These breaststroke swimmers are CHEATING

[TahitiNut]

Every time I watch the breaststroke events in recent years, I feel like yelling "Cheat!" When I swam the breaststroke in college in the 60s, submerging your head below the water level was grounds for disqualification. Now, some of these swimmers are almost doing a mini version of the butterfly, porpoising along. It's appalling.


Yes, it's true that breaststrokers are born, not made. It takes hips like a frog's to do the kick really well. For me, who walks toed-out, it's a natural. (It's also called congenital scoliosis of the lower lumbar.)

[name not needed]

1. I'm thinking of a different breaststroke

:P

[neuvocat]

2. I took swimming in college

and the way I was taught, the head was underwater for a good portion of the stroke. Maybe the rules were changed.

[The Doctor.]

4. I was an I.M. 'er in college...

in the late eighties, half the stroke was under water.
The head ducked JUST below the surface nearly every stroke.

[TahitiNut]

7. Yes, it's not the only rule that's changed.

We were required to keep our shoulders level on the turns, too. (The tops of our heads had to be above water during the turn, too.) This rule has changed and it's cutting about 0.1 to 0.2 seconds off each lap.

I remember when I swam in college the rules on the freestyle turn had changed, allowing freestylers to turn without touching the end wall with their hands. That's what led to the flip turn we see today.

While we were allowed to let water flow over the head, it had to be due to the wave. The head couldn't go below the level of the water. (Yes, some people really pushed that rule.)

[ewagner]

3. They ARE cheating!

They're using their ARMS!!!!!!!!

[Nlighten1]

5. I agree.

I was on a swim team for 7 years and I got DQ'ed a couple of times for just that infraction during the breast-stroke.

[TahitiNut]

12. I think I got nailed once early on in my swim 'career' .. never again.

My coach was an old-timer ... an Olympic swim team coach from the 30's who adored 'chase' workouts. Man ... there were times I was absolutely certain I'd drown, not able to move another stroke. With the possible exception of wrestling, nothing ever exhausted me as much and so quickly.

[Endangered Specie]

6. What? Submerging head below water = cheating?

Hell, when I swam, it was optional (edit), but I am sure that you didnt get D.Q.ed for it

[TahitiNut]

8. Well, people absolutely did ... when *I* swam in college.

I swam in the early 60's. :shrug: My time for the 200-yard short-course was dipping below 2:30:00 when I stopped swimming. (That's not bad, by the way.)

[ET Awful]

9. You're right, they are cheating I haven't seen a single breast stroked!

That's false advertising!!!!

[Mike Niendorff]

10. hear hear!

Was a swimmer myself, many many years ago, and it's amazing to me how much the rules have changed recently. The head-underwater rule, the over-water breaststroke recovery, the new backstroke turns (essentially a freestyle turn), the new high-tech suits, etc. It makes it very hard to do a reasonable comparison between a performance from 20 years ago vs. a performance today. OTOH, I understand that these rules do evolve (thinking of the old open-water competitions and full-length wool suits they used to use, back in the earliest days of the sport), and it's probably necessary to make it possible for each new generation of swimmers to feel that they have a reasonable shot at taking down the preceding generation's records, etc. Keeps the sport interesting, and gives people something to shoot for. Still, the purist in me takes issue with comparing, say, an Olympic record from Mark Spitz's day with a time clocked under the new rules. Apples and oranges, all the way.


MDN

[TahitiNut]

11. I don't see an over-water recovery.

Prior to the 50's, the breaststroke rules didn't prohibit over-water stroke recovery or dolphin-kicking. Thus, the butterfly was born! The rules were adapted to split the strokes, of course.

I remember we were required to touch the wall with our hand on the backstroke turn. That didn't stop us from doing an after-touch flip, but it sure wasn't the freestyle flip-turn they do today.

[Mike Niendorff]

14. wasn't technically prohibited, but nobody'd thought to do it either ;)

OTOH, that new backstroke turn makes a really big difference. I used to have a nasty freestyle turn -- would gain me at least half a body-length on almost any competitor -- and it would have helped my backstroke races immensely to be able to use that. But we used to have to remain on our backs, tag the wall with our forward hand, then do that sort of inverse-freestyle-flipturn that they used to use. I could hold my own on it, but nothing close to what I'd've been able to do under today's rules ;)


MDN

[TahitiNut]

15. Yeah, I used to gain on my turns, too ....

... but for the opposite reason, I guess. For some reason, I could do the shoulder-level breaststroke twist-turn faster than other breaststrokers, and then gain more on the kick-away. (In my mind, I was throwing my ass at the wall and doing a tummy 'crunch' - coiling for the spring-away.) Then, I used to imagine myself as a flattened, smooth board slicing through the water. On both the start and the turns, I became very conscious of any cavitation/friction of the water passing over my body and adjusted accordingly. I was always tuning that part of my style and it gained me about a half-body on my peers.

[ScreamingMeemie]

13. Mike! Thank you so much for saying this...

I was almost muttering, "Cheaters!" under my breath. I thought I was the only one thinking this.

:hi: Good to see you!

Laura

[TahitiNut]

16. (grin) Well, it's the only athletic event I was ever any good at.

So, I used to almost obsess on it as my salvation from being a total geek. :silly: As a young adult, I'd sometimes got a kick out of racing friends who never swam competitively - they'd do a freestyle and I'd do my breaststroke ... and I'd win. (It used to boggle their minds. The 'geek' can swim!)

I still like swimmers' body-types best of all. :evilgrin:


I kinda think they must've changed the rules somewhere in the 70's or early 80's ... but the swimmers just keep getting more submerged. (sigh)