vitus979 wrote:
You don't think there's a much bigger talent pool of runners than swimmers? Everyone has run. Not everyone has swam. Even in America, there are plenty of people who've never been in a pool and who can't swim. I'd bet there's hardly an able bodied person alive who hasn't been in a footrace at some point in their life.
Just from an infrastructure standpoint, you're going to have a bigger group of potential runners than swimmers.
The fact that most everyone moves their feet faster than a walk at some time in their lives doesn't make them part of the competition pool for elite sprinting. And the fact that there are more people who do run competitively doesn't make it harder. It just makes for more competition. Part of the reason there are fewer swimmers than runners is that it's a harder skill to master.
Yes, there is a bigger pool of competitors. However, for guys like these, most of that pool isn't really in play.
Slowguy
(insert pithy phrase here...)