In an interview with Gold Medal Mel Stewart, co-founder of SwimSwam and Olympic gold medalist, the team from “The Water Is My Sky” documentary asked a heavy question.
“Is swimming fair?”
Gold Medal Mel responded with an anecdote from his days in swimming. Watch the short clip above to listen in on his thoughts about the fairness (or unfairness) of the sport of swimming.
Mel Stewart won the gold medal in the 200 butterfly competing for the United States at the 1992 Olympic Games. There, he also won gold in the 400 medley relay as a prelims swimmer and collected a bronze as a part of the 800 free relay. He swam the fastest split in the final out of the four American legs of the 800 relay.
“The Water Is My Sky” is a documentary about the sacrifices and journeys of elite swimmers, and offers a perspective on the athletic careers of Tom Wilkens and Connor Jaeger, two swimmers who went from average swimmers in high school to Olympians in a short span of time. You can check out the documentary’s website right here.
This clip deepened my appreciation for Mel, and I already thought he was awesome. Now if we could just get him on tv representing our sport!
With all due respect, I remember seeing Mel knock out some solid workouts. He was innovative, versatile and hard working. Definitely, he earned the gold in ’92.
With that being said, swimming is a tough sport. It is not always fair, but every swimmer has experienced some level of success and failure at some point during his/her career.
Then you had Bart who also finaled and hardly made a practice.
The sport could be fairer if people couldn’t go to the Olympics for being 6th best (or 7th in the UK) in their event – free relays – whilst 3rds in everything else stayed home. Or being “unfortunate” enough to live in the USA where you could be a potential bronze and not go. Or win 20 world titles but all people want to fuss over is the Olympics every fourth year!
I’ve always thought Phelps’ attributed quote that “everything is possible, you just need to put in the time and work” was disingenuous. There is a reason we are starting the see the same people in the finals of Nationals, Worlds, and the Olympics; some people are gifted with better genetics. I’ve noticed the average height in the men’s 100M freestyle final is now about 6’5″.
I don’t complain that sports are not intrinsically fair; I only complain about those who use PEDS.
Very true on the the size of the dominant swimmers but this summer McEvoy standing at 6′ will rule them all in the freestyle sprints.
sorry , he will probably rule in one sprint race , the 100 .. The 50 ? Nah , the 200 ? nope , sorry . Lets stay reasonable with Mc Evoy’s talent .
Yes, Cameron Mcevoy is truly amazing, a true role model, the dedication that man has for swimming AND science is huge. also breaking down the barrier that you don’t need to be a giant person to be within a tenth of the world record. Maybe its time for King Cesars record to be shattered.
Here’s for my nominee for “Swimming’s Not Fair”: Kurt Krumpholz.
At the 1972 US Olympic Trials in Chicago, Krumpholz broke the world record for the 400 freestyle in the morning prelims, setting a new standard of 4:00.11. He was ecstatic.
That night, Krumpholz finished 6th in the finals of the 400, and didn’t make the US Olympic team.
Chew on that for a while.
That takes a lot of humility to admit the hardest workers don’t always win, Mel. You said you weren’t sure why you got emotional about it. Maybe you just feel bad for your friend and other hard workers, but maybe it’s also because swimming is a microcosm of life in general– not always fair. That’s a hard lesson for all of us to swallow. But it’s yet another valuable life lesson learned from swimming. The younger we learn it, the better off we’ll be later.
Swimming has no ability to be fair or unfair.
Wow Mel , u truly totally feel what u are saying . Bravo , u have the bravery and the sheer honesty of your experiences . Still swimming offers great opportunities to grow and evolve as a human Being .
thx….I forgot about this interview. It was at the end of the “Water Is My Sky” topics and the director/producer tossed it out. Caught me by surprise….. It’s a good topic. We all know swimmers who trained their butts off and had great success, but didn’t make it to the Olympics or NCAAs or Jr Nats or State Meet. They had a lot heart and swam to the best of their ability…
I agree with u on that aspect for sure .