1
BEIJING — It's a wonder they're not selling Gravol to the spectators at the Olympic swimming venue. After watching an hour or two of racing, someone has to be suffering from motion sickness.
Swimmers are moving as if they're flying down a water slide or being dragged behind a motorboat. Olympic records are being scuttled. World records are being splattered. It's happening in the heats. It's happening in the semi-finals and finals.
In the star-studded men's 4 x 100-metre freestyle final, which is destined to live in Olympic folklore as the Amazing Race, there were all kinds of records bumping into records bordering on insanity.
The Americans pulled out a miraculous finish to edge France by 0.08 seconds despite trailing by a body length in the final 50 metres. The French swimmer beaten to the wall was 100m world-record holder Alain Bernard. He was clipped by Jason Lezak's fingernail. That gave the Americans a gold medal to go with their world-record time of 3 minutes 8.24 seconds.
Videos
U.S. swim team ready for prime time
The American swimmers are adjusting to life in Beijing and to the Olympic villlage
Phelps takes aim at Spitz's legacy
American swimming star speaks with media Wednesday about making mistakes since Athens and growing a mustache ahead of the Beijing Games.
The French also broke the previous world record en route to the silver medal. The Australians broke the previous world record en route to the bronze. The Canadians finished sixth and also broke the previous world record.
Meanwhile, Eamon Sullivan, who did the opening leg for the Australians, swam the fastest 100 metres ever clocked (47.24 seconds), thereby giving him a record within a record within the Olympics. No wonder one media observer took in yesterday's mayhem and promptly dubbed it "sick."
Exactly.
Most everyone knew that with an indoor pool, consistent conditions and the new Speedo LZR Racer suits, records were destined to be overhauled. But the records aren't being edged by a little; they're being slashed by as much as three seconds or more.
It's wet, wild and wicked. And as much attention as the new LZR Racers have garnered, there are those who believe there's more to these records than meets the suit. Sullivan, the 100m speedster, is one of them.
"Over the last four years, I've never seen such a big amount of swimmers, especially sprinters, compete as much and as regularly against each other," Sullivan said. "That's a big part [of why] you've seen the depth grow immensely and the times drop so steadily. This group of guys has been swimming so fast for years. They're pushing each other to go faster each time."
American relay specialist Garrett Weber-Gale agreed, saying it was the athletes and not any new technology or pool construction that helped the United States win.
"I think the world record taken down now has more to do with the four of us in it rather than the pool," Weber-Gale said. "We were pushed by the French and Australians."
True enough, the Americans were a driven bunch. But the statistical evidence indicates otherwise. In 1974, when swimsuits were first made of Lycra, the number of long-course world records jumped by 50 per cent (to 32 among the women; the men didn't wear Lycra). In 1999-2000, when the first generation of Speedo suits came out, 14, then 17 world records were set.
This year, more than 45 world records were rejigged before the Beijing Olympics even began.
"Clearly, the suit has to be the story," said Marianne Limpert, a Canadian Olympic silver medalist in Atlanta who is covering the competition here for CBC. "Generally, there's better nutrition [for athletes], sports science support. Swimmers are getting older and more experienced. But having so many records broken in an Olympic year is an anomaly."
Outsiders are of the opinion there has to be more to the story; that someone somewhere is coupling new technology with performance-enhancing drugs to go as fast as possible. Insiders say there are always rumours about this team using something or that swimmer being on human growth hormone.
But so far not one athlete has tested positive, and that brings us back to the other reasons why records are diving like the Nautilus — the swimsuit and the intense degree of competition.
"We have very high level swimmers … the best of the best," said Claude Fouquet, the director of the French swimming program who has been critical of the LZR Racer invasion and how it has overtaken the sport.
Sullivan insisted the credit should go to those who train for hours and hours, day after day, week upon week, just so they can fly through the water with the greatest of speed.
"I don't think [the suits] enhance performance at all," he said. "I think they make you feel more confident. … A big part of sprinting is feel. If you don't feel good in the water, you're not going to swim well."
And if you don't feel good watching them swim like dolphins, take something for your stomach. Either that or watch race walking.
