By David

There are some pretty horrible people involved in the sport of swimming. If your pre-teen sons or daughters are thinking of joining the local swim club warn them that if they are any good they’ll be the subject of criticism, innuendo and down right lies before they reach the top of this sport. She must be taking steroids, he’s certainly on HGH, she’s such a bitch, he can swim fast but what about his grades, it’s well known she’s a drunk; you’ll hear it all.

Just this week Rhi received an anonymous (aren’t they all) email on her blog telling the swimming world that Rhi was the swimmer, referred to in Natalie Coughlin’s book, who caused trouble at the last Olympics when she wasn’t selected in the team to swim the 4×200 final. Well, it wasn’t Rhi. In order not to make the same mistake as the author of the email, I’m going to resist the temptation to say who it was. But, dear author of the email, when you don’t know facts, and in this case you clearly do not, don’t rush into print. You only succeed in displaying your own intellectual limitations.

And finally, this week, Rhi received a second anonymous email that smugly said the author hadn’t heard much from Rhi recently and then said 57 seconds “ouch”. The 57 seconds refers to Rhi’s time in the 100 freestyle in Indianapolis. Rhi doesn’t care about these emails; but I do. They are ignorant and wrong. They are always anonymous and 99% of the time are written by authors who will never know what it’s like to swim at Rhi’s level and would never have the guts to climb back the way she is just now. The struggle to get back was something I always thought was to be admired, not something to be derided by the anonymous.

Besides which, lets look at how Rhi has got on in the last seven months since she left USC. The table below shows the times she swam at her first two or three meets after coming back to Florida. The times she swam at the Spring Nationals and her fastest times in this, her second season back home.

When you are an Olympic gold medalist on your way back to form, that’s not a bad record and certainly does not deserve to be derided by those who have never done better and don’t have the guts to tell us their name.

A couple of articles ago I mentioned how good it was to meet Hayley McGregory. I said she was one of the nicest, upbeat and positive people you could ever meet. Well at the end of this meet in Indianapolis she’s still all those things and she’s the USA National Champion at 100 meters backstroke as well. Her 1.00 puts her amongst the world’s very best. Along with Rhi, Hayley has had her critics. But around here, there are no two finer examples of the fact that really good things take patience.

Twenty eight years ago a fast New Zealand athlete ran a very good 1000 meters. Her run was the sixth or seventh, certainly one of the top ten, fastest times in the world in 1979. Her first 400 was run in a quick 60 seconds, the 800 in 2.04 and the final time 2.38.54. It was the fastest time ever run by a New Zealander, a New Zealand national record.

There could have been no more impressive venue for Alison’s fine run; Berlin’s 1936 Olympic Stadium, on a warm night in August, the site where Hitler displayed his fanatical might, where Jessie Owens ran and jumped better than any man. Standing on the dark warm up field away from the stadium, watching the floodlights shine up through huge concrete columns it was hard not to feel a sense of history, a good place to run fast.

Alison spent the next day driving through East Germany to the West German town of Cologne. There was still time to prepare and post a letter to Athletics New Zealand telling them the news of the Berlin run and request a New Zealand record. Months went by without a reply. A phone call revealed that while the run would be recognized as the fastest run by a New Zealand woman it would not be acknowledged as a national record. The world’s women and New Zealand men had such a record, but it was not going to be for New Zealand women.

Over the years, fine New Zealand administrators and coaches such as Arch Jelley and Murray McKinnon tried to reverse the decision; to no avail. And then this, the last week of July 2007, twenty eight years later and still the fastest time ever run by a New Zealand woman, Murray McKinnon gave it one more try. And do you know what? Justice prevailed. Alison was recognized, a National Record Holder. A grateful athlete was acknowledged by her Federation for a race well run. Along with Kim Robertson’s 200 (1978) and 400 (1980) records Alison’s 1000 is an example of just how fast the old guard used to be. Alison’s run has stood the test of time. The IAAF world ranking lists reveal that the fastest 1000 meter time in the world, so far in 2007, is 2.38.91, still 0.4 of a second slower than Alison ran twenty eight years ago.

It’s an interesting coincidence that Alison took 2 minutes and 38 seconds to set the 1000 meter track record, almost the same time as the 2 minutes and 30 seconds her daughter took to set her national record in the short course 200 meters breaststroke, twenty-two years later.

By David

Please don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not trying to be self important; far from it. But I have attended swim meets ranging from the Aqua Hawks East Coast Champs in Napier, New Zealand to the Olympic Games, and they’re about as far apart as you can get on this earth. And this weekend I’m at the USA National Championships with Rhi Jefrey and John Foster. If you ever get a chance come to a USA Nationals. It’s a hell of a meet, and so far I’ve only seen the first morning.

It’s not that the fastest person is all that fast. You’d expect the winner of the heats of the men’s 200 fly to swim around 1.57 and sure enough that’s what Gill Stovall did. It’s not surprising that Brendan Hansen won his heat in 2.11.50 or that Rebecca Soni won the heats of the same event in 2.28.37 or that Dana Vollmer swam 2.09.82 to record the fastest women’s 200 fly. This is a world class event; you expect world class times.

What does surprise is the bloody depth: the sheer number of fast swimmers. In most countries those that never qualify for the finals here would be lauded as national champions. Just look at this mornings four events. In the women’s 200 fly Melissa Jaeger will watch the 24 finalists tonight after swimming a real good 2.15.46. In the women’s 200 breaststroke a swim of 2.34.34 was still not good enough to get Jullie Stupp one of the 24 night time swims. In the same two events for men, 2.02.32 and 2.20.12 would see you watching the finals on TV. It’s just bloody amazing. With depth like that to watch where else would you want to be?

That depth of course can trip up even the very best. Who would dream that Tara Kirk would have to settle for tenth in the heats of the 200 breaststroke or that Michael Phelps even in one of his few “off-events” the 200 breaststroke would end up eleventh in 2.15.81. The depth of talent is amazing and impressive.

To be part of all this is a small piece of swimming heaven. I might sound like I’ve got a bad case of the “gee-whiz” disease but it’s bloody good to wander around the pool where Skip Kenny (did you know he was once an army sniper – wouldn’t want to misbehave in his pool), Dave Salo, Eddie Reese, Richard Quick and a score of other coaching names ply their trade. It’s fun to just say hello to Michael Phelps as he buys his morning bagel and coffee across the road from our hotel. It is an honor to meet Haley McGregory who was a heart-breaking third in both the 100 and 200 backstroke at the 2004 USA Olympic Trials and remains one of the nicest, upbeat and positive people you could ever meet.

The USA National championships; it’s a fun, it’s serious and great place to be.