manifest depth.
In the male, almost as much as the Yanks in 2000. Then the women had the depth when the men laid off in the subsequent olympiads.
Swimming Australia Announce Investigation Into Performance
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manifest depth.
In the male, almost as much as the Yanks in 2000. Then the women had the depth when the men laid off in the subsequent olympiads.
SJ
Premium Platinum
Late '90s to early '00s we had depth in the men, and early '00s to mid '00s we had depth in the women.
The planets aligned in 2001 at Fukuoka when Australia topped the medal table (on golds).
1. Australia 13-3-3
2. United States 9-9-8
The planets aligned in 2001 at Fukuoka when Australia topped the medal table (on golds).
1. Australia 13-3-3
2. United States 9-9-8
chargers 09
Premiership Player
We had guys like Ashley Callus as well, so there was certainly more depth in the mens.
chargers 09
Premiership Player
Geoff Huegil was another one, so we certainly had far more stars as well. as I said earlier these things go in cycles Germany didn't win a medal in the pool this year.
fydler callus the medley swimmer matt (someone) dunn? from touretskis squad, the breastroker from adelaid, the bald (or really short hair). 2000 was a banner year/era
Olympic trials is a good agenda items. I don't have the dates but doesn't the US team wait until the last possible moment to have their trials. It's something that Australia should adopt. James Roberts was Australia's 2nd fastest swimmers for 100m free at the trials but he was woefully out of form / out of condition at the Olympics. We shouldn't rely on trial form to nominate our swimming team if it was raced over 2 months ago before the Olympics commenced. It should be done at latest possible moment to ensure that the most recent fastest swimmers are picked.
Does it actually matter?
Fundamental question, does it actually matter if we don't win as many gold medals as we expected?
Fundamental question, does it actually matter if we don't win as many gold medals as we expected?
how do we know when the best time is. Swimmers also have to fly out and cross timezones, and find a peak fitness.
It is easier to peak in your home pool, in your time zone and with all your support staff and all complementary advantages.
Flying out for the build up, placs more variables in the queue, variables the boffins are trying to dial down.
And every individual athlete will have a different preference for their build up, and a unique optimal preparation. This is not one solution, one size fits all.
It is however, one perception by the public fits all. And a deluded populace braying for pool gold as self esteem.
The grace of a loser tells alot about character. And on the whole, the media, and public, have been graceless. Even athletes themselves, assuming they deserved a gold by virtue of pb/ranking/or world records. Get over yourselves.
SJ
Premium Platinum
Does anything ever really matter?
I would say if we are investing taxpayers' dollars into Olympic sports then we should be trying to do the best we can with that investment.
we play Michael Lewis' Moneyball and put the money into Olympic medal events with weak depth and a sweetspot for gold bang for our buck.
Its absurd aint it
chargers 09
Premiership Player
Yeah I was referring to the "stars" of them team, of which there where 6-7 then just in the males.
- Jan 13, 2001
- 15,892
- 6,917
- AFL Club
- Brisbane Lions
- Other Teams
- Man City
If you can't find form in world class facilities overseas how can you say you'll find it at home, you still have the support staff there. You need to make sure your daily pattern is settled into the time zone where you will compete. No good flying out at the last minute and realising on the eve of the meet that your sleep is totally screwed up.
the public may think that but SA doesn't they know that different athletes have different build ups. A lot of science has gone into working out different sorts of preparations. SA doesn't have a one size fits all policy and really it doesn't matter what the public thinks the fact is that the final preparations won't change from what they have been this time, which is pretty much the same as Beijing, just in a different country.
SA should be looking at why we don't seem to be having the talent coming through firstly. In the lead up to Sydney there was plenty of young talent pushing the older swimmers out of the team, now there doesn't seem to be the same pressure coming from below. One of the best ways to keep athletes performing in any sport is for them to know that there is someone snapping at their heels wanting their spot desperately, at the moment we don't have enough of that.
I know athletes from Aus have succeeded at Olympics in past. But things like northern hemesphere and seeing a different complement of sunlight, can throw off the biorythms,
circadian rythm. sport performance not an exact science, tho, the salient question, if the change. the difference.
It's what Athletics Australia did. Australia's best performed athletes in the last decades or so have been the walkers. So they get as much help as they need, and plenty of other good athletic kids get asked 'Have you ever tried walking'?
The fact is, the government gives some money to Olympic-level athletic development. It's not given to them so they can have a good time shagging around the Olympic Village. It's given to them so they can win medals.
I take a couple of random Australian Junior Champions - the Australian U18 100m champion and the Australian U18 20K walk champion. Both good, dedicated kids. Who is more likely to finish high up in a major championship in later years? So who gets the money?
Apply it to swimming. Is our coaching skill etc best for technical strokes, sprints, or endurance? Put the money there - because the public (The Media) want medals.
We did it for many years in rowing and cycling (not much competition - you have to be very rich to be a top-liner - good return on investment). Now the Poms have copied us (pinched a lot of our knowledge), and done it better. But we are still probably the world No 2 nation in track cycling and in the top 4-5 for rowing (still behind the Kiwis, however).
SJ
Premium Platinum
Then that's fine. But all they want to do is find out if it is.
nothing will come of. just a lot of recommendations just like the argus review. hows that going. they have virtually done nothing like it said to do and nothing will happen and just be a waste of money
RussellEbertHandball
Flick pass expert
I have a lot of respect for Susie O'Neill but I'm not sure why she is pushing the longer distances so hard. Unless she is poorly communicating her message that those longer events the cupboard is bare of talent, I don't uderstand her push.
There are 26 individual events at the Olympics, only 4 are 400m or longer
400m M + W
800m W
1500m M
Now you can argue the 400IM for both men and women fall into that but you have to master 100m of 4 strokes so I wouldn't put in that category.
It makes sense that the priority is to the 100m + 200m. That's where the medals are both in individual and relay events.
Australia rose up to 2nd ranked nation when they started winning more 100m + 200m events.
There are 26 individual events at the Olympics, only 4 are 400m or longer
400m M + W
800m W
1500m M
Now you can argue the 400IM for both men and women fall into that but you have to master 100m of 4 strokes so I wouldn't put in that category.
It makes sense that the priority is to the 100m + 200m. That's where the medals are both in individual and relay events.
Australia rose up to 2nd ranked nation when they started winning more 100m + 200m events.
Uni NSW sociologist Michael Visantoy with an op-ed in Fairfax
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/socie...s--we-triumphed-in-sydney-20120806-23q4e.html
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/socie...s--we-triumphed-in-sydney-20120806-23q4e.html
chargers 09
Premiership Player
I think what is more important is to keep hold of the talented 15-16 years olds after nationals, many people drop out of the sport at this age. I don't know why people think you can just throw money to concentrate on a certain distance and everything will be all sweet, having said that our current best crop of juniors are swimmers who focus on the 100-200 metre events so that is probably the best place to delegate funds at this stage.
Cousin Jed
Retired President of BigFooty
Okay, well let me start by first of all saying that the Swim Team did not do anywhere as badly as the media is portraying. Yes they should have won the 4 x 100 Men free relay . James Mag swam a bad tactical first 100. He worked much harder than normal in the first 50 and didn't have his usual kick in the second 50. After that we had dirty water which made it harder. The worst leg was from James Roberts, and he really did have a poor meet. The rest of the men did fine. Eamon had a good meet considering his injuries, our breaststrokers did well to make finals, and bring home a medal. We introduced two young swimmers in Cam McEvoy (who at 17 is going to be a star) and Jayden Hadler. It was disappointing that JM did not get the gold in the 100mm but 0.01 is a fingernail. It could have easily gone the other way. And yes I know his time was 0.5 sec outside his best.
The woman were not really expecting any golds, and brought home one. Stef Rice was always going to be up against it. It was only the Australian media that were saying she had a chance. Her training has benn interupted since the last Olympics, so she was well underdone. Before the start of the Games, Emily had no real great chance of winning Gold. It was only after fantastic swims in the heat and semi, that she then had a good chance. She swam really well and was beaten by a superstar in Missy Franklin. Nothing to be ashamed about. Second fastest in the world !! Coutts did so well, and all the girls in the relays did everything they could.
So what am I really trying to say. I am heavily involved in swimming, as a coach, a parent and an official, so I have some knowledge on the subject. These things go in cycles. At the moment we do not have the superstars we have had over the past 15 years or so. Our depth below that is just as it has always been, and they are the ones that are making finals, and winning silver and bronze medals. Australian swimming is looking good in the near future. This is definitely the case with the men. JM will lead the team going forward with swimmers like Cam McEvoy being great support. In junior ranks we have an amazing 1500m swimmer coming through. He is currently 15 yrs old, and nearly qualified this time. He is a future world champ somewhere down the track, and is considered the best prospect since Hackett. He will have the greatest distance swimmer in Sun to contend with but hopes are high. There is an exceptional 15yr old who is an IM and backstroke swimmer. He has been smashing all National Age records for the past couple of years, and is a star of the future. And in the past 18 months a 13-14 year old sprinter has emerged smashing every record in sight. So there are some real prospects coming through. It is not quite as strong in the womens but there are still some potential stars.
So basically we just need to be patient. We didn't get the golds this time as we didn't have a superstar or two like Thorpe, Hackett , a youger Jones etc. But they are just around the corner, and we will be fine for Rio.
The woman were not really expecting any golds, and brought home one. Stef Rice was always going to be up against it. It was only the Australian media that were saying she had a chance. Her training has benn interupted since the last Olympics, so she was well underdone. Before the start of the Games, Emily had no real great chance of winning Gold. It was only after fantastic swims in the heat and semi, that she then had a good chance. She swam really well and was beaten by a superstar in Missy Franklin. Nothing to be ashamed about. Second fastest in the world !! Coutts did so well, and all the girls in the relays did everything they could.
So what am I really trying to say. I am heavily involved in swimming, as a coach, a parent and an official, so I have some knowledge on the subject. These things go in cycles. At the moment we do not have the superstars we have had over the past 15 years or so. Our depth below that is just as it has always been, and they are the ones that are making finals, and winning silver and bronze medals. Australian swimming is looking good in the near future. This is definitely the case with the men. JM will lead the team going forward with swimmers like Cam McEvoy being great support. In junior ranks we have an amazing 1500m swimmer coming through. He is currently 15 yrs old, and nearly qualified this time. He is a future world champ somewhere down the track, and is considered the best prospect since Hackett. He will have the greatest distance swimmer in Sun to contend with but hopes are high. There is an exceptional 15yr old who is an IM and backstroke swimmer. He has been smashing all National Age records for the past couple of years, and is a star of the future. And in the past 18 months a 13-14 year old sprinter has emerged smashing every record in sight. So there are some real prospects coming through. It is not quite as strong in the womens but there are still some potential stars.
So basically we just need to be patient. We didn't get the golds this time as we didn't have a superstar or two like Thorpe, Hackett , a youger Jones etc. But they are just around the corner, and we will be fine for Rio.
chargers 09
Premiership Player
I agree that this all goes in cycles, and this is every sport not just swimming. I know the two blokes your talking about, I know the backstroker and IM'er your referring too as well I've been blowing their trumpets for the past few days on this board but i feel its irresponsible to mention their names as they are quite young.
I remember at a swim meet a few years ago I was maybe 15 and one of the blokes you referred to in your post (the one from Nunawading) was in my heat. Now I was a national swimmer at this stage and probably at the peak of my swimming career and he almost beat me and this other bloke I swam with, take into account that he was maybe 11 or 12 at the oldest. I remember thinking from that day he was going to be a star, not an arrogant kid either. He went something like 1:00 that day which is unbelievable for a 11 or 12 year old in 100 backstroke (that time would stand up with 17/18 year olds), In fact I'd say only a half dozen people have ever done that at that age anywhere.
Another guy you mentioned (Jayden Hadler) is a ripper bloke and an absolute gun, I hope he goes places.
