Therese Alshammar broke the 50m butterfly record, but then lost it when it was apparent she wore two suits, which is now against the rules.
Oops.
and people think NAS/WTC’s finish line policy is harsh
.
Responsibility of the swimmer to know the rules of the meet she is competing in.
She probably figured she had one last chance under the old rules before a FINA-level ban on double suits took effect.
She actually said she prefers wearing two suits but think it makes her slower. Riiiiiight.
The rule was meant to prevent athletes from wearing two suits that would privide them with extra buoyancy. She says she wears a regular suit underneath her racing suit for comfort and protection in case her suit rips again…She is the racer that right before her semifinal 50M free at the Bejing Olympics her suit ripped in half and she had to change real quickly, …Dara Torres held up the race briefly…, and then failed to make the final when she was one of the favorites to win.
Though technically she broke the rule by wearing 2 suits, she wasn’t doing it to gain a competitive advantage which is what the rule was really intended for. But after deliberating for 5 hours on the topic, a rule is a rule, and the judges had to DQ her…In the end it cost her .02 off her previous world record, she couldn’t have swam in the finals anyway.
Yeah, i fully grasp the reason for the rule, was just commenting in regards to how “cold-hearted” WTC is because of the new finish line policy.
Is there anything more stupid than a WR for a 50? Swimmers should outgrow 50’s when they turn 13.
Therese Alshammar broke the 50m butterfly record, but then lost it when it was apparent she wore two suits, which is now against the rules.
Oops.
http://www.nytimes.com/...utterfly-record.html
If she is fastest enough to earn the record, 50m is not difficult to replicate. In fact, she could probably squeeze in 50m today after work. 
Is there anything more stupid than a WR for a 50? Swimmers should outgrow 50’s when they turn 13.
Yeah, and track sprinters should outgrow the 60m by the time they’re 16.
Not sure if you are being sarcastic or not but I agree the 60 m run is also silly short although it has been around for MUCH longer than the swim 50’s and it exists because of the size of indoor tracks. Plus, it is only one event rather than four. I think the swim 50’s are only about 10 years old.
Okay, I’m being a little sarcastic. I still haven’t figured out the pink font thing. I just think events that emphasize creatine-phosphate/anaerobic systems are okay by me. Granted, the fact that swimmers have about 5x as many chances to obtain olympic medals as most athletes is a little ridiculous.
Still, I don’t think of pure sprint events (50m in a pool) as “training” events by any stretch. I’m no good at them, but I still think they’re worth having.
If you think about it, a 100y in the pool is about the equivalent of a 400m sprint on the track—at the elite level, it’s about +/- 45 seconds of sprinting. Really, a 50y/50m in the pool is pretty close to the 200m on the track—20-23 seconds of pure, sweet pain.
So if you eliminated all of the swim events shorter than 100y, the same logic could be used to eliminate all of the track events shorter than 400m (100m, 100m hurdles, 200m, 200m hurdles), and those events are the golden ponies of the track and field world.
With attention spans getting shorter all the time, the shorter events will appeal more to spectators (which both swimming and T&F are desperately in need of). So, if economics were part of the decision, I’d say they’re worth keeping.
Your thoughts, schroeder?
The 50 is the only event where you can truly go “all out”, so it is unique in that regard and probably has a place at all meets. (I suspect people will object and suggest that you go “all out” in a 100, but I assure you that is not true… there is a tiny bit of pacing involved in a 100).
I realize there are the time comparison arguments but I’ve seen too many drop-dead 50 yd sprinters to have much enthusiasm about it. For the 50 swim/ 200 run comparison it would be interesting to see what the spread in times is between first and eighth at the Olympics. Seems to me the winner of the 200 is usually the obvious best runner whereas the 50 is the schmuck who gets the good start and finish. Then you add 3 more strokes? The 50 breaststroke? That’s for 8 year olds. I realize I might be in the minority given the hype of the 50 free in the Olympics but I’d much rather watch every second of the 10,000 m swim (the Olympic coverage was fantastic) than one second of Torres or Gary Hall muscling their way through a 50. Anyway, when I am king, I’ll keep the track events and kill the swim 50’s except for maybe the free, just for the hype.
Seems to me the winner of the 200 is usually the obvious best runner whereas the 50 is the schmuck who gets the good start and finish. Then you add 3 more strokes? The 50 breaststroke? That’s for 8 year olds.
That’s a good point. I guess it’s a bit like watching two seconds of table tennis, but with water and speedos.
50 breast is actually quite a hard race to race properly as your timing can get all out of whack trying to go fast.
50 fly is a wicked race to watch.
50 breast is actually quite a hard race to race properly as your timing can get all out of whack trying to go fast.
That’s true, but who needs another race for those odd ball breaststrokers?
50 fly is a wicked race to watch.
So is the 100 and 200.
The 50 is the only event where you can truly go “all out”, so it is unique in that regard and probably has a place at all meets. (I suspect people will object and suggest that you go “all out” in a 100, but I assure you that is not true… there is a tiny bit of pacing involved in a 100).
Or in my case more than a tiny bit!
The 50 lasts as long as the 200m sprint in Track. It’s ridiculous to say that the event is ‘childish’ or beneath the skills of an adult. It’s a test of all out power and is more than appropriate.
And 50s require a ton of skill with perfect execution. One mistake, .01 of second, difference between 1st and 2nd. Maybe 3rd. Just because something is shorter certainly doesn’t make it easier. Pole vaulting, long jumping…they take, what? 4 or 5 seconds… Guess we should get rid of them, too…
The 50 is the only event where you can truly go “all out”, so it is unique in that regard and probably has a place at all meets. (I suspect people will object and suggest that you go “all out” in a 100, but I assure you that is not true… there is a tiny bit of pacing involved in a 100).
True, there is some pacing in a 100. You go “all out” for the first fifty. Then for the second 50, you go balls to the $#%@ing wall, ALL OUT! 
and people think NAS/WTC’s finish line policy is harsh
Real sport is very harsh and ruthless. Triathlon with it’s everyone’s-a-winner vibe runs somewhat counter to that. The problem is when the worlds of real sport and the everyone’s-a-winner world’s collide. The latter doesn’t get it that there are actually rules involved with the game. That was the problem with the people-in-the-chute issue - all those people did not seem to care that their were actually rules regarding that.