Olympic Swimming – definitely not as cool as Track and Field

Ok, I am not going to hate on swimmers here.  In high school I was friends with a lot of swimmers, a lot of them were really dedicated and fit athletes.  I will say that there is a higher percentage of potheads on swim teams than other sports teams but whatever.  Anyway back to my point here.  I am watching the Olympic swim meet and it seems a little ridiculous.  The background stories that I hear about swimmers seem to deal with the upgrades in swimwear technology.  This makes me question whether the swimmers are beating each other or whether their swim suits are doing the winning.  Obviously the swimmers in each race are beating the other 7 swimmers in the pool with him/her.  The thing is 3 summer games ago the men would wear the bikini speedo’s and the women would wear the traditional 1 piece suits.  Then it seemed that swimming gear technology took over and became the reason that swimmers would attain records.  Both men and women started wearing those full body suits – some even covering their arms.  The chevron pattern was supposed to make you go faster, the tightness of the suit would make you more streamline, blah blah blah.  But NEVER have I seen a sport where people are breaking old records on such a consistent basis!!!  I just watched a womens race where the 1st and 2nd place finisher BOTH beat the previous world record.  Phelps just broke the record.  I think all but one of the races I watched tonight set world records.  This leads me to presume that these swimmers are setting records because of the suits they are wearing.  Obviously they are better than anyone in the pool with them, but are they better than swimmers from the past who did not wear full body suits?  Its just like steroids in baseball, can you compare eras?  How are swimmers just breaking records left and right like its nothing?  If you watch track and field (I used to run in high school so that shit is MY JAM, especially distance running – this is where i throw some props to my old teammate Bobby Curtis who was in the trials this year) you will not see athletes breaking records in nearly as many events or at the pace of the guys and gals in the water.  The technology on the track and the field does not help these athletes nearly as much as it does the swimmers.  Let me go into a very basic technical rant to finish off this post – I am an engineer so its in my blood, sorry.  Friction based on movement through water is much much greater than the friction that occurs when moving through air; therefore, technology that reduces friction in water will make a much bigger difference to a racer than technology that reduces friction in the air.  There is just more opportunity for technological improvement when dealing with water resistance.  *** O look, another second fastest time in history, IN A SEMIFINAL swimming event***  Also, the technology curve for runners is not increasing like it is for swimmers.  12 years ago, unlike the swimmers, the runners were basically wearing the same gear as they are now, maybe the shoes are a little better now but the technology was there then whereas with the swim gear it was not.  This leads me to my final point that it is much more impressive to see a track and field record broken than a swimming record.  The track and field records in my eyes are more based on athletic ability than the stupid ass new technology driving the deluge of swimming records.  In conclusion, maybe everyone should just partake in the Olympic games in the nude as it was done back in the original Olymics.

Tags: bobby curtis, olympic, olympics, race, run, running, swim, swimming, swimsuit, technology, track, track and field