Full Version: The 1st week of the Olympics in a nutshell......
QUOTE(canjcat @ Aug 19 2008, 02:30 PM) 
Great! Although I think Phelps would test positive for dolphin DNA.....
http://www.timedfinals.com/09042007/michae...n-kick-history/
Michael Phelps Writes New Chapter in Dolphin Kick History
Posted by Scott
As we learned from good old Michael Phelps, dolphin kicks win races, but I would argue that the question really is, did we learn it from Phelps or did he learn it from its history and perfect it, to take advantage of FINA’s rules governing the underwater portion of the race? Only history holds the answer, so lets take a look at the history of the dolphin kick.
Phelps most definitely took the way we think about the technique called the “dolphin kick” and turned it on its head. Phelps used his starts, turns and the kicks to a devastating effect that no one was able to match. Phelps’ attack on history turned into an underwater dominance in Melbourne. It helped Phelps to take down four individual world records and lead Team USA to a fifth on the 4×200 free relay.
In layman’s terms, the dolphin kick is a swimmer’s way of emulating the way a dolphin moves through the water with use of its flipper. Swimmers typically use the dolphin kick to replace a standard underwater “freestyle” kick on starts and turns with an undulating motion powered from the swimmer’s core muscles.
Phelps brought the dolphin kick back into the spotlight after it was built and honed back in the 1980s. According to Wikipedia (among others) American David Berkoff “revolutionized” backstroke swimming with what was later named the “Berkoff Blastoff.” The “Berkoff Blastoff” used dolphin kicks off the start and turn for an extended period of time underwater and later caused FINA to make an adaptation to the rules governing the amount of the time a swimmer can remain under water after a start-and-turn.
In 1988, Berkoff had broken the 100m back world record three times, and was supposed to win the gold at the Seoul Olympics, but he was stunned in the final by Japan’s Daichi Suzuki, who used the same underwater technique to topple the favorite, Berkoff. Suzuki had been using a form of the dolphin for almost four years prior to the Seoul games, but perfected the art learned from Puerto Rican Jesse Vassallo during the time between 1984 and 1988 to beat Berkoff at his own game.
FINA would eventually change their rules to limit the underwater portion of the race to 15 meters off each start and turn, but not before the 1992 Olympics where Mark Tewksbury of Canada won the gold medal in 100m back by using the underwater dolphin kicks for 25m from the start and 15m off the turn. Other swimmer to have benefited from the underwater dolphin are Denis Pankratov who won the 100 and 200m fly at the 1996 Olympics and Misty Hyman who won the 200m fly at the 2000 Olympics.
But with Phelps’ performance, the dolphin kick has come to a new level. Phelps and company used a research project into fluid dynamics at George Washington University to further refine the dolphin kick to make it extremely effective within FINA’s rules for the 15m underwater allowance off starts and turns.
The rest is history as now all coaches and swimmers will head back to the drawing board in hopes of emulating Phelps’ underwater abilities.
Michael Phelps Writes New Chapter in Dolphin Kick History
Posted by Scott
As we learned from good old Michael Phelps, dolphin kicks win races, but I would argue that the question really is, did we learn it from Phelps or did he learn it from its history and perfect it, to take advantage of FINA’s rules governing the underwater portion of the race? Only history holds the answer, so lets take a look at the history of the dolphin kick.
Phelps most definitely took the way we think about the technique called the “dolphin kick” and turned it on its head. Phelps used his starts, turns and the kicks to a devastating effect that no one was able to match. Phelps’ attack on history turned into an underwater dominance in Melbourne. It helped Phelps to take down four individual world records and lead Team USA to a fifth on the 4×200 free relay.
In layman’s terms, the dolphin kick is a swimmer’s way of emulating the way a dolphin moves through the water with use of its flipper. Swimmers typically use the dolphin kick to replace a standard underwater “freestyle” kick on starts and turns with an undulating motion powered from the swimmer’s core muscles.
Phelps brought the dolphin kick back into the spotlight after it was built and honed back in the 1980s. According to Wikipedia (among others) American David Berkoff “revolutionized” backstroke swimming with what was later named the “Berkoff Blastoff.” The “Berkoff Blastoff” used dolphin kicks off the start and turn for an extended period of time underwater and later caused FINA to make an adaptation to the rules governing the amount of the time a swimmer can remain under water after a start-and-turn.
In 1988, Berkoff had broken the 100m back world record three times, and was supposed to win the gold at the Seoul Olympics, but he was stunned in the final by Japan’s Daichi Suzuki, who used the same underwater technique to topple the favorite, Berkoff. Suzuki had been using a form of the dolphin for almost four years prior to the Seoul games, but perfected the art learned from Puerto Rican Jesse Vassallo during the time between 1984 and 1988 to beat Berkoff at his own game.
FINA would eventually change their rules to limit the underwater portion of the race to 15 meters off each start and turn, but not before the 1992 Olympics where Mark Tewksbury of Canada won the gold medal in 100m back by using the underwater dolphin kicks for 25m from the start and 15m off the turn. Other swimmer to have benefited from the underwater dolphin are Denis Pankratov who won the 100 and 200m fly at the 1996 Olympics and Misty Hyman who won the 200m fly at the 2000 Olympics.
But with Phelps’ performance, the dolphin kick has come to a new level. Phelps and company used a research project into fluid dynamics at George Washington University to further refine the dolphin kick to make it extremely effective within FINA’s rules for the 15m underwater allowance off starts and turns.
The rest is history as now all coaches and swimmers will head back to the drawing board in hopes of emulating Phelps’ underwater abilities.
priceless
aha, so Phelps did have an edge others did not
no wonder...
In Mark Spitz I trust still.
no wonder...
In Mark Spitz I trust still.
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