By David

This week the United States Olympic Trials are underway in Omaha, Nebraska. Two swimmers swam qualifying times for the Trials while they were training at Aqua Crest. Two others swam fast but were not yet quite at Trial’s level. However 2012 is not that far away. And anyway, the coach would prefer two weeks in London to Beijing.

However the Omaha Olympic Trial Meet was not the only good swimming going on around the world this week. In Monterrey, Mexico the World Triathlon Association held its World Championship biathlon run/swim/run event. The race involved a 2.5 kilometer run followed by a 1 kilometer swim and another 2.5 kilometer run to the finish. Darcy La Fountain from our team was selected to represent the United States in the 50-54 age group section of the event. She did well – winning a silver medal. We are delighted to have a World Championship silver medalist in our midst. Congratulations Darcy, as Muhammad Ali once said, “You done splendid.”

But back to the US Swimming Trials; I’m a fan of Ryan Lochte. A few months ago I met his father and coach at the Hall of Fame pool in Ft. Lauderdale. At the time Lochte was about to go back to Daytona Beach to begin an eight week conditioning period of 90 kilometers a week. Anyone who’s into that sort of aerobic conditioning gets my vote. Unfortunately he was not quite fast enough to take down Michael Phelps in the 400 IM. It must be a hell of a feeling to break a world record and come second in a race. I’m keeping my fingers crossed Lochte can win the 200 backstroke. It will not be easy. One of the world’s best competitors, Aaron Peirsol, will be out to put right his loss to Lochte in the event at the 2007 World Championships.

God I feel for Hayley McGregory. In 2004 she was third in both the 100 and 200 backstroke trials and missed a trip to the Athens Olympic Games. Last year she was at a dinner party I was at after the Nationals in Indianapolis. Because she was born in London and has a parent who’s English I asked her why she didn’t swim for the UK. It would be an easier way to get to the Olympics than swimming for the United States. She said she would never do that. She had committed herself to the US and felt it was important to honour that position. You would think that sort of fidelity would be rewarded. It appears not. So far in this Olympic Trial she has broken the world record only to have it taken away two minutes later, in the next heat, by Natalie Coughlin and she has ended up third in a trial final for the third time. She is such a really, really nice person – it just doesn’t seem right. Incidentally I thought the tone of Coughlin’s interview after claiming back the record momentarily held by McGregory was a bit harsh. It implied Coughlin was not at all pleased someone like McGregory had broken her record. I thought it was an unnecessary put down. Good manners would suggest it could have been done better. McGregory still has to swim the 200 backstroke. It is not her best event but I hope she has a blinder and gets to swim for the nation she has supported so well.

Katie Hoff is swimming well. I was especially impressed with the last 100 of her 400 freestyle. Her 100 splits were 59.33, 1.02.27, 1.01.11 and 59.61. To negative split the last 100 in under a minute will make her really difficult to beat in Beijing; no matter how good Laure Manadou might be. It also means Paul Yetter has done a very good job of coaching his charge. I’m pleased about that. He’s always been very friendly around the pool; quick with a wave and chat about the ins and outs of the swimming world. There is no self important arrogance in this master swim coach.

I’m not at all sure about the wisdom of the huge race programmes that have become popular these days. Phelps is the best example but Hoff, Coughlin and Lochte also have a long shopping list of races. All four are genuinely great athletes. It would be sad if their ambition to take part in many events diminished the quality of their results in Beijing.

I watched Brendan Hansen win the 100 breaststroke and book himself another Olympic meeting with Japan’s breaststroke star, Kosuke Kitajima. You may recall Kitajima beat Hansen in the last Olympics. The reaction of America’s press was biased and crass. They accused Kiajima of cheating by using an illegal butterfly kick. They were right; he did do an illegal kick. But so did every other decent breaststroker in the world. That’s why FINA eventually changed the rule and allowed the butterfly kick that everybody was using anyway. The incident showed America’s sporting press at its worst. I wonder what excuse they will come up with when Kitajima wins in Beijing; as he most certainly will.

There are four more days to go in the trials. Days when the sprinters come out to play and we see the likes of Torres, Weir, Jones and a dozen others do their thing. One thing is certain; America will send as strong a team as ever to Beijing. The Australians are going to have their work cut out. They will however win the men’s 50 and 1500 free and the women’s breaststroke – at least that’s what we’re picking.

By David

In some part of the United States, evolution is not a word to be used in polite company. These souls cling to the idea that we are all the result of a week of celestial work a few thousand years ago. It is all nonsense, of course. We are in fact the partially completed product of a process first observed by Robert Darwin in the 1850 and called the Theory of Evolution. He did not use my words, but he did provide the foundation for the idea that in evolution, systems tend to develop up to the limit of their adaptive competence.

Had Darwin lived to 1960 he would have approved the light-hearted extensions of his idea proposed by Dr. Laurence Peter and Dr. William Corcoran and called the Peter Principle. This principle holds that in a hierarchy, competent individuals are promoted. Eventually they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent and there they remain; fixed by the system at their “level of incompetence”. Peter’s Corollary says that “in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out his duties”.

In his work on Corrective Action Programs in nuclear power plants, Dr. Corcoran noted the Peter Principle at work. He observed that “anything that works will be used in progressively more challenging applications until it fails”. He used as examples vacuum cleaners used as aspirators and administrative devises such as “Safety Evaluations” used for managing change. Human beings have the bad habit, he said, of using what has worked before, even when it has exceeded its effective scope.

I guess if it is possible to observe all this in a Nuclear Power Plant, it would be unusual not to find examples of the Peter Principle at swim meets. This past weekend I attended the Speedo International Age Group Meet in Fort Lauderdale. This meet has reached its level of incompetence. It shows many signs of being something that has worked and is now being “used in progressively more challenging applications until it fails”.

However before listing examples of what I mean, it is important to point out that there is still much to admire. Two years ago, Swimwatch praised the meet’s organization, its size, the officials, the helpful office staff, the use of two pools, the Coach’s hospitality, the display of results, the announcer and the organization of time-trials and scratching. We called the meet a “bloody beauty” and the label was well earned.

Much of that, in fact, probably all of it is still true: even to the extent that we received a reminder email after the closing date when our team’s entries had gone missing. Some things are done very well. There are however some additional features that are spoiling a good thing. Let me give you some examples.

The meet information said the entry procedure was being altered. Instead of paying entry fees in the normal way we would all pay a “deposit” of $40 and the outstanding balance of the fees would be settled at the meet. What this meant was that if the entry fees came to more than $40 you would pay the extra but no refund would be paid if the entry fees were less than $40. In our case this meant that four of our swimmers spent $170 to enter six races and one time-trial; an average of $28.33 per race and that is usury. That price does not include the $5 for each parent to get into the pool or the $5 for a programme. In entry fees and these other direct pool related costs each race cost our guys $43.33. That probably doesn’t satisfy the test of encouraging wide participation in the sport. I know of a hundred people that could not afford that sort of elite pricing. It almost certainly qualifies the meet as the planet’s most expensive as well as one of its biggest.

The pool deck was badly policed. The place was a zoo. I understand the emergency services were called to a sick spectator and were not at all pleased about their access being blocked by a sardine tin of spectators. I don’t blame the police for being upset. In a meet this size access to the pool deck needs to be restricted and enforced. Failure to do so on this occasion made proper coaching difficult and enjoyment impossible.

The provision of warm up space on Friday was inadequate. There is a perfectly good diving well that could have been used for warming up. Instead it was occupied by a dozen or so divers while 1000 swimmers struggled to warm up and down in one side lane in each pool. It must have been possible to take the diving somewhere else for a morning. Imagine the scene, five warm up swimmers per meter at a cost of $43.33 per race. Someone was doing all right and it wasn’t the swimmers.

It could be that this meets organizers need to heed Dr. Corcoran – “anything that works will be used in progressively more challenging applications until it fails”. On this occasion too many failures spoilt one of the country’s best swim meets.

By David

Aqua Crest has spent the past week in Europe at the Mare Nostrum series of swim meets. There is something about Mare Nostrum and European World Cup meets you just do not get anywhere else. Oh sure, there is just as good competition in any one of a thousand meets in America or Australia. America often has better swimming. The standard of national and Grand Prix swimming in the United States is exceptional. This coming week, the annual Speedo international swim meet is being held at Fort Lauderdale. I do not know what the entry list is yet but there is going to be a staggering 1100 swimmers there and some will be as good as any in the world.

Sunset at the Canet pool, by guyomedw on Flickr

What Fort Lauderdale, or anyone else for that matter, will not be able to do is the internationalism of Mare Nostrum swimming. Buses and dining rooms, changing rooms and airplanes filled with the chatter of swimmers from a score of countries. The pool deck a maze of national track suits. And it is a very good thing. As the tour progresses, you can see a thousand stereotypes being broken. The French are actually a friendly lot and their food is a step up from anything you’d find at Applebys. Other countries can put on a decent swim meet in a well run pool. Monaco has more Ferraris per square mile than even the best streets in Boca Raton. The world is a huge, interesting and vibrant place.

The arrogance that is characteristic of a George Bush wanting to impose with force his preferred way of life on every other nation on earth has no place in the happy scene called Mare Nostrum swimming. For that alone the experience is worthwhile.

It’s also worthwhile for all the reasons other good swim meets are of value. It is educational to see Sophie Edington from Australia go under a minute for 100m LC backstroke and Meeuw from Germany whose best time in the same event is 53.10. I was particularly interested to see, for the first time, Eamon Sullivan, the new 50 LC freestyle world record holder. It was intriguing to note the increased popularity of straight arms freestyle; with Sullivan as its most expert practitioner. In Barcelona, his meet record 100 LC freestyle was swum in a 32/34 stroke count; and that’s impressive.

The woman’s events that surprised me most were the 400 freestyle and 200 breaststroke. In the 400 you have to be under 4.08 these days to get back for a night time swim. In the 200 breaststroke 2.30 will soon not be good enough to make the top eight. Standards are on the way up and it’s a good thing. Progressive promoters are paying better prize money and meeting the travel costs of more swimmers. Their generosity is having a beneficial effect on swim times. United States promoters should take a leaf out of the European race book and do a bit more of that sort of thing.

Is a trip like this beneficial? Time will ll. It gives swimmers a chance to see the best touring this sport has to offer. The effect can be inspiring; encouraging the athlete to move on, training harder in an effort to go back next year for some more of the same. I hope our guys enjoyed themselves. I hope they will be in the group that’ll be back again next year.

The tour’s only cloud came at Miami Airport. My new Green Card meant I had to be processed by immigration separately. It took two hours of waiting in a disgustingly dirty room to complete a process that took less than a minute once my name came to the top of the pile. After two weeks of wandering from country to country with no one even looking at my passport it was difficult to avoid muttering a sarcastic, “Welcome home.”

By David

This week has been pretty special. The United States Supreme Court ruled that Guantanamo prisoners must be allowed to appeal their detention through the US legal system. I am sure the nation’s founding fathers would approve. Granted, there are some very dangerous men in the Cuban prison. That is no excuse to deny them access to justice. They are brutes. There is no need to join them. We are a better society for affording them their day in court. Deny them this and we brutilise ourselves. Fortunately, the founding fathers and the Supreme Court recognised that and wrote and ruled accordingly.

It is important for a nation’s leaders to observe the rule of law. A society will reflect good leadership and bad. I’ve known a few swimming officials who would happily deny the rule of law to an errant coach or swimmer. The worst offender used to be Swimming New Zealand, who would think nothing of handing down punishments without a hearing. I’ve never heard of them water-boarding anyone, but beware, they do have access to the raw materials.
There may be some who think all things Swimwatch should be relagated to Cuba. Fortunately, Homeland Security do no agree with you. You see, this week I became the proud owner of a Green Card. Previously, I lived here on an 01 Visa. The visa had to be renewed every three years. The Green Card is more or less permanent.

Its arrival was however tinged with a degree of sadness and concern for America’s democratic institutions. It has taken me six months of forms, photographs and finger prints to secure this American icon. I tried to follow the instructions on the Government’s web site on “How to get a Green Card” but gave up and went to a good lawyer. No wonder the Mexican fellows I see working their hearts out to keep the nice houses in Delray Beach and Boca Ratton neat and tidy find it difficult to become legal residents. It’s hard enough when you do have the resources and support. For them it must be all but impossible.

Ever since I can remember I’ve heard about the American Green Card. It is as traditional, as filled with history, as Dave Crocket and apple pie. I suppose Henry Kissenger and Arnold Shwartzaneger must, at some stage, have owned Green Cards. They could not have been any more proud than I was when my Green Card envelope arrived. In unseemly haste I tore it open, and do you know what I discovered?
The American Green Card is not bloody green. It’s a dull beige color. There must be some advertising authority that can look into this. A million immigrants pay thousands of dollars to secure Green Cards and get delivered beige ones. Imagine if that happened with motor cars or underwear!

“Could I have a pair of green knickers?”
“Sorry Madam, all our green underwear is beige.”

You’d be out of buisness in a heartbeat. Whoever is the next President after Bush must fix this travesty of justice. In the meantime I’m off to Staples to see if they sell green crayons. I’m not walking around with a beige Green Card.

By David

It’s just as well the means of transport to a meet is no indication of the quality of what’s going to happen inside. Those arriving in a Porsche are not necessarily going to swim faster than the occupants of say a 1981 Mitsubishi Sigma. I say this only because for much of Jane’s swimming career she was transported to the pool in the “Blue Beast”, which was a $700 1981 Mitsubishi Sigma.

Jane won National titles and broke National records having traveled to the pool in that car. The Blue Beast was an engineering marvel, continuing to run through long periods of neglect that would have finished off most self-respecting vehicles. It did not run well. It was frequently passed on steep hills by East Coast Transport truck and trailer units, fully laden with a thousand sheep. It could not be counted on to even get you there. Jane and I arrived home from one European swimming trip with the Blue Beast on the back of an Automobile Association tow-truck. The Blue Beast’s radiator and automatic transmission had not survived the month in an Auckland parking lot. And on the way to early morning training you had to be careful to use the car’s lights sparingly. Anything more than twenty minutes and the Blue Beast refused to start at the end of practice. The windows, air conditioning and heater did not work. In the Blue Beast, climate control had a whole new meaning.

Actually, the car became nationally famous when it featured in a full page story in New Zealand’s largest circulation Sunday newspaper The Sunday Star Times. Basil Dynan, the President of a team based in the same town as our club, was unhappy Jane was setting national records and his swimmers were not. In a fit of spite, he called the police one Saturday evening and reported that the Blue Beast had been abandoned in the Onekawa Aquatic Centre’s parking lot. I guess his hope was that the police would tow the car away. Instead they called the Blue Beast’s home and asked Alison why the car was abandoned. Alison explained it was at the pool because Jane and I were at practice. I understand Basil had to suffer an irate visit from the local police, which served him right. We had some t-shirts printed with a picture of the Blue Beast and the word “Abandoned” printed on the front. The seniors in our team wore them at the next swim meet. Basil’s face was a picture. Just before she left New Zealand for the Virgin Islands Alison, who anyone who knows her will tell you is not normally the revolutionary type, mailed one of the spare t-shirts to Basil.

I have mentioned the Blue Beast only to avoid you thinking that our transport and accommodation at this weekend’s Florida Gold Coast Meet was in any way normal. At the Fort Lauderdale pool there is a Hall of Fame marina. Millions dollar boats are parked alongside the pool. Our swimmer Skuba’s parents have a 65 foot boat, which because they live in New Orleans, is called “Hello Dolly”. Some time last week, their captain sailed Hello Dolly to Fort Lauderdale and parked it in the Hall of Fame marina. For the weekend, we enjoyed comfort and company the likes of which I’ve never had before at a swim meet. Scallops wrapped in bacon between sessions, huge t-bones for dinner, a reserved parking place in the lot that is normally for “OFFICIALS ONLY” and, of course, a difficult 20 meter walk to the pool.

After swimming on Saturday, Captain Billy took us out into the Atlantic. I admit it was probably not the same as the four years my grandfather spent in World War One escorting cargo ships between Fort Lauderdale and Liverpool; but I could pretend. The trip did improve Andrew and Skuba’s reaction time. On the way back to the marina we passed a group of four boats anchored close to the shore. The owners were playing and swimming in the shallow water. About six of them were young ladies; very attractive and also very topless. In seconds, our guys had reached the bridge of Hello Dolly and were using Captain Billy’s binoculars to closer inspect these local shipping hazards.

By now you may be thinking we were not serious about the meet. That would not be true. I like this meet; it is one of my Florida favorites. It is understated and not all that well attended but attracts some very good swimmers. Not packed with thousands of swimmers; just some really good guys trying to beat the hell out of each other.

It’s the closest Florida gets to a World Cup or Mare Nostrum or Grand Prix type meet. It takes a certain philosophy towards swimming to like this sort of meet. I suspect that’s why Gary Hall’s Race Club is always there. It is certainly the reason we’re there. For example, our guys’ 50 meters freestyle included Gary Hall, Olympic Champion; George Bovell, Olympic Bronze Medalist and the Olympic representatives of at least three other countries. It was an ideal warm up for the competition the Aqua Crest swimmers will face in Europe next week.

So, thank you Gary Hall and George Bovell and the others. It was fun for our guys to race such huge swimming names. Thank you to Captain Billy and Skuba’s parents for the boat and looking after us for the weekend. And thank you to the Blue Beast for making us appreciate it all.