Comments on: 6 Reasons Today’s Olympic Swimmers are Breaking so many World Records

By: zale

zale — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:14:15 +0000

I think the increased size of the athletes has something to do with it. Longer limbs equal more muscle and a greater surface area interacting with the water equaling more thrust.
Just a thought.

I think a return to all naked olympics would *greatly* increase the games television audience… rrrrow!

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:15:02 +0000

The faster times come down to one thing, the training has become a science. We know so much about training the athletic body now that it just blows anything out of the water (no pun intended) that coaches were able to do years ago. I was a swimmer in high school and college and I can guarantee that ANY of these olympic swimmers wearing just a normal speedo could crush ANY elite swimmer that was wearing one of these advanced suits. They are just that good.

It sickens me that these amazing athletes are constantly accused of cheating. Just because they are better than us doesn’t mean they deserve scorn.

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:32:05 +0000

I snatched this from another site/poster but I liked it….

“I think this quote sums up my entire feelings on this whole controversy: “I tested it,” Markus Rogan of Austria said, according to ESPN. “I threw it in the pool, and it didn’t move at all, so I’ll still have to swim.”"

As counterpoint, 44 world records in 5 months since the LZR suit was introduced: seriousswimmer dot com slash Controversy.html

By: Tyler

Tyler — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:07:49 +0000

While I am sure all of these things help what we have to realize is that you cannot compare athletes of different generations to each other because to many factors change. You have to compare them to those in their era and it is no doubt that phelps is the best out there and to aquire his medals he still has to beat all the other competitors, which is the one thing that will never change.

By: Vickey

Vickey — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:48:01 +0000

If you ask me, all atheletes ought to compete naked, the way it was in the original Olympics

By: Terry

Terry — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:41:00 +0000

“wow, i was just speculating about this last night as Phelps won another million medals.
how about plain old evolution? people are so much more physically capable… hmmm? ”

Good point. Look at images of Spitz and then look at Phelps. The physical difference is striking. The technique difference is obvious (look at Spitz up high out of the water on butterfly). Spitz will always be synonymous with “swimmer” but Phelps appears to be at another level all together. Evolution of the techniques, training and physiques are the main difference.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:02:29 +0000

“Citius, Altius, Fortius” is the motto for the olympics, which literally means “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” Nowhere does it say, smarter or more technologically advanced. Given all technology today, who’s to know if we have fared better than athletes before. Truthfully, I feel the olympics is now based on more than physical performance.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:49:12 +0000

I think evgen and others have mistakenly equated doping with the use of steroids or other performance enhancers. Blood doping — which is most likely what Gary Hall Jr. is alleging — is the practice of extracting red blood cells from an athlete well in advance of an event, and then pumping those same red blood cells back into his/her system just prior to an event. The additional red blood cells in the bloodstream can greatly enhance aerobic capacity and endurance.

Blood doping is banned in athletic competitions, but is very hard to detect, because after all, it’s just your own blood that’s going back in; offenders almost have to be caught in the act.

By: donner

donner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:37:56 +0000

I’ve been watching the games and wondering this exact question…I figured it was something to do with the pool, since it seems as tho EVERYBODY is busting WR times all over the place…fast suits? deeper pool? less turbulance? maybe its a combo of it all…i’d be surprised if it was drugs, but only because I thought they were testing out the wazoo for that…still, its fun to watch, regardless of the reason why…

By: Free Xbox 360 Elite

Free Xbox 360 Elite — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:44:18 +0000

That’s amazing. Of course, I don’t think all of this degrades what Phelps and other athletes have been able to do. They are still tremendous athletes and deserve everything they have done.