VOL. XVII No. 1 JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2001 Mailing Address PO Box 824, Lavington NSW 2641 Email [email protected] Web Site www.ascta.com Membership Enquiries Phone: 02 6041 6077 or Fax: 02 6041 4282 ASCTA Insurance Brokers 1300 300 511 CONTENTS Analysis of Stroke Rates in Freestyle Events at 2000 Infant Aquatics – A Developmental Approach (Julie Olympics (David Pyne & Cassie Trewin)........................ 1 Zancanaro)..................................................................... 34 Multi Disciplinary Approach to Performance (Wayne Goal Setting – Goal Setting (Julie Zancanaro).............. 39 Goldsmith)........................................................................ 6 Australian Swim Camp Report, Nudgee College (Robyn Preparation for Sprint Events (Gennadi Touretski).......... 8 Gross)............................................................................. 41 Swim Like a Fish (Terry Laughlin)................................ 13 Pallikoodam: Coaching in India (Russell Parsons)........ 44 Blood Substitutes – Doping of the Future? (Andrei Open Water Swimming.................................................. 46 Vorontsov)...................................................................... 15 Australian Swimming Selection Criteria 2001............... 48 Critical Speed & Critical Stroke Rate (ISBS Swimming Drugs in Sport Education (Pam Vincent)....................... 52 2000) .............................................................................. 17 How I Found My Last Work (Len Sterlin)..................... 53 The Effects of Visual Impairment on Competition Swim Letters to the Editor........................................................ 63 Performance (ISBS Swimming 2000).............................. 20 Dear Friends (Ursula Carlile)........................................ 63 Swim Teachers – Training the Brain! (Julie Zancanaro)27 FINA News .................................................................... 68 Understanding ADHD (Julie Zancanaro) ...................... 33 WSCA Newsletter.......................................................... 71 SWIMMING in AUSTRALIA is published six times annually. Copy Deadline NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS January-February Monday 15th January • All copy is subject to acceptance by the publisher. March-April Thursday 15th March • All advertisers must ensure that their advertisements May-June Tuesday 15th May comply strictly with the requirements of all Federal July-August Monday 16th July Legislation. September-October Monday 17th September • The publisher reserves the right to reject copy without th giving any reason or explanation. November-December Thursday 15 November COPYRIGHT ISSUE FROM THE PUBLISHER As more and more articles with invaluable technical and research data have and will be published through our Magazine for our Members to read and use, it is timely to mention Copyright infringements. The ASCTA Magazine (SWIMMING in AUSTRALIA) Publisher strongly advises all concerned that any attempts to reprint articles or excerpts from contents is prohibited without the written permission of the publisher and author. Any infringements of copyright will be dealt with accordingly. Views expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or the Board of ASCTA. SWIMMING in AUSTRALIA – January-February 2001 ANALYSIS OF STROKE RATES IN (USA) the winner of the Women’s 400m Freestyle FREESTYLE EVENTS AT 2000 had the highest. Several observations can be made from the stroke OLYMPICS rate data presented in Table 1. Firstly, the average By David Pyne & Cassie Trewin stroke rates are higher for the shorter faster events Department of Physiology, Australian Institute of (e.g. the 50m Freestyle) compared with the longer Sport slower events (e.g. the 400m Freestyle). Indeed these data support the concept that there is a linear The aim of this article is to examine the patterns relationship between event distance and stroke rate of stroke rates of successful swimmers during the … the shorter the event, the higher the stroke rate. A 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. second observation is that the stroke rates are slightly higher for the female swimmers compared with the Stroke rates of swimmers in the Final (top 8 male swimmers across the range of events studied. swimmers) of selected Freestyle events were taken This may reflect the larger physical stature of the from the Competition Analysis of the 2000 Olympic male swimmers. The taller male swimmers will Games (courtesy of the Biomechanics Department, generally have a longer stroke length (distance per Australian Institute of Sport). stroke) than their female counterparts. The female swimmers compensate for this anatomical difference The stroke rates for each 25, 50 or 100m race split by increasing the stroke rate. and placing in the 50, 100, 200 and 400 m freestyle Another observation is the range of stroke rates events were collated. evident in the Freestyle finals. The average difference in stroke rate (highest-lowest) in a given event from The interesting questions are… the 50m to 400m Freestyle was 17% ranging from 8 to 25%. Clearly, there is no single stroke rate that Were there differences in stroke rates between the will suit all swimmers. sprint (50 and 100m) and middle-distance (200 and Another way of presenting this data is in 400m) events? percentage form (see Table 2). These results again Were there any differences in stroke rates between demonstrate that the shorter events are characterised the Men’s and Women’s events? by higher stroke rates. How much variation in stroke rate was evident Using the mean stroke rate of the Men’s 400m between swimmers in the same event? Freestyle as the criterion stroke rate (for the purpose And how much difference was observed between of this comparison only), the mean stroke rate for the first and last lap stroke rates compared to the average 200m Freestyle is approximately 112% faster, with for the event for each individual swimmer. figures of 124% and 140% faster for the 100m and 50m Freestyle events respectively. The comparative The individual and mean stroke rates for each of figures were 100%, 110% and 129% for the the finalists in the 50, 100, 200 and 400 Freestyle Women’s 200, 100 and 50m Freestyle events events are presented in Table 1. Statistical analysis respectively. (data not shown) indicated that there were no These percentage figures may be biased by the significant correlations between average stroke rate higher stroke rate for the Women’s 400m Freestyle on any lap and final placing. compared with the Men’s 400m Freestyle. The only exception was the Women’s 400m Interestingly, the average stroke rate for the Freestyle where the placegetters had a significantly Women’s 200 and 400m Freestyle events was higher average stroke rate over the race than those identical at 48 strokes/min. swimmers finishing outside the medals. This This could be interpreted as either a higher than indicates that there is considerable variation in stroke expected stroke rate for the 400m event, or a lower rate between different swimmers at the Olympic than expected stroke rate for the 200m event, or both. level. In comparison to the Men’s stroke rates it would There is no clear pattern between placing and appear that the stroke rate for the Women’s 400m is average stroke rate indicating that the hypothesis that markedly higher. This would suggest a different style the medal winners have a higher stroke rate cannot be of middle-distance swimming between the male and supported. female swimmers, with the females adopting a more For example, Ian Thorpe (AUS) the winner of the aggressive approach in terms of a faster stroke rate. Men’s 400m Freestyle had the lowest stroke rate of The mean stroke rates per lap are shown in Table all the swimmers in the final, while Brooke Bennett 3. For the 50m Freestyle events, each lap represents ~~ 1 ~~ SWIMMING in AUSTRALIA – January-February 2001 25m, while in the 100 and 200m events the average and one was one of only two swimmers (the other stroke rate per 50m lap is shown. being Dragos Coman who finished 5th) whose stroke In the 400m events the average stroke rate per rate in the last 100m was slower than the average for 100m is shown. It is common for the stroke rate to be the entire race. higher in the first lap where swimmers are fresh and In contrast to the 200m final, it appeared that the keen to establish the pattern for the race. 400m swimmers swam at a much more even stroke The challenge for swimmers to take the race out rate throughout the race. fast – but not too fast – or fatigue may become a The stroke rates examined here were collected and limiting factor in the last lap. In both the Men’s and analysed from filming of the Olympic Finals by the Women’s 50m Freestyle there was a noticeable drop- Biomechanics Department of the Australian Institute off from the 1st to 2nd 25m split. of Sport as part of its service to both the Australian The stroke rates were relatively even in the Men’s Swimming Team and all the nations represented in 100 Freestyle, although the Women’s 100 Freestyle Sydney. Of course, this extensive analysis is only showed a drop off similar to the 50 Freestyle. available to National Team swimmers. In the 200 events, the women had an even stroke Stroke rate can be measured simply with a right through the race (more like the 400 events) but stopwatch. Some models will have a stroke rate mode the men showed a slight drop off in the 3rd and 4th where the stroke rate will be instantly calculated