POTENTIAL OLYMPIC SWIMMERS
by Jinri Jiang, M.S.
Competitive Director ofAppteton YMCA Martins Appleton, Wisconsin
The Barcelona Olympic fire has been extinguished. In
Barcelona, Chinese women swimmers won four gold
medals and five silver medals, opening a new chapter in the
annals of the Olympics. It demonstrates that the Chinese
women swimming team, as Director Dennis Pursley said, is
one of the most challenging teams in the world. But cur-
rent success reflects the efforts of years of hard work.
In the 1970's, some famous coaches from different coun-
tries visited China and brought some advanced training
methods and experience. Faced with the challenge of the
new, the Chinese Swimming Association decided to adopt
the more scientific approach. In 1980 the key project,
"How to Select Potential Outstanding Swimmers," was
adopted by the Chinese Sports Committee. In 1983 the pro-
ject was finished and standards for selecting swimmers was
established. Some swimmers with great potential, such as
the young women uluang Yong and Yang W~nyi, were
among the first selected by the new standards. In 1988,
Yang Wenyi broke the 50-meter freestyle world record. In
the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, the Chinese women swim-
mers won two silver medals, the first ever for Chinese
Olympic swimmers.
This success was in part due to the standards used for
selecting swimmers of Olympic potential:
1. evaluation of growth to future performance;
2.evaluation of morphology, fitness, andpsychology;
3. f;nal selection and training.
These three will be enlarged upon in the following
paper.
Evaluation of Growth to Future Performance
There are two ages, calendar age and biological age.
Because genetics, environment, nutrition and health all
affect the growth process, calendar age often differs from
biological age, perhaps by several years.
Sports science research has demonstrated that there is a
correlation between physical performance and the growth
process in children and adolescents, If we use only calen-
dar age in selecting potential Olympic swimmers, we can
not evaluate their future performance correctly. Those bio-
logically older and showing better performance early may
be wrongly considered as potential outstanding swimmers.
It is extremely important to recognize the capabilities and
limitations imposed by growth and maturation.
At puberty there occurs an abrupt increase in the growth
rate - the adolescent growth spurt. The adolescent growth
spurt generally begins at about ten and half to twelve years
in girls and twelveand half to fourteen years in boys. This
is why the girls' performances often are better than the
American Swimming Magazine FeWMar 1993
boys' at 11-12 and 13-14 age groups.
In girls, the growth spurt generally occurs when the
breasts and pubic hair first appear. In boys, deepening of
the voice and the appearance of facial and pubic hair signal
the onset of the growth spurt.
If the above signs appear at ten to eleven years in boys
and at eight to nine years in girls, the growth spurt will be
~ttiggered early. Whereas if the signs appear at fifteen to
sixteen years in boys and thirteen to fourteen years in girls,
the growth spurt will be retarded.
The period covered by the growth spurt generally lasts
about four years. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter
depending mainly on the rate of skeletal growth. Of
course, environment, genetics - and especially nutrition -
may affect the length of the growth spurt.
Skeleton age is a reliable standard by which to evaluate
the growth process. The Gredlich-Pyle Standard is popu-
larly used in the field of sports. According to this standard,
the growth spurt is divided into three types:
I. a regular growth spurt for three calendar years lasting
four skeleton-age years;
2. a shorter growth spurt for two or less calendar years
lasting four skeleton-age years;
3. a growth spurt longer than four calendar years lasting
four or less skeleton-age years.
There are three beginning times of the growth spurt, in
addition to the preceding in nine types of growth spurt, thus
resulting in nine types as they integrate, one with another.
Table One shows boys' type of growth spurt and rate of
performance in Shanghai amateur sports schools.
Table one shows that the children and adolescents who's
growth spurt fell into the normal range and lasted longer
achieved the highest percentage of high-level perfor-
mances. Although those with shorter or normal periods of
growth spurt could reach high-level performance, the per-
centage was low. Researches in the former Soviet Union
and East Germany have shown that many Olympic ckampi-
ons belonged to the type whose growth spurt began normal-
ly and lasted longer. During the growth spurt, skeleton,
skeletal muscle, heart, liver, and kidneys are growing.
Swimmers' fitness and performance may be improved
greatly by training matched to these changes. In other
words, the longer period of growth spurt may be capitalized
upon for enhancing performance times if suitable training is
received.
It is very difficult for children and adolescents who
begin their growth spurt late to reach a high-level perfor-
mance because their muscle system lacks strength and
power.
Those starting their growth spurt early with a short or
normal duration can become only age-group champions,
never Olympic champions. Some who mature early and
maintain the growth spurt for a longer period may reach
high-level performance, but this is rare.
As a coach, one should evaluate and react to the swim-
mer's potential. Those with a longer growth spurt period
need to be given encouragement and suitable workouts in
light of their potential for greater- but later-development,
We can recognize age-group champions after we learn the
type of growth spurt. That is, we can discover potential
Olympic swimmers with a more intensive knowledge of
growth.
Evalation of Morphology Fitness and Performance
What special characteristics do Olympic swimmers
have? According to the experience of coaches and the
results of research on outstanding swimmers, the ideal
Olympic swimmer should have height stature; long arms
and legs; wide shoulders; narrow hips; good all-round fit-
ness; good water feeling; strong will; and stable mentality.
The following indexes are important in evaluating a
swimmer:
Height: Over the past twenty years, world-class swim-
mers have become taller and taller. For example, the aver-
age height of male swimmers in the 1972 Olympics was 5'
11 2/3". But the average height of male swimmers in the
1982 World Swimming Championships was 6' 1 1/3". The
average height of female swimmers has also increased. In
the 1982 world Championships the average height was 5' 7
1/2", 1 2/3" more than in the 1976 Olympics. Some star's
heights captures out attention, such as Gross of Germany, 6'
7"; Biondi of the United States, 6' 6"; Zubero of Spain, 6" 2
4/5"; Krause of the former East Germany, 5' 10 1/2". The
German research has shown that an increase of freestyle
swimmers' height could reduce the VO2max/kg/min at sub-
maximal speed.
Normally, there is a difference between the sprint swim-
mer's height and the distance swimmer's, with the sprint
swimmers being taller than distance swimmers.
We should pay attention to the tendency for swimmers
t6 be taller these days. Meanwhile, we should not overlook
those short swimmers with great talent. Krisztina
Egerszegi is a good example. She is only 5'4" but this
super star won three gold medals in Barcelona.
In regard to arm span, recent research has demonstrated
that outstanding swimmers improved their performance by
increasing their pulling distance per second, not by increas-
ing their stroke frequency. According to liquid-mechanics,
the longer the arm, the greater the pulling cross-section
area. The result is an increase in water resistance against
the arm so that effective propulsion increases.
The index of some world-class swimmers is very signifi-
cant. For instance, Gross's index is 6' 10 2/3", 3 2/3"
greater than his height. Zubero's is more than 6' 7", about 4
1/5" greater than his height.
Thus long arms help to increase the pulling distance
every second and improve pulling efficiency.
In regard to shoulder width, shoulder muscles contract
actively and continuously during swimming so that the
muscles become stronger and stronger. Meantime, the
muscles improve their endurance and size. Wide, strong
shoulders are the characteristics of most Olympic swim-
mers. For example, Wilkie's shoulder width is 18 1/3".
Shoulder width is effected by training to a certain extent
and increases until the end of puberty. It is important to
pay attention to most of the wide-shouldered children and
adolescents beginning their growth spurt early.
The weight/height index is calculated by weight
(kg)/height(cm) x 1000. World Championship and
Olympic swimmers have shown that the index of 50 or 100
meters swimmers is greater than that of middle distance
and distance swimmers. For example, 50 meters and 100
meters freestyler Biondi is 439; 100 meters and 200 meters
backstroker Zubero is 447. 1500 meters freestyler Salniko,
a distance swimmer, is 379.
The difference between sprinters and middle distance or
distance swimmers indicates a difference in energy sys-
tems. Sprint swimmers must have more power to maintain
greater speed so they are taller and stronger. Middle dis-
tance or distance swimmers must have more muscle
endurance to keep on at an even speed. Their need for
power is less than that of sprint swimmers, so these swim-
mers look comparatively short and thin.
Never forget that the index of the Olympic swimmers is
large, and they are tall.
Lean body mass encompasses all of the body's non fat
tissues, including the skeleton, muscle, water, connective
tissues, organ tissue, and teeth. Lean body mass is also
called fat-free weight. Muscle contractions are powered
directly by ATP. CP and ATP are stored in the muscle
cells, not the fat cells. There is a positive relationship
between lean body mass and performance. Research has
shown that the percentage of fat for male swimmers is 996
to 14%, and female swimmers 16% to 23%. That is why
men can swim faster than women.
Normally, back, grasp, and leg strengths are adopted as
indexes of strength.
Back muscles contract actively and generate propulsion
during the stroking process; therefore back strength is
important to swimmers.
Grasping strength indicates the strength of the forearms.
The palm and forearm must "catch" water during pulling.
If grasping strength is weak, it is very difficult to keep a
high-elbow position needed to overcome water resistance.
Water slides from the palm and forearm and the quality of
pulling is obviously reduced,
Leg muscles work hard during the start, kick, and turn,
especially in the breaststroke. Generally, the stronger the
leg muscles, the stronger the stomach muscles. A strong
kick and strong stomach are helpful in keeping a body posi-
tion high in the water so as to reduce drag.
Verticaljump indicates power. An improved vertical
jump can enhance the start and turns as well as improve
overallperformance. It is more important to young swim-
mers.
Swimming is a rhythmic sport, and the relationship
between flexibility and technique is as close as a fish is to
water.
The front body stretch shows the flexibility of waist,
legs, and backside which helps to keep the body in a
streamlined position.
Stretching the feet back tests swimmer's ankle flexibili-
ty. In the breaststroke, flexible ankles can catch more
water to kick effectively.
Shoulder rotation distance indicates shoulder flexibility.
In the freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly the stroke is
around the swimmer's shoulders. If the swimmer's shoul-
ders are not flexible enough, what often happens is a
straight-arm recovery and a swinging of the body toward
the right or left during freestyle. In freestyle, flexible
shoulders are helpful in doing the high-elbow recovery, the
most efficient recovery.
Water feeling is the ability that you, as a coach, can see
and feel, but not touch. Almost all outstanding swimmers
have good water feeling. If you watch swimmers carefully,
it is not difficult to find that some swimmers move fast yet
they make it look easy, never fighting against the water.
These swimmers have good water feeling; Some coaches
call this "stick-water."
Water feeling is a kind of basic� natural ability. When
swimmers are in their childhood, they may show this kind
of talent. For example, the Chinese Olympic champions
Zhuang Yong, Yang Wenyi and Qian Hong all showed
good water feeling when they were young. Of course,
swimmers also can improve their ability to a certain extent
through training.
It is most significant to determine swimmer's water feel-
ing. This is much more important than a swimmer's physi-
cal morphology. Some Olympic swimmers are short but
their water feeling is great. Egerszegi's perfect perfor-
mance in Barcelona is typical of this.
A swimmer's behavior reflects his or her psychology.
An Olympic swimmer must have ambition and love keen
cdmpetition. Swimming is a cyclical sport where practice
and environment are rather tedious. If a swimmer is not
ambitious, he or she can hardly keep practicing hard day by
day.
Some swimmers really love competition. During swim
meets, they are excited to face the challenge of stronger
opponents, and increase the level of their own performance.
Zhuang Yong is this kind of swimmer even when young.
In almost every important meet, she did improve her per-
formance, sometimes quite unexpectedly. These swimmers
have a common character:
The more important the meet, the more improvement in
the performance.
In 1980, all All-Chinese swimmers were surveyed for
setting up a Chinese outstanding swimmer's model. The
results showed:
1. There was a significant difference between the Chinese
male swimmer's height and the Olympic swimmer's.
2. The strength of the Chinese women and men swimmers
was much weaker compared with Olympic swimmers.
3. The Chinese women had a tendency toward a long
growth spurt period.
The Final Selection and Training
Selection and training must be combined. It really takes
time to evaluate all aspects of a young swimmer correctly,
so physical morphology and fitness should be measured
and a young person observed continuously for several
years.
The purpose of setting up indexes of physical morpholo-
gy and fitness is: to find the potentially great swimmers
early. Indexes may be different in some locations. In
Shanghai, for example, children and adolescents are taller
than in Guangdong Province. The coaches should adjust
the difference in indexes in light of local conditions. Some
swimmers need protection after they are selected, since a
number of potential great swimmers were dismissed too
early because training methods did not take into account
the individual growth curve. Table Two and Three are
examples of selecting standards of performance and a long-
term program. The standard of performance also may be
adjusted by different local coaches.
Age 50m 10Om 100m 100m 100m 400~800m Mileage
Free Free Breast Fly Back �Free Mi/Year
9 38.0 11 190
10 35.0 1:15 - 1:35 1:25 1:25 5:36 300
11 31.9 1:08 1:25 1:12 1:16 5:30 560
12 31.0 1:05 1:21 1:09 ' 1:12 11:10 810
13 29.8 1:03 1:18 1:07 1:09 10:50 1300
14 29.0 1:01 1:15 1:05 1:07 10:10 1400
The ages in Table Two and Three are the skeletal ages
that will show the real ability of children.
It is difficult for a swimmer to reach the standards in all
events, but a swimmer should be able to attain one or two.
Coaches are encouraged to use less mileages, less high-
intensity, and less special training to help their swimmers
reach above-standard performance. Good coaches pay
more attention to swimmer's technique and all-round fit-
ness.
The nervous system begins glowing early. The physical
performance of children--balance, coordination, agility,
response, rhythm--reaches a high level early. During this
developmental period, it is most important for children to
master the correct technique.
Normally 7-8 year-old children start their swimming at
their regular school or amateur sports school. The children
swim two or three times each week, with each lesson last-
ing an hour. The teachers or coaches emphasize teaching
foundational skills, especially freestyle and backstroke
kicking. It is also important to let children become fond of
the water.
Children 9-10 years-old have four or five lessons a
week, an hour each lesson, with the workout covering
about 1500-2000m. The children should learn four strokes
plus starts and turns, and imagery methods, such as video
tape and demonstration are very helpful in mastering tech-
nique quickly. During this period, the distance swum is
mainly 25 or 50m. After the children learn technique, they
can swim 400 or 800y/m as a low intensity aerobic exer-
cise.
There is a difference between the younger swimmer"
technique and that of older swimmers: Older swimmers
can be required to improve their distance stroke, but it is
almost impossible for a child to do this. Children are
required to move their arms correctly and continuously.
Briefly, the coaches should pay more attention to swim-
mers' coordination, rhythm and frequency of stroke.
Never force children to swim fast--children have
enough motivation with this. Timing is not necessary to
children except in sprinting. Some coaches give high
mileage and high intensity to children for age-group cham-
pions, but this over-stressing is dangerous. As coach Peter
Daland said, many potential swimmers who show their best
performance later quit swimming because of over-stressing.
The children do land exercises two or three times per
week, 30 minutes each time. Exercises include sit-ups,
push-ups, rope-jumping, rope-climbing, working out on
stall bars, coordination gymnastics, and stretching. All
strength exercises work the children against their own body
weight and against gravity. Children are encouraged to
play sports as well--soccer, basketball, and so on.
During the pubertal growth spurt, muscle grows at a
rapid rate of hormones. This is a golden time to improve
the swimmer's muscle system and strength. Special train-
ing begins at 11 years in girls and 13 years in boys, and
from that time swimmers may use paddles, pull, the swim
bench--but gradually. The rateor special training should
increase with age.
The rapid increase in muscle tissue occurs slightly aftkr
the greatest increase in height. Some children's muscle
growth cannot match their skeletal growth and they retain
their performance for�an amount of time. Once coaches
find the children are growing rapidly, they should give
them more strength exercises, such as push-ups and sit-ups
to help them improve their performance. Some children,
especially boys, show their best performance after their
muscle system changes greatly. We should watch young-
sters carefully and not allow them to quit swimming before
they have a real opportunity to achieve their potential.
Children using special training too early may be injured.
Should children swim 1500m? Research has shown that
the heart volume is much larger lying supine than standing.
Further, space medicine demonstrates that heart volume
under weightless conditions increases 34% over that in the
standing position in gravity. A swimmer in water is rather
similar to that position of body under weightless condi-
tions. Assumption of the supine position, plus buoyancy,
account for increase in heart volume. In addition, cool
water functions to contract capillaries thus forcing blood to
flow back to the heart. Both improve cardiovascular capac-
ity. But prepubertal youngsters have limited ability for car-
diac hypertrophy and metabolic enzyme synthesis, both
important factors in improving endurance performance.
Therefore we can let prepubertal youngsters swim 1500m
as aerobic training, but not in competition.
After puberty, the coaches emphasize swimmer's muscle
systems. In a sense, swimming is muscle power and mus-
cle endurance sport.
For the Chinese Olympic Swimmers, the coaches did
two things:
1. increased practice intensity, and
2. improved the swimmer's strength.
In 1980, research showed that practice intensity of the
Chinese swimmers was too low. The question was what
the suitable intensity should be. Since 1985, the lactate test
had been adopted to evaluate intensity.
For example, one method is the 10 x 200m, done in fol-
lowing manner: a set of three 200m with a 30-second rest
between is swum, followed by immediate taking of a blood
sample. The slowest time should equal 85% of the best
effort. After a three- to four-minute rest, another group of
three 200m is swum, with the same resting interval between
efforts, and again an immediate blood sample is take after
the last effort. The slowest time here should be equal to
90% of the best time in this group of three efforts. A third
set of three is then accomplished with the same resting
interval and immediate drawing of blood. Here, the slowest
time of the three should be 95% of the best effort. This is
followed by a 20-minute rest period. One 200m is then
swum, followed by the drawing of blood samples at three-,
five-, and seven-minute intervals after completion of the
swim.
A lactate curve is determined by lactate indexes and
velocity. The lactate threshold (about 4mM) and most suit-
able relative velocity for aerobic training are found. For
instance, Zhuang Yong's 200 M freestyle time was 2:09 in
1985. During the winter season, her average 3 x 200 was
2:29, about 85% of her best time, and her lactate level was
2.1 mM. When she swam 3 x 200 with an average time
2:23, about 89% of her best time, her lactate level was 4
mM. When she reached 96% of her best time, her lactate
level went up to 6 mM. Her most suitable s~eed for swim-
ming 200m for aerobic training was found to be 898 of her
best time. Usually the test should be taken every three to
four weeks.
Normally, the sprint swimmer's lactate threshold veloci-
ty is 80% to 85% of their best time. The distance swim-
mer's is about 90% of their best time; differences do exist
between individuals.
To reach the needed intensity, the interval time can be
gradually reduced. In the beginning, some coaches won-
dered if the swimmers could cope with this, but the swim-
mers did very well after several months.
By the way, the lactate curve also can be sued to antici-
pate the best time for the following meet.
Altitude training is an effective training method,
although there is controversy about the effects of altitude
training on subsequent performance at sea level. Since
1~985, the Chinese swimmers have been to Kunming (where
the altitude is almost the same as the Olympic training cen-
ter in Colorado Springs) to do altitude training. Usually,
the training lasts three to four months, then swimmers
return to sea level about two weeks before championships.
Before the Barcelona Olympics, the Chinese swimmers and
the Unified team all experienced altitude training.
For improvement of swimmer's strength, weight-lifting
is used year-round. During weight-lifting the intensity and
interval are important. For example, the swimmer working
on the swim beach should finish at the same time and fre-
quency as if swimming 100m. During the interval, the
swimmers should do stretching, and the more weight-lifting
performed, the more stretching that is needed. Usually,
weight-lifting is before the afternoon water practice.
It is necessary to help swimmers recover from heavy
workouts each day. For this, massage of the main recovery
method.
"It is very difficult
to build an Olympic swimmer
from the new material
of an untrained youngster,
and it depends upon the effort
of the swimmmer and coach,
together with input from
sport science researchers
and medical workers,
over many years. "