Over the years coaching swimming and track athletics around the world I have made some pretty catastrophic coaching mistakes. Finally, I decided to address the problem by going back to school and earning a Level 5 American Swim Coaches Association certificate and picking up the phone and asking, master coaches, Arch Jelley and Arthur Lydiard for help.

The decision to get help pointed to one major personality weakness. Arch said it clearly but with some regard for my sensitive ego. Arthur said it clearly with no regard for my sensitive coaching ego. I was pushing too hard. Over and over again they told me to ease back – do not push so hard. They both said the same thing – it’s training not straining.

The two best examples of my early ineptitude were with Alison’s training prior to flying to New Zealand to run in what was then the hugely popular Pan Am Track Series. And the second was in the final stages of Toni Jeffs preparation for the Barcelona Olympic Games. Here is what happened.

Alison was about to leave our home in Scotland to fly to Australia for the first of the track series meets. She was running very well. But that was not good enough for me. I decided she needed one last really fast training session. And so, on a freezing cold night in mid-winter Scotland we went to the track to run a session of 4x400m with a 400m jog between each fast run. The rules, I said, were that each fast 400m had to be run in well under 60 seconds. And Alison did it. Two 58s, one 57 and one 59, that I growled about. In the conditions with snow on the track it was brilliant running.

And do you know what? Through the next three months in Australia and New Zealand Alison never ran as well again. She had left it all behind in Scotland. That is all it takes to tip a fast runner over the edge and lose an entire season’s work. The only solution was to come back to Scotland and begin some 18k easy aerobic runs around Gleneagles golf course – to put right the damage done by me on a training track three months earlier.

Clearly though the lesson had not been learned. A few years later I was preparing Toni Jeffs to swim in the 50m and 100m freestyle at the Barcelona Olympic Games. Toni was swimming well. She had just placed third in what was then the World Short Course Championships. A bronze medal or better at Barcelona was a real possibility.

A week before flying to Spain I decided Toni needed one more hard training session, in Wellington’s Freyberg Pool. She should swim a main set of 10x66m with 66m easy swim in between each fast swim. Each fast swim had to be below 40 seconds – that’s 60 seconds 100m pace.  All the swims were from a push, no dive.

Toni got through the set brilliantly – 36s and 37s all the way through. And in Barcelona her 3^rd in the World Championships ended as 27^th in the Olympic Games. I had done the same thing again. I’d pushed too hard in training. Toni’s best swim that season wasn’t at the Olympic Games. It was in Freyberg Pool on a Saturday night with only the lifeguard there to watch.

After a training camp in Canet, Toni was so drained by the time we got to Barcelona, she would faint and fall off her chair eating dinner. She would throw-up after training. How she managed 27^th in the Games was incredible. In a way, swimming as well as she did was probably one of her better swims. Certainly, her most courageous. And it was all squarely my fault. Her best had been left in the training pool.

I do not want what I am about to say to be misunderstood. I certainly do not want to give the impression that I know best or of pompously telling coaches how they should coach. Rather my purpose is to discuss what seems to have been a problem. Two years ago, Swimming New Zealand handed back to New Zealand coaches responsibility for preparing national teams – a good decision. Open discussion of problems is one way of maximizing that opportunity.

This most recent European trip seems to have highlighted a problem swimming personal best times (PBs). From 253 swims at Mare Nostrum only 18 (7.1%) were PBs. That is a poor PB performance especially when you consider that 6 of the 18 PBs came from one swimmer (Godwin). At the time of writing this blog, with one day to go, the World Championship team (I have included Eyad even though he swims for the World Refugee Team. But New Zealand is his home, and he has had the same travel experience as the rest of the New Zealand swimmers) has swum 29 individual swims (that includes 3 relay starts) with only 4 PBs (13.8%).

Three of the PBs were not exactly swum by two “typical” New Zealanders. Two were swum by Eyad (100%), who is in Budapest as a member of the FINA Refugee Team. The other by, Carter Swift who was born in New Zealand before his family moved to Australia where Swift learned to swim. He competed on the Arizona State swim team and currently lives and is coached by Michael Phelps’ old coach, Bob Bowman, in the United States. He is a good and welcome addition to New Zealand swimming, but as I say, not exactly typical. The fourth PB was swum by Eve Thomas in the 800m heats. Thomas lives and trains in Australia    

So, why did the New Zealand based team swim no PBs, and how can we improve?   

Well, from everything I’ve read New Zealand seems to have had an overtraining problem. For example –

• Sickness
• Not swimming PBs
• Scratching from events
• Short tempers
• Slower times later in the meet

All classic symptoms of overtraining – just what I did with Alison in Scotland and Toni in Wellington. Here are two emails I sent to Eyad before and during the pre-championship training camp.

“As a result of watching your swims in Mare Nostrum I think it is important for you to do some more steady recovery swimming at the training camp. It has been a very long racing season leading up to the LC Nationals and then extended out twice more with Mare Nostrum and the World Champs. There is only so much blood to wring out of a stone. I think you will definitely swim better in Budapest by changing the emphasis in the camp from even more speed/anaerobic sets to easy recovery aerobic swimming with a short speed up just before Budapest.”

And a week later.

“Well done on a first recovery week at the camp. That has been very worthwhile. Make sure you do the same thing this week. Swim easy. Keep the tiger in the tank for one more week. Even if others are sprinting in their training, do not be tempted to follow. Hold back until next week. Remember that old, but true, quote – It takes very little to sharpen a fit body.”

Arch Jelley said the same thing to me before Eyad began this trip.

“Remember on a tour like Mare Nostrum and the World Championships there is seldom any reason to do speed training. The races will provide more than enough speed training”.

But what does easy training mean? Well set out below is a copy of what Eyad swam in the first week at the pre-Championship training camp.

Date	Training AM	Kms	Training PM	Kms
Mon 30/5	Drive to Barcelona. Fly to Vienna	0	Drive to Barcelona. Fly to Vienna	0
Tue 31/5	Training Camp OFF Sleep in and have an easy morning to relax	0	Training Camp  WU 400/4×100/4×50 swim  MS  400/4×100/4×50 pull  400/4×100/4×50 with fins	3
Wed 1/6	Training Camp OFF Sleep in and have an easy morning to relax	0	Training Camp  WU 400/4×100/4×50  PS  3 x 200 IM with fins done as 25m swim 25m easy kick 4 x 50 easy DPS all fly MS 1 x 1000 easy swim free 1 x 1000 easy swim done as 50 fly 50 free 1×1000 with fins swim IM – 250m each stroke	4.8
Thur 2/6	Training Camp  WU 400/4×100/4×50  MS 1000 easy swim with fins  MS 500 kick no fins	2.5	Training Camp  WU 400/4×100/4×50  PS  4 x 100 IM easy  3 x (2×25 fly + 50 breast + 100 free + 50 back + 2×25 fly) Your rest all the way through. Easy effort. MS All done as easy effort 4 x 150 Breast – Kick 100. + Pull 50. 3 x 100 Freestyle – Aim for 8 strokes per 25m or 20 per 50m  2 x 75 Backstroke – done as 25m easy back + 25m double-arm back + 25 easy back 1 x 50 Fly – done easy with fins MS 100 warm down	3.5
Fri 3/6	Training Camp  WU 400/4×100/4×50  MS 1000 easy swim with fins  MS 500 kick no fins	2.5	Training Camp WU 400/4×100/4×50 MS 1000 easy swim with fins done as 25 free 25 fly MS 500 kick no fins	2.5
Sat 4/6	Training Camp OFF Sleep in and have an easy morning to relax	0	Training Camp 40 x 100 on 1.45 easy	4
Sun 5/6	Training Camp OFF	0	Training Camp OFF	0

By anybody’s standards that’s a pretty easy week. And it worked. In Budapest Eyad swam a 2.8% personal best in the 50m fly and a 0.01 second improvement in the 100 fly.  

In other words, are New Zealand’s coaches trying too hard? I suspect that may be the case. If it is true, there is nothing wrong with making the error. It is easy to do. But it may be worth trying an easier approach. Next time leave the stopwatch, calculator and laptop at the hotel. Enjoy European coffee, and croissants and hot olives soaked in melted butter. Chat with the locals while your swimmer does a set of easy aerobic swims. I bet PB times will follow.

Certainly, pay no attention to stupid internet advice to “harden up”. That will only make the PB problem worse. When I first sought out the guidance of Arch Jelley and Arthur Lydiard, I frequently hung up the phone thinking both men were getting old. They were going soft. I always did what they said but my heart still clung onto the harden up thought. Gradually though as swimmer after swimmer swam better the penny dropped. The advice of Arch and Arthur was right. European coffee, and croissants and hot olives soaked in melted butter was the way to go – take it easy, works

What is Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) going to do about the new FINA transgender policy? The answer seems pretty clear. But more of that later.

Because there are politics involved. For example, what does the money lady think? Is she, that’s Sport New Zealand, Raelene Castle, on board with the new rules? Does she agree that all transgender male to female athletes must start their treatment prior to the age of 12 and show evidence of continuous testosterone levels below 2.5. Does her with the power want every sport in New Zealand following FINA’s lead? It will be interesting to see if SNZ has the courage to do what is right, and what its Constitution demands, or will SNZ fold and go along with whatever Castle tells them to do. We will see.

Oh, and slightly off the subject but how did SNZ vote on the Policy at the FINA Congress that passed the Policy with a 71.5% majority?  

There should be no question about what should be done. The SNZ Constitution is very clear on the subject.

Clause 3 says, “SNZ is bound by and must observe the rules and decisions of FINA”. But you wait and see. If SNZ are told by Castle that FINA’s policy is not to be imported into New Zealand, SNZ could well twist and turn to ride roughshod over the Constitution. Remember three members of the SNZ Board owe their loyalty to Castle. They will say FINA’s Policy is not a rule or a decision – it’s a Policy. Therefore, the document does not necessarily apply – but.

Clause 7 says, “A member is bound by this Constitution and by all rules policies and decisions of SNZ and where applicable those of FINA. Ah, the dreaded “policy” word. I have no idea how anyone could wriggle out of this clause. Every member, that’s us, are constitutionally required to be bound by FINA policy decisions. Goodness knows what we should do if the three Castle sycophants on the SNZ Board tried to prevent the members complying with the sport’s Constitution. It would certainly merit a legal challenge. I guess someone determined not to be bound by the new policy will say it is not “applicable”. It is applicable, of course, but those desperate enough to follow their leader will say anything.

Clause 7.3 says, “Any member disobeying any rule or failing to give effect to any decision of FINA is liable to suspension or expulsion”. And so, there is a constitutional punishment for disobeying the FINA transgender policy. That legal challenge against the Castle gang just got a whole lot stronger.

And so, that’s what the SNZ Constitution has to say about falling into line with FINA policies and decisions. But does the policy itself give us any clues about what FINA expects from its Federation members?

It sure does. In Section G the FINA Policy says,

• FINA recommends that each Member Federation adopts its own gender policy to determine eligibility to compete in events taking place under its jurisdiction.
• Member Federations may use this Policy as a guideline for national-level and age-group competition.
• For the avoidance of doubt, however, any policy applied at a national level will not determine the eligibility of athletes to compete in FINA competitions. Instead, that will be determined exclusively by reference to this Policy.
• Any policy adopted by a Member Federation remains within the jurisdiction of the Member Federation. Any decision taken by a Member Federation is not considered a FINA decision.
• FINA recommends that organisers of recreational events consider local circumstances in their determination of whether or not separate sex competition is necessary for them.

There it is. FINA has shown it is not to be messed about. In pretty blunt terms FINA has said, “SNZ can publish their own gender rules based on the FINA Policy. But whatever SNZ decide the rules governing international swimming will be the FINA Policy”.

There we have it. Both the SNZ Constitution and FINA are telling SNZ to adopt the FINA gender Policy. But that direction should not be needed. The right thing to do is to make the sport fair. We can do without a Lia Thomas in our midst. My view is that the SNZ Board members who owe their loyalty to the membership will want to adopt the fair gender rules set out in the FINA Policy.

However, we will not know what the Board members who owe their loyalty to Sport New Zealand think until Castle tells them how to vote. There is an opportunity for SNZ to become the most progressive force on this issue. There is also the possibility it could become the most reactionary.

Which way will it go? Right now, that’s a 50/50 bet. I have no idea.

The world governing body of swimming, FINA, has produced a document called the “POLICY ON ELIGIBILITY FOR THE MEN’S AND WOMEN’S COMPETITON CATEGORIES”. The Policy has been passed by the FINA Congress with a 71.5% majority. Well done FINA. The policy protects women’s sport. In swimming at least, gone are the days when Laurel Hubbard, Kate Weatherly and Lia Thomas could take advantage of their male puberty development to win by cheating in women’s sport.

The Policy is 24 pages, but the heart and soul of the Policy, the bit that really matters, is on page seven. Section 4, “Eligibility for the Women’s Category” says a swimmer can compete in women’s swimming only under the following conditions.

• Athletes who have previously used testosterone as part of female-to-male hormone treatment but are no longer following that treatment are eligible to compete in the women’s category in FINA competitions if they can establish that the testosterone use was for less than a year in total and did not take place during pubertal development, and their testosterone levels are back to pre-treatment normal, and any associated anabolic effects have been eliminated.
• Male-to-female transgender athletes (transgender women) are eligible to compete in the women’s category in FINA competitions if they can establish that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond the age of 11.
• Specifically, the athlete must produce evidence establishing that they have complete androgen insensitivity and therefore could not experience male puberty; or they are androgen sensitive but had male puberty suppressed beginning at age 11, and they have since continuously maintained their testosterone levels below 2.5 nmol/L.
• An unintentional deviation from the below 2.5 nmol/L requirement may result in retrospective disqualification.
• An intentional deviation from the below 2.5 nmol/L requirement may result in retrospective disqualification equal in length to periods imposed under anti-doping rules violations.

FINA has protected legitimate women’s sport. Well done to them. I see the policy also recommends local Federations, such as Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) adopt the FINA policy. I would have thought that, in the case of SNZ, adopting the policy was automatic. I’m sure there is a Constitutional requirement for SNZ to follow all FINA Rules. But to avoid doubt adopting this policy in New Zealand should be high on the SNZ Board’s next meeting agenda.

Today the sport of swimming took a major step forward. No male is ever going to be able to prove that from the age of 11 he/she was on anti-testosterone treatment continuously. If FINA introduce an “Open” category, then Lia Thomas can go swim there. But the Paris Olympic Games are, thankfully, no longer an option.   

PS – I have received a comment from a person whose opinions I respect. The comment said, “Transgender women do not transition to “cheat” in women’s sport”.

I apologise for my inference that this was the case. Of course, the transition decision is not made to cheat in women’s sport. A person making that decision should be supported and not vilified in any way.

So, what did I mean?

I meant that most sports have a constitutional duty to provide even and fair competition. The process of transition from male to female after the onset of puberty, followed by a decision to take part in women’s sport breaches that constitutional obligation. It is against most sports constitutional rules. Therefore, by definition, it is cheating.

Personally, I support the decision to transition, for whatever reason. Just do not then make the unconstitutional decision to breech the sports “fairness” rules by taking part in women’s events – unless of course the transgender swimmer can comply with the 11 years of age and continuous 2.5 testosterone rule.  

FINA have decided that must be clarified. Their policy statement today does that.

Last night Eyad swam in his heat of the 50m butterfly at the World Championships in Budapest. Before he left New Zealand to swim in the Mare Nostrum series of meets and in the World Championships, we discussed the purpose of his first international swimming trip. We agreed on two goals. First to gain much needed experience in the “real” swimming world and second to swim personal best times, culminating with his best swims at the Championships in Budapest.

And so, in the 50m butterfly, how has he done? Well, not too bad at all, I think, is the answer to that.

He has swum the 50m fly in four meets. The table below shows Eyad’s personal best time before leaving New Zealand and the results of the four races swum on the trip.

EVENT	TIME	PB
NZ PB	25.89	–
Monaco 50 fly	26.27	No
Barcelona 50 fly	25.95	No
Canet 50 fly	25.84	Yes
Budapest 50 fly	25.27	Yes

I have been fortunate enough to experience many athletes tour the world. Not one of them would be unhappy with that series of results. The following features stand out.

• Every swim has been progress. Believe me that is not easy to do on this type of journey. Hotels, travel, strange food and new pools can upset the effort to improve. But Eyad has managed it well, especially considering this is his first foreign trip.
• He has ended his 50m fly swims with two personal best times.
• His result in the World Championships was a huge 0.6 of a second personal best.
• Overall Eyad has improved from 25.89 to 25.27. That is 0.62 of a second, or 2.4%. To put that into context, the American Swim Coaches Association rule of thumb for a swimmer’s improvement is 3% per year. Eyad has improved by 2.4% in six weeks – not far short of twice the rate expected by the Americans.

So that’s the 50m fly done. Eyad has the 100m fly in four days. He has only swum the event twice. For his third swim to be a World Championship heat is, to say the obvious, unusual. His personal best is 59.79. I’m picking he will have a good shot at that time as well.

I will let you know. And finally, I would like to thank Team Manager, Gary Francis and Swimming New Zealand for their care and interest in Eyad during this trip. Eyad is a member of the Olympic World Refugee Team. Nevertheless, New Zealand has cared for him well. Their attention represents the very best in welcoming a refugee to New Zealand, in what New Zealand should stand for and what the best in sport is all about. Thank you.

PS – I watched Eyad’s race live on TV. It helps if you have a daughter who lives in the UK and can film her TV screen on WhatsApp and send it to New Zealand. The Brits are showing the Championships live.  Thank you Jane.

There is an important phrase in the Shakespearian play Julius Caesar that says, “Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees by which he did ascend.” I know Eyad would never do that. He has always been fully appreciative of where he began his career and the path he has taken.

Most Swimwatch readers will know Eyad is currently in Budapest competing in the World Swimming Championships. He is swimming as part of the World Refugee Team. And has just sent me this photo of two swimmers recruited by FINA to help the refugee swimmers at the championships. And what a photograph it is.  If anything “Looks into the clouds” this photograph does.

Eyad, of course, is holding the camera. But who are the other two? Swimming Gods is the answer.

First there is Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Here is what Wikipedia say about her swimming career.  

Ranomi Kromowidjojo born 20 August 1990 is a retired Dutch swimmer^] of mixed Dutch–Javanese Surinamese origin who mainly specialises in sprint freestyle events. She is a triple Olympic champion, winning the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics, and in the 50 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle at the 2012 Olympics. Kromowidjojo holds the world record in the 50 meter freestyle short course, and as part of the Dutch team she holds the world records in the 4×50 m, 4 × 100 m, and 4 × 200 m freestyle relays (short course). She has won a total of 39 medals in FINA World Championship events.

And the third person in the photograph is another swimmer called Anthony Irvine. This is what Wikipedia says about his swimming career.

Anthony Lee Ervin born May 26, 1981 is an American competition swimmer who has won four Olympic medals and two World Championship golds. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the men’s 50-meter freestyle, and earned a silver medal as a member of the second-place United States relay team in the 4×100-meter freestyle event. He was the second swimmer of African descent after Anthony Nesty of Suriname to win an individual gold medal in Olympic swimming. He is the first United States citizen of African descent to medal gold in an individual Olympic swimming event.

Ervin stopped swimming competitively at the age of 22 in 2003^[5] and auctioned off his 2000 Olympic gold medal on eBay to aid survivors of the 2004 tsunami but he began to train again in 2011.

Ervin competed in the 50-meter freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics where he placed fifth. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, 16 years after his first Olympic gold medal, he won the event for the second time, at the age of 35, becoming the oldest individual Olympic gold medal winner in swimming.

What an experience Eyad is having. And I have a feeling his journey is just beginning. Swim well Eyad.