Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeWaters
Swimming is like track and field olympics in 1912. It's wide-open.
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Okay, Mr. Lingo.
Swimming in a narrow field won't mean much but on a national level it does. Competing against spots against the Aussies and Chinese if formidable.
The conditioning required coupled with enough talented athletes is also significant. Would it be better if more minorities participated? Probably. It's mostly driven middle income families in warm weather states, Cali, SoCal and NoCal, Texas, Florida and a little bit from everywhere else. Though during the days of Spitz, Indiana University excelled due to its world class coach. You may have excelled within your city but the size of today's sprinters also included athletes. Most of the guys go 6'2" and beyond and female swimmers are also comparatively long.
Distance is about lots of work. People who don't swim underestimate the quality of the top notch swimmers.
The main difference is the lack of depth below national level.