GB swimming - still not setting the pool alight, so to speak.

Stat Brother · Jul 31, 2013

A la The Olympics our swimming programme seems to revolve around a Lithuanian trained in Plymouth.

If we were on the medal table, we'd be behind powerhouses such as:-

Tunisia.
Belgium.
Greece.
Hungary.
Denmark.
Mexico.

While fighting it out with Malaysia & Holland for last place.

Fingers crossed the £21.3m Swimming World Class Programme is at the bottom now.
I'd hate for a medal free 10 days, in the Rio pool.

Medwayseagull · Jul 31, 2013

They just come across as a bunch of apologists. Adlington is trotting out excuses for their poor performance even though she has retired.

HastingsSeagull · Jul 31, 2013

Do we still have less 50m pools in the entire British Isles, than in the city of Paris?

strings · Jul 31, 2013

HastingsSeagull said:
Do we still have less 50m pools in the entire British Isles, than in the city of Paris?

I'm not sure. According to this wikipedia article (I know, terrible source), the UK has a fair amount of 50 metre pools, but few that meet Olympic standard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_long_course_swimming_pools_in_the_United_Kingdom

Stat Brother · Jul 31, 2013

Medwayseagull said:
They just come across as a bunch of apologists.

It seemed like that a year ago, too.

Yesterday Karen Pickering was blaming the change in date for the trials.
Last year the swimmers moaned they were to far away from The Olympics making peaking twice difficult.
Now they are too close to the games making tapering difficult.

deletebeepbeepbeep · Jul 31, 2013

No surprise when central brighton just has Prince Regent, a 20m pool with a floor covered in plasters and other unidentified floating items. The other day I had to stop my lengths to clear some random plastic floating about from my face.

If only we had a complex like Crawley's K2.

Swimming is a sport we could and should do better in, we're an island nation FFS.

deletebeepbeepbeep · Jul 31, 2013

strings said:
I'm not sure. According to this wikipedia article (I know, terrible source), the UK has a fair amount of 50 metre pools, but few that meet Olympic standard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_long_course_swimming_pools_in_the_United_Kingdom

Assume whilst some of those pools will be 50m most of them will be buoyed off into smaller lengths most of the time.

hans kraay fan club · Jul 31, 2013

strings said:
I'm not sure. According to this wikipedia article (I know, terrible source), the UK has a fair amount of 50 metre pools, but few that meet Olympic standard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_long_course_swimming_pools_in_the_United_Kingdom

The Olympic standard thing, isn't of any huge importance. For example, that would require 10 lanes, so that races can be swum in 8, with empty 'wash lanes' on the outside. If a swimmer has to train in a six lane pool, it would make zero difference to their training.

The number of 50m pools isn't as important as apologists claim, either. Access to pools in general, and teaching of swimming to young school children is important, but at any kind of elite level, all of our swimmers train in one of a few British Swimming 'ITC's (Bath Uni, Loughborough Uni, Stirling Uni) or in Florida.

Brovion · Jul 31, 2013

deletebeepbeepbeep said:
No surprise when central brighton just has Prince Regent, a 20m pool with a floor covered in plasters and other unidentified floating items. The other day I had to stop my lengths to clear some random plastic floating about from my face.

If only we had a complex like Crawley's K2.

Swimming is a sport we could and should do better in, we're an island nation FFS.

They're planning on redeveloping the King Alfred and some people have said there should be an Olympic-standard pool there. However a Councillor (can't remember the name) said they had received 'firm advice' from Sport England that there SHOULDN'T be an Olympic-standard pool in Brighton and Hove. I was so amazed by Sport England's response that I emailed them, and they said they'd said no such thing.

Either mis-reporting by the Argus or councillors are lying. Either is of course possible.

Stat Brother · Jul 31, 2013

I know of at least 1 Olympic sized pool, built recently.

teaboy · Jul 31, 2013

As the Championships haven't finished yet is it not worth holding fire until the full results are in?

Simster · Jul 31, 2013

Why aren't the national governing bodies of the sports we are shit at (swimming, football, tennis*) beating down the door of David Brailsford at British Cycling or the head honchos at British Athletics, British Rowing or even British Gymnastics? We could sink millions into swimming but it will be pointless unless they learn from the very best in their own sports and indeed others.

*Yes we have Andy Murray, but any suggestion that the LTA are in any way responsible for his success despite being awash with money are utterly laughable.

teaboy · Jul 31, 2013

Simster said:
Why aren't the national governing bodies of the sports we are shit at (swimming, football, tennis*) beating down the door of David Brailsford at British Cycling or the head honchos at British Athletics, British Rowing or even British Gymnastics? We could sink millions into swimming but it will be pointless unless they learn from the very best in their own sports and indeed others.

*Yes we have Andy Murray, but any suggestion that the LTA are in any way responsible for his success despite being awash with money are utterly laughable.

Because they're too busy self-congratulating and counting their money, probably...

To be fair these things take time to organise - British Cycling was a similar mess until 2000. If the other sports follow the same model (get the right people in place, have a 'home' where all athletes have to work out of if they want to be in the programme, and enough funding to make the best of what you have) there's no reason why our swimmers cannot be world-beaters. The organisations also need to go into schools and test kids. Find the talent and bring it in, don't wait for kids to 'find' the sport they're good at. A fair few of the British Cycling Team were scouted - Jo Rowsell only did the cycling test session to get out of a maths lesson!

Stat Brother · Jul 31, 2013

teaboy said:
As the Championships haven't finished yet is it not worth holding fire until the full results are in?

A good point, the Championships do go through to Sunday.
But with 38 finals already decided, I still would have expected something.
They can't all be aspects of swimming we're not good at.

Stat Brother · Jul 31, 2013

teaboy said:
Because they're too busy self-congratulating and counting their money, probably...

To be fair these things take time to organise - British Cycling was a similar mess until 2000. If the other sports follow the same model (get the right people in place, have a 'home' where all athletes have to work out of if they want to be in the programme, and enough funding to make the best of what you have) there's no reason why our swimmers cannot be world-beaters. The organisations also need to go into schools and test kids. Find the talent and bring it in, don't wait for kids to 'find' the sport they're good at. A fair few of the British Cycling Team were scouted - Jo Rowsell only did the cycling test session to get out of a maths lesson!

But through the dark times British cyclists were still medalling in spite of British Cycling, nothing on the scale of now but the odd person with talent still got through.

hans kraay fan club · Jul 31, 2013

teaboy said:
To be fair these things take time to organise !

David Sparks, the head man at British Swimming, has been at the helm for at least 15 years. He's a plumber from Birmingham.

Simster · Jul 31, 2013

Stat Brother said:
But through the dark times British cyclists were still medalling in spite of British Cycling, nothing on the scale of now but the odd person with talent still got through.

Yep. Chris Boardman was cycling's Andy Murray/Rebecca Adlington.

teaboy · Jul 31, 2013

Stat Brother said:
But through the dark times British cyclists were still medalling in spite of British Cycling, nothing on the scale of now but the odd person with talent still got through.

Just like our swimmers then...

Simster · Jul 31, 2013

hans kraay fan club said:
David Sparks, the head man at British Swimming, has been at the helm for at least 15 years. He's a plumber from Birmingham.

I think more important than his every day profession, is the fact that he has been allowed to run the show for 15 years while producing a piss poor low number of medals at the Worlds, Commonwealths and Olympics. No-one would give a toss if he was a plumber and yet running British Swimming if we were, in fact, GOOD.

MattBackHome · Jul 31, 2013

"Medalling". Bleurgh.

Agree with the sentiment though.

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