JasoninHalifax wrote:
By definition actually. There is only one "best in the world" at any time, and how many other swimmers have held the 400 /800 / 1500 records at the same time. I don't think Bruce is claiming that he has some magic championship decoder ring either. There are plenty of other clubs doing pretty much the same thing as he is doing at Nations Capital and yuri did before Bruce got there.
My feeling though is that it isn't talent that got her there, at least her coach doesn't think so. Not "talent" in the physical sense anyway. I generally hate referring to "talent" anyway, as it is too easily used as an excuse (I didn't swim as fast as her because she's more talented, waaaa) or it subtly undermines the amount of hard work that goes into creating a champion.
I'll disagree with you on the talent issue for her. I will say it is mostly talent that got her there. Not a stretch considering she's breaking world records. Yes, she still has to swim like ridiculous yardage per week for years starting from childhood, and yes, if I did that, I'd probably be a top regional swimmer, but to say it's mostly hard work to break world records? Not by a longshot.
There are literally thousands of female swimmers who have trained along the lines of her, and could not break world records.
I still think the vast majority of athletes and general public misunderstand how much training and hard work these champions put into their craft, but it is true that at that world-record level, distinguishing yourself from your peers is ALL about talent.
At my lowly AG level, and even at elite amateur levels, it is all about hard work, and not talent. But Katie Ledecky is nowhere near this pedestrian level of swimming. Talent, talent, and more talent. She could literally not train seriously and crush AG amateurs just by her talent alone.
Interesingly, I recently read a book about a journalist who went to Kenya to train with the Kenyans to observe what makes them run champions. His conclusion, and the one he says all the scientists/coaches before conclude is that 'it is multifactorial.' From reading his book, I TOTALLY disagree. It is clearly, stunningly obvious from reading his book, that it is ALL about talent. Yes, those Kenyans love their running, and they take it seriously, but they literally are finding runners who are going 15 minutes for 5k with almost zero training to start with. And none of the foreigners who come over to live/train with them can replicate what the Kenyans can do, and even more, when the Kenyans leave Kenya and train/race elsewhere, they stay dominant. (Even the Ethiopians from the similar genetic tribe have the same effect.) That author observed so many Kenyans with highly doubtful training methods (dropping out often on training runs), no idea how to race (something like near 50% of the field drops out in the first half of a short-distance race made up of serious runners from Kenya), and they had no special coaching program that allowed the production of top athletes. In fact, the best 'coach' in their country was actually a foreign teacher who was more of a promoter of their entire talent, and thus allowed the world to 'discover' them. Talent, talent, and more talent, for world-beating performances.