Breakthrough swimming

265 Pages·2002·6.211 MB·English

by  Cecil Colwin

Breakthrough
Swimming
Cecil Colwin
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Colwin, Cecil.
Breakthrough swimming / Cecil M. Colwin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7360-3777-2
1. Swimming--History. I. Title.
GV836.4 .C65 2002
797.2'1'09--dc21
2001039994
ISBN-10: 0-7360-3777-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-3777-8
Copyright © 2002 by Cecil M. Colwin
All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, and recording, and
in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Portions of this work are based on the book Swimming Into the 21st Century (1992), authored by Cecil M. Colwin and
published by Human Kinetics.
Developmental Editor: Cynthia McEntire; Assistant Editor: Scott Hawkins; Copyeditor: John Wentworth; Proof-
reader: Erin Cler; Indexer: Margaret Colwin; Permission Manager: Toni Harte; Graphic Designer: Nancy Rasmus;
Graphic Artist: Francine Hamerski; Photo Manager: Clark Brooks; Cover Designer: Robert Reuther; Photographer
(cover): Darren England/ALLSPORT; Photographers (interior): See credit notices on page ix; Art Manager: Craig
Newsom; Line Drawings: Cecil M. Colwin; figure 6.1 by Robert B. Colwin; Mac Illustrations: Interactive
Composition Corporation; Printer: Versa Press
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To Margaret, my wife and best friend these many years

Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Credits ix
Introduction xi
Part I Development of Stroke Fundamentals
Chapter 1 History of the Swimming Strokes 3
Chapter 2 Breakthroughs in Stroke Techniques 33
Chapter 3 Strokes, Starts, and Turns 49
Part II Movement Through Water
Chapter 4 Understanding Hydrodynamics 75
Chapter 5 Propulsive Mechanisms of Speed Swimming 91
Chapter 6 Coaching the Feel of the Water 107
Part III Advances in Training
Chapter 7 Progression of Training Methods 123
Chapter 8 Principles of Modern Training 137
Chapter 9 Physiological Research and Applications 151
Chapter 10 Development of a Training Program 167
Part IV Past, Present, and Future of the Sport
Chapter 11 Evolution of Competitive Swimming 185
Chapter 12 Doping, Testing, and Modern Efforts to Gain an Edge 207
Chapter 13 Looking Back, Looking Ahead 217
Appendix A 400-Year Bibliography of the Historical
Development of the Swimming Strokes 229
References 233
Index 239
About the Author 247
v

Acknowledgments
This book was made possible through the di- (1490–1557) and even placed before me origi-
rect and indirect help of a great number of nal books by the two, both in pristine condition.
people. I wish to express my most sincere Dave Kelly of the Library of Congress in
thanks to all of them, although their number Washington, D.C. and Harry McKown, refer-
precludes my naming more than a few. ence associate of the North Carolina Collection,
Wilson Library, the University of North Caro-
Colleagues and Contributors lina at Chapel Hill, went to great lengths to
provide references on the early development of
Edward Atraghji, formerly of the Canadian American swimming. I express my deepest
Aeronautical Establishment, taught me about appreciation to both for their courtesy and
flow visualization and provided helpful sug- cooperation.
gestions on the treatment of the fluid dynamic Sasha Orivi of the State Library of Victoria in
content of this text. Melbourne conducted a search for, and pro-
Dr. David Pyne, Physiologist, Australian In- vided the first detailed account of, the first
stitute of Sport, contributed chapter 9 on the swimming race in Australia.
physiology of swimming training and shared Mardyth Hewitt of the National Library of
his unique experience in day-to-day practical Canada and Michelle Robichaud of the Library
work with some of the world’s greatest swim- of Parliament provided expertise in locating
mers. William Byrd’s diary.
William “Buck” Dawson wrote on the his- Robert Schleihauf granted permission to pre-
tory of American swimming in chapter 11. pare and publish drawings adapted from illus-
Nort Thornton, head swimming coach of the trations in “Swimming Propulsion: A Hydro-
University of California at Berkeley, gave per- dynamic Analysis” (1977).
mission to use material from his excellent ar- Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York,
ticle, “A Few Thoughts on Training,” from the gave permission to use the extract from 1st
ASCA magazine. century Roman poet, Manilius, as contained in
Thomas Kirk Cureton gave permission to Sport in Greece and Rome.
use materials from chapter 4 of How to Teach Dr. Kare I. Birkeland and Dr. Peter Hem-
Swimming and Diving (1934), published by As- mersbach, both of the Hormone Laboratory,
sociation Press, New York, and to use the chap- Aker Hospital, Oslo, Norway, and the publish-
ter footnotes as a framework in compiling my ers of Sports Medicine, Adle International, gave
chronological bibliography of the history of the permission to use information from their ar-
swimming strokes. ticle “The Future of Doping Control in Ath-
letes.”
Resource Specialists Dr. Brent Rushall gave permission to reprint
the list of positive drug tests by swimmer by
I am particularly grateful to those who guided country as it appeared in Swimming’s Hall of
me to valuable sources of information that I Shame published by Sports Science Associates.
otherwise would have missed. Karin Helmstaedt gave permission to re-
Liana Van der Bellen, chief of the Rare Books print from her coverage of the German drug
Division, National Library of Canada, gave me trials as reported in Swimnews, July 2000, and
invaluable assistance in researching the works also to Swimnews for permission to reprint this
of Thevenot (1620–1692) and Olaus Magnus article.
vii
viii Acknowledgments
Professor Steven Vogel gave permission to I am grateful to Colin Trewavas, Municipal
reprint from his book Cat’s Paws and Catapults. Research and Merseyside Records Office,
John Leonard, executive director of the Liverpool, England, for his courtesy and kind-
American Swimming Coaches Association, ness in providing access to records and photo-
gave permission to adapt from his articles on graphs of milestones in the history of
coaching certification and his report on the Liverpool’s bath and washhouses, which were
FINA Conference on Doping Control, Hong among the first pools built in England.
Kong, March 2000. Whatever else a book may be, it is ulti-
Betty Armbruster gave permission to reprint mately an offering to its potential readers, and
from the work of her late father, David A. it must be presented to them in a form that is
Armbruster, Competitive Swimming and Diving accessible and attractive. A vast symbolic dis-
(1942), four sets of sequence drawings (namely tance often separates the head of an author
of the freestyle stroke, backstroke, breaststroke- from the eyes of a reader, and those who seek
butterfly, and butterfly-breaststroke). to bridge that gulf, or at least to narrow it, bear
Dr. Phillip Whitten, editor in chief of Sports a weighty responsibility. It can only succeed
Publications, Inc., gave permission to reprint in the hands of men and women who revere
from “A Century of Change,” an article written books and their making. Of these there are
by the author that originally appeared in Swim- greater and lesser, which is why an author
ming World, December 1999, as well as the published under the imprimatur and imprint
ranking lists of the top male and female swim- of Human Kinetics must never forget his good
mers of the 20th century. fortune. In this regard, I express my deep
N. J. Thierry, editor and publisher of appreciation to my publisher, Rainer Mar-
Swimnews magazine and secretary of the Inter- tens; acquisitions editor, Ted Miller; and de-
national Swimming Statisticians’ Association, velopmental editor, Cynthia McEntire, whose
gave general permission to use extracts from advice and expertise were invaluable. I also
Swimnews and prepared the graphs of progres- appreciate very much the advice of art direc-
sion of long-course and short-course world tor Craig Newsom and the expert efforts of
records on pages 195 and 196. sales director Charles Walters and marketing
Fred Wilt, Olympic runner, Sullivan Award manager Kelley Halliburton. Thanks are ex-
winner, and acknowledged authority on track tended to assistant editor Scott Hawkins who
training, kindly reviewed the information about ensured the book’s smooth progress through
the influence of track training on swimming the final production stages.
and checked it for accuracy. Last, but by no means least, I owe a special
Gilmore Reproductions of 61 Queen Street, debt of gratitude to my wife, Margaret, for her
Ottawa, provided photocopying services and hard work and assistance in preparing the final
the use of advanced technologies in making draft of this book. Her encouragement, wise
copies of text and artwork. Their help and counsel, patience, and untiring efforts eased
kindness in the preparation of three books over the task.
the years have been invaluable.
Credits
Photos Figures
Photo of Janet Evans on page 3 © Rob Tringali Jr./ Figure 9.1 Reprinted, by permission, from B.E. Counsil-
SportsChrome USA. man and J.E. Counsilman, 1991, “The residual effects
Photo of Lenny Krayzelburg on page 33 © Bongarts/ of training” Journal of Swimming Research 7:5-12.
SportsChrome USA. Figure 10.2 from “Constructing workouts with energy
system considerations” by E.W. Maglischo in American
Photo of Krisztina Egerszegi on page 49 © Bongarts/
Swimming Coaches Association World Clinic Yearbook
SportsChrome USA.
1985 (62) by T. Welsh (ed.), 1985, Fort Lauderdale, FL:
Photo of Kristy Kowal on page 75 © Michael Zito/
American Swimming Coaches Association. Reprinted
SportsChrome USA.
by permission of American Swimming Coaches Asso-
Photo of Lenny Krayzelburg on page 91 © Michael ciation and E.W. Maglischo.
Zito/SportsChrome USA.
Figure 10.3 Reprinted, by permission, from T.O. Bompa,
Photo of Jenny Thompson on page 107 © Rob Tringali 1985, Theory and methodology of training (Dubuque, IA:
Jr./SportsChrome USA. Kendall/Hunt).
Photo of Ashley Chandler on page 123 © Rob Tringali Figure 10.4 Reprinted, by permission, from T.O. Bompa,
Jr./SportsChrome USA. 1985, Theory and methodology of training (Dubuque, IA:
Photo of Yana Klochkova on page 137 © Marco Chiesa. Kendall/Hunt).
Photo of Amy Van Dyken on page 151 © Rob Tringali
Jr./SportsChrome USA. Tables
Photo on page 156 © Cecil Colwin.
Table 10.1 Reprinted, by permission, from J.E. Counsilman,
Photo of Alexander Popov on page 167 © Bongarts/
1975, “Hypoxic and other methods of training evalu-
SportsChrome USA.
ated” Swimming Technique 12(1).
Photo of Mark Spitz on page 185 © Gjuljano
Table 10.2 Reprinted, by permission, from J.E. Counsilman,
Bevilacqua/SportsChrome USA.
1975, “Hypoxic and other methods of training evalu-
Photo on page 207 © Tony Demin/International Stock. ated” Swimming Technique 12(1).
Photo of Ian Thorpe on page 217 © Marco Chiesa. Table 10.3 Adapted, by permission, from T. Absaliamov,
1984, “Controlling the training of top level swimmers”
in How to develop Olympic level swimmers edited by J.L.
Cramer (Finland: International Sports Media) and
adapted, by permission, from D.B. Pyne and R.D.
Telford, 1988, “Classification of training sessions” Ex-
cel 5(2).
ix