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE TOUGHEST WORKOUTS/SETS YOU’VE DONE? One of the toughest sets I have done is 8 x 300 of butterfly. Another set is 3 x 300 IM straight into 3 x 200 IM, then straight into 3 x 100 IM. It was an all-out sprint, from the blocks, with no cool-down in between. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT SWIMMING? My favorite thing about swimming is all the amazing people you meet throughout your swimming career. From swimmers all across the nation to coaches with incredible passion and training ideas, these people are truly the best.
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WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS YEAR? I am looking forward to going to Omaha, Neb. for my first Olympic Trials. This will be a great experience and a big step forward in my swimming career. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU LOOK UP TO IN SWIMMING... AND WHY? That would have to be Regan Smith. At 18 years old, she already has two individual world records for backstroke (100 and 200 meters) and one world record for a relay (400 medley). It is just crazy to see such a young swimmer achieving such big goals. She is currently at Stanford University, which is one of my dream schools for swimming. I admire all her hard work and her amazing stroke techniques. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES? I enjoy playing tennis, hiking, biking and going to the beach.
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SWIMMERS GO OFF THE BLOCKS AT THE ISL CHAMPIONSHIP MEET IN BUDAPEST, HUNGARY [PHOTO BY MINE KASAPOGLU/ISL]