In 2000, fifteen-year-old Michael Phelps swam in his first Olympics, finishing fifth in the 200-meter butterfly in Sydney, Australia, “where swimming is as popular as football and baseball are in America.” 1 The following year, Phelps signed an endorsement deal with swimwear company Speedo to
Search Results
The $100-Million Dollar Man: Michael Phelps, the Olympic System, and USA Swimming’s Shifts in “Eligibility”
Matthew R. Hodler
“Californian ‘Start-’Em-Young’ System”: The Golden State and US Swimming, 1954–1964
Matthew R. Hodler and Maureen Smith
Despite its history of success since the re-inception of the Modern Olympics, 1 the US’s swimming dominance was not assured in the post-World War II (WWII) era. American swimmers (primarily men) had some successes at the 1948 Austerity Games in London and the 1952 Games in Helsinki. 2 By 1956
Buoyancy, Gender, and Swimming Performance
Scott P. McLean and Richard N. Hinrichs
This study investigated the relationship of gender and buoyancy to sprint swimming performance. The center of buoyancy (CB) and center of mass (CM) were measured using reaction board principles. Performance was evaluated as the time needed to complete the middle 13.7 m of a 22.9-m sprint for kicking and swimming trials. Nineteen female swimmers (mean ± SD, 21.9 ± 3.2 years) had significantly more body fat (24.1 ± 4.5%) than 13 male swimmers (21.7 ± 4.2 years, 14.8 ± 5.0%). Males swam and kicked significantly faster (p < .01) than females. Percent body fat, upper body strength, the distance between the CB and CM (d), and the buoyant force measured in 3 body positions all met the criteria for entrance into a regression equation. When gender was not controlled in the analysis, these variables accounted for 70% of the variance in swim time (p < .008). When gender was controlled in the analysis, these variables accounted for 45% of the variance in swim time (p = .06). Percent body fat accounted for the largest amount variance in both regression analyses (39%, p < .001; 18%, p = 0.02, respectively). Upper body strength accounted for 14% of the variance in swim time (p = .006) when gender was not controlled but only 4% when gender was controlled (p = .27). The distance d as measured in a body position with both arms raised above the head was the buoyancy factor that accounted for the greatest amount of variance in swim time (6% when gender was not controlled, p = .06, 10%; when gender was controlled, p = .07). Percent body fat, d, and the buoyant force accounted for no significant amount of variance in kick time. These data suggested that a swimmer’s buoyancy characteristics did have a small but important influence on sprint swimming performance.
Addition of an Approach to a Swimming Relay Start
Scott P. McLean, Michael J. Holthe, Peter F. Vint, Keith D. Beckett, and Richard N. Hinrichs
Ten male collegiate swimmers (age = 20.2 ± 1.4 years, height = 184.6 ± 5.8 cm, mass = 82.9 ± 9.3 kg) performed 3 swimming relay step starts, which incorporated a one or two-step approach, and a no-step relay start. Time to 10 m was not significantly shorter between step and no-step starts. A double-step start increased horizontal takeoff velocity by 0.2 m/s. A single-step together start decreased vertical takeoff velocity by 0.2 m/s but increased takeoff height by 0.16 m. Subjects were more upright at takeoff by 4°, 2°, and 5° in the double-step, single-step apart, and single-step together starts, respectively, than in the no-step start. Entry angle was steeper by 2°, entry orientation was steeper by 3°, and entry vertical velocity was faster by 0.3 m/s in the single-step together start. Restricting step length by 50% had little effect on step starts with the exceptions that horizontal velocity was significantly reduced by 0.1 m/s in the double-step start and vertical takeoff velocity was increased by 0.2 m/s in the single-step together start. These data suggested that step starts offered some performance improvements over the no-step start, but these improvements were not widespread and, in the case of the double-step start, were dependent on the ability to take longer steps.
Postlockdown Performance in French Swimming Championships
Nathan Miguens, Robin Pla, Audrey Difernand, Jean-François Toussaint, and Adrien Sedeaud
confinement. During the first confinement, the swimming pools remained closed for 98 days. This period of great sedentariness 2 caused by strict lockdown generated health maladjustments. 3 Among elite athletes, it resulted in a decreased total training load, which may have induced physiological changes. 4
Evaluating Warm-Up Strategies for Elite Sprint Breaststroke Swimming Performance
Courtney J. McGowan, David B. Pyne, Kevin G. Thompson, and Ben Rattray
Purpose:
Targeted passive heating and completion of dryland-based activation exercises within the warm-up can enhance sprint freestyle performance. The authors investigated if these interventions would also elicit improvements in sprint breaststroke swimming performance.
Methods:
Ten national and internationally competitive swimmers (~805 FINA (Fédération internationale de natation) 2014 scoring points; 6 men, mean ± SD 20 ± 1 y; 4 women, 21 ± 3 y) completed a standardized pool warm-up (1550 m) followed by a 30-min transition phase and a 100-m breaststroke time trial. In the transition phase, swimmers wore a conventional tracksuit and remained seated (control) or wore tracksuit pants with integrated heating elements and performed a 5-min dryland-based exercise routine (combo) in a crossover design.
Results:
Performance in the 100-m time trial (control: 68.6 ± 4.0 s, combo: 68.4 ± 3.9 s, P = .55) and start times to 15 m (control: 7.3 ± 0.6 s; combo: 7.3 ± 0.6 s; P = .81) were not different between conditions. It was unclear (P = .36) whether combo (–0.12°C ± 0.19°C [mean ± 90% confidence limits]) elicited an improvement in core temperature maintenance in the transition phase compared with control (–0.31°C ± 0.19°C). Skin temperature immediately before commencement of the time trial was higher (by ~1°C, P = .01) within combo (30.13°C ± 0.88°C [mean ± SD]) compared with control (29.11°C ± 1.20°C). Lower-body power output was not different between conditions before the time trial.
Conclusions:
Targeted passive heating and completion of dryland-based activation exercises in the transition phase does not enhance sprint breaststroke performance despite eliciting elevated skin temperature immediately before time trial commencement.
Effective Propulsion in Swimming: Grasping the Hydrodynamics of Hand and Arm Movements
Josje van Houwelingen, Sander Schreven, Jeroen B.J. Smeets, Herman J.H. Clercx, and Peter J. Beek
In this paper, a literature review is presented regarding the hydrodynamic effects of different hand and arm movements during swimming with the aim to identify lacunae in current methods and knowledge, and to distil practical guidelines for coaches and swimmers seeking to increase swimming speed. Experimental and numerical studies are discussed, examining the effects of hand orientation, thumb position, finger spread, sculling movements, and hand accelerations during swimming, as well as unsteady properties of vortices due to changes in hand orientation. Collectively, the findings indicate that swimming speed may be increased by avoiding excessive sculling movements and by spreading the fingers slightly. In addition, it appears that accelerating the hands rather than moving them at constant speed may be beneficial, and that (in front crawl swimming) the thumb should be abducted during entry, catch, and upsweep, and adducted during the pull phase. Further experimental and numerical research is required to confirm these suggestions and to elucidate their hydrodynamic underpinnings and identify optimal propulsion techniques. To this end, it is necessary that the dynamical motion and resulting unsteady effects are accounted for, and that flow visualization techniques, force measurements, and simulations are combined in studying those effects.
Ten-Year Evolution of World Swimming Trends for Different Performance Clusters: A Gaussian Model
Santiago Veiga, Alexia Grenouillat, Luis Rodríguez-Adalia, Fernando Zarzosa-Alonso, and Robin Pla
The level of competitiveness in the world swimming rankings improved significantly in the second half of the 20th century, and despite a stagnation in world records in the early 1990s, a slow but steady progress in the rankings has been observed in the last decades. 1 Various factors, such as the
Longitudinal Analysis of Race-Management Strategies in a World-Class 200-m Freestyle Swimmer: A Case Study
Camille Loisel, Robin Pla, and Ludovic Seifert
Pacing in swimming is a crucial aspect of successful racing, as swimmers must manage both swimming segments involving cyclic motor activity (because swimming speed is the product of stroke rate and stroke length) and nonswimming segments to dive, approach, turn, and push off the wall. 1 , 2 Racing
The Effects of Applied and Sport-Specific Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement Training on Mindfulness Skills, Flow, and Emotional Regulation in National Competitive Swimmers
Jenny Meggs and Mark Chen
psychology (part time) that they had delivered alongside academic roles that they have held for more than 10 years. The applied sport psychology experience of the team included a variation from elite competitive swimming and para-swimming, international-level mixed martial artists to football association
