By the numbers, swimming is becoming a joke

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British journalist Craig Lord, the conscience of swimming, has had plenty to say on swimnews.com about the latest bunch of world records and the swimsuits in which they were set.

(So have I, to wit this Blog: ‘IOC must stop swimming from sinking in its leaders’ stupidity.’’)

Lord’s Tuesday entry included a list that put the absurdity in nice numerical terms.
This list (below, with some comments from Lord) shows current world record in parentheses; the world record (and world-record holder) as of Feb. 1, 2008, just after the country abbreviation; and, in bold, the all-time performance ranking of the previous world record as of Tuesday.
For example: in the 50 free, the record of 21.64 Popov held on Feb. 1, 2008, now is 25th fastest time on a list topped by 20.94.

‘And remember,’ Lord wrote, ‘this is the tip of an iceberg -- what lies below is often even more crushing.’’

Men

• 50 Free: Alex Popov (RUS) 21.64 (20.94) 25th
• 100 Free: Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED) 47.84 (46.94) 26th
• 200 Free: Michael Phelps (USA) 1:43.86 (1:42.92) 3rd
• 400 Free: Ian Thorpe (AUS) 3:40.08 - surviving
• 800 Free: Grant Hackett (AUS) 7:38.65 - surviving
• 1500 Free: Grant Hackett (AUS) 14:34.56 - surviving
• 50 Back: Thomas Rupprath (GER) 24.80 (24.33) 8th
• 100 Back: Aaron Peirsol (USA) 52.98 (52.54) 9th
• 200 Back: Aaron Peirsol (USA) 1:54.32 (1:53.94) 3rd
• 50 Breast: Oleg Lisogor (UKR) 27.18 (27.06) 2nd
• 100 Breast: Brendan Hansen (USA) 59.13 (58.91) 2nd
• 200 Breast: Brendan Hansen (USA) 2:08.50 (2:07.51) 3rd
• 50 Fly: Roland Schoeman (RSA) 22.96 (22.43) 8th (7 others all in 2009)
• 100 Fly: Ian Crocker (USA) 50.40 - surviving(by 0.06sec)
• 200 Fly: Michael Phelps (USA) 1:52.09. (1:52.03, with goggles full of water, so more to come yet...) 2nd
• 200 IM: Michael Phelps (USA) 1:54.98 (1:54.23) 3rd
• 400 IM: Michael Phelps (USA) 4:06:22 (4:03.84) 5th
• 400 Free Relay: USA 3:12.46 (3:08.24) 10th (seven nations beyond US past old record)
• 800 Free Relay: USA 7:03.24 (6:58.56) 2nd
• 400 Medley Relay: USA 3:30.68 (3:29.34) 3rd

Women

• 50 Free: Inge de Bruijn (NED) 24.13 (23.96) 2nd
• 100 Free: Britta Steffen (GER) 53.30 (52.88) 9th
• 200 Free: Laure Manaudou (FRA) 1:55.52 (1:54.47)5th
• 400 Free: Laure Manaudou (FRA) 4:02.13 (4:00.69) 4th
• 800 Free: Janet Evans (USA) 8:16.22 (8:14.10) 2nd
• 1500 Free: Kate Ziegler (USA) 15:42.54 - surviving
• 50 Fly: Therese Alshammar (SWE) 25.46 (25.33) 2nd
• 100 Fly: Inge de Bruijn (NED) 56.61 - surviving(by 0.08sec)
• 200 Fly: Jessica Schipper (AUS) 2:05.40 (2:04.18) 5th
• 50 Back: Li Yang (CHN) 28.09 (27.47) 19th (10 in 2008, 9 in 2009 so far)
• 100 Back: Natalie Coughlin (USA) 59.44 (58.77) 27th
• 200 Back: Krisztina Egerszegi (HUN) 2:06.62 (2:05.24) 5th
• 50 Breast: Jade Ediminstone (AUS) 30.31 - (30.05) 2nd
• 100 Breast: Leisel Jones (AUS) 1:05.09 - surviving
• 200 Breast: Leisel Jones (AUS) 2:20.54 (2:20.22) 2nd
• 200 IM: Wu Yanyan (CHN) 2:09.72** (2:08.45) 8th (Hoff, 11th)
• 400 IM: Katie Hoff (USA) 4:32.89 (4:29.45) 8th
• 400 Free Relay: GER 3:35.22 (3:33.62) 5th
• 800 Free Relay: USA 7:50.09 (7:44.31)4th (in Italy from 8:01.11 to 7:49.76)
• 400 Medley Relay: AUS 3:55.74 (3:52.69) 3rd

**- Wu’s record was set in 1997, and she subsequently was doping suspended. Best clean effort up to Feb 1, 2008 - Katie Hoff (USA) 2:10.05

And speaking of doping, Lord pointed out that the French newspaper, L’Equipe, reporting on the stunning exploits of its swimmers at last week’s national championships, threw in this disturbing question: Are the suits a cover-up for use of performance-enhancing drugs?

A reasonable question, since we know the people running the sport internationally are dopes.

-- Philip Hersh