Yes, ms Ledecky has chopped 8 seconds off the 800 free wr. People forget that Janet Evans did the same thing between 1987 and 1989 (although she did loan out the record for a few months), plus she was a gold medalist in the 400 IM
Tracy Caulkins was Tracy Caulkins… Nuff said.
Mary T dropped 4 seconds off the 200 fly wr and 1.5 secs off the 100 fly, they stood for over 18 years.
Discuss…
Krisztina Egerszegi, 5 time olympic champ, world record holder 200 back 17 years, won same event in three consecutive olympics. Won olympic gold at 14. Won a 200m olympic gold by over 4 seconds. Retired at 22.
And Dawn Fraser.
How the hell could I forget about Egerzegi? She was one of my favourites.
Dawn Fraser was way before my time.
Shane Gould held every freestyle record from 100m to 1500m, plus the IM. I wonder what she would have gone on to do if she hadn’t finished swimming at only 17.
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Shane Gould held every freestyle record from 100m to 1500m, plus the IM. I wonder what she would have gone on to do if she hadn’t finished swimming at only 17.
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I agree - but then again, perhaps it doesn’t matter. After all, her results include three Olympic golds at Munich, each of which was a world record. Took a silver and bronze as well at the same meet. Then walked away from swimming and public life for 22 years. There have been a lot of amazing women in swimming and Shane is one the most impressive to me.
Jason - its possibly occurred to you already but as amazing as the women on your list were/are - its a very US-centric list.
Would only put swimmers on it who are retired although Ledecky has full potential to be very dominant. But can she do it over a long period of time?
How about the most dominant female tri swimmer? Sara Mclarty perhaps?
No. Just talking about swimmers here…
Yes, ms Ledecky has chopped 8 seconds off the 800 free wr. People forget that Janet Evans did the same thing between 1987 and 1989 (although she did loan out the record for a few months), plus she was a gold medalist in the 400 IM
Tracy Caulkins was Tracy Caulkins… Nuff said.
Mary T dropped 4 seconds off the 200 fly wr and 1.5 secs off the 100 fly, they stood for over 18 years.
Discuss…
It’s not even close. Katie Ledecky is the most dominant of all time. While Janet Evans continued to lower her WR, other women were close to her times (and even became a WR holder during Evans’ reign. Ledecky’s margin of victory - and margin of world records - is something we have never seen before.
Dara Torres - 12 Olympic Medals (tied for most among women) ,5 Olympic Games. But I don’t think she ever held WR’s so not sure standing the test of time gets her on the list.
Janet Evans from your list but mostly because I was more involved with swimming during her run so it hits closer to home
Yes, ms Ledecky has chopped 8 seconds off the 800 free wr. People forget that Janet Evans did the same thing between 1987 and 1989 (although she did loan out the record for a few months), plus she was a gold medalist in the 400 IM
Tracy Caulkins was Tracy Caulkins… Nuff said.
Mary T dropped 4 seconds off the 200 fly wr and 1.5 secs off the 100 fly, they stood for over 18 years.
Discuss…
It’s not even close. Katie Ledecky is the most dominant of all time. While Janet Evans continued to lower her WR, other women were close to her times (and even became a WR holder during Evans’ reign. Ledecky’s margin of victory - and margin of world records - is something we have never seen before.
I’m not disagreeing (Ledecky is just killing it these days), but is her dominance (not just winning races, but the margin she is winning by) speak more about her or more about her competition? I honestly don’t know. My guess is it’s both. I just keep thinking about the men’s 800M on the track many years ago when Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe kept trading WR’s, or Dave Scott vs. Mark Allen, etc. The competition pushed incredible performances. So my question is: what is the depth of competition for the women’s distance races (400M or longer) right now vs. several years ago, vs. Janet Evans era, etc.? Again not challenging the greatness of Ledecky, but am asking for input on how is the women’s distance field today vs. other time periods.
Go watch video of Mary T winning her 200 fly in the L.A. Games. She won by 4 seconds, at the friggin’ Olympics. Same with Egerszegi ('96-200 Back). Ledecky won the 800 in 2012 by 4 seconds.
Janet Evans chopped the same amount of time off the 800 free over roughly the same time period, she just had closer competition at that time.
This isn’t the no-brainer you seem to think it is…
Shane Gould held every freestyle record from 100m to 1500m, plus the IM. I wonder what she would have gone on to do if she hadn’t finished swimming at only 17.
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I agree - but then again, perhaps it doesn’t matter. After all, her results include three Olympic golds at Munich, each of which was a world record. Took a silver and bronze as well at the same meet. Then walked away from swimming and public life for 22 years. There have been a lot of amazing women in swimming and Shane is one the most impressive to me.
Jason - its possibly occurred to you already but as amazing as the women on your list were/are - its a very US-centric list.
I didn’t really forget about Shane Gould, although I probably should have mentioned her. I guess I was looking at dominance in their chosen event, without respect to the number of events. (but then I broke my own criteria with Caulkins… ). Shane was an amazing swimmer, but I don’t recall her being head and shoulders above everyone else. Her records all only lasted a few months to a year…
I guess Beamonesque is the criteria here.
Kornelia Ender
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Who was he???
Seriously, I do feel sorry for Kornelia and the other girls who were put through the East German system. From what I understand, she was probably clean in the 1972 Games, then the doping started when she was only 14 or so leading up to '76…
No sympathy at all for the coaches and officials in that system though.
It is pretty rare when the winner of the 50 is a certainty and Inge did it twice. Her margin was smaller but I never felt she was actually challenged. The race I remember the most was her semifinal in Sydney: vandyken was the defending champion and Inge just blew her doors off. That was when Vandyken called her a man which was both petty and telling: No one thought they could compete with her.
Shane Gould held every freestyle record from 100m to 1500m, plus the IM. I wonder what she would have gone on to do if she hadn’t finished swimming at only 17.
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I agree - but then again, perhaps it doesn’t matter. After all, her results include three Olympic golds at Munich, each of which was a world record. Took a silver and bronze as well at the same meet. Then walked away from swimming and public life for 22 years. There have been a lot of amazing women in swimming and Shane is one the most impressive to me.
Jason - its possibly occurred to you already but as amazing as the women on your list were/are - its a very US-centric list.
I didn’t really forget about Shane Gould, although I probably should have mentioned her. I guess I was looking at dominance in their chosen event, without respect to the number of events. (but then I broke my own criteria with Caulkins… ). Shane was an amazing swimmer, but I don’t recall her being head and shoulders above everyone else. Her records all only lasted a few months to a year…
I guess Beamonesque is the criteria here.
ripped from wiki, but she is still kicking ass today in masters events:
At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Gould won three gold medals, setting a world record in each race. She also won a bronze and a silver medal.
She is the only person, male or female, to hold every world freestyle record from 100 metres to 1500 metres and the 200-metre individual medley world record simultaneously, which she did from 12 December 1971 to 1 September 1972. She is the first female swimmer ever to win three Olympic gold medals in world record time, and the first swimmer, male or female, to win Olympic medals in five individual events in a single Olympics.
At the age of 17, she retired from competitive swimming, citing pressures placed upon her by her success and media profile.
Over two decades later, Gould returned to competitive swimming at Masters level. She set Australian Masters records (40–44 years 100m, 200 m, and 400 m freestyle, and 100 m butterfly) and 45–49 years (50 m butterfly, 100 m and 200 m freestyle). In 2003 she broke the world record for the 45–49 years 200 m individual medley in 2:38.13 (beating the 1961 world record for all ages). Her feats make her the joint most decorated Australian or Oceanian Olympic medallist in all sports.
Is there any event in the upcoming Olympics in any sport with a more certain likely winner than Ledecky in the 800m free?
How is Usain Bolt running these days? USA Basketball teams?
I’m sure there are some overwhelming favourites in some of the other “smaller” Olympic sports.
How is Usain Bolt running these days? USA Basketball teams?
I’m sure there are some overwhelming favourites in some of the other “smaller” Olympic sports.
U.S. basketball is probably a lock. I think the 100m is too volatile to have the same level of certainty, even for a dominant athlete. A bad start, or a false start, is all it takes to lose a 9.7 second event. In an 8 minute event like the 800, one little miscue isn’t fatal.