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MEN’S 200M IM – FINALS
2013 World Champion: Ryan Lochte, USA – 1:54.98
World Record: 1:54.00 – Ryan Lochte, USA – 2011
Championship Record: 1:54.00 – Ryan Lochte, USA – 2011
GOLD: Ryan Lochte, USA – 1:55.81
SILVER: Thiago Pereira, BRA – 1:56.65
BRONZE: Wang Shun, CHN – 1:56.81
Ryan Lochte secured his fourth consecutive World Title in the men’s 200 IM with a time of 1:55.81, earning an much needed medal for the United States. Thiago Pereira of Brazil earned the silver medal with a 1:56.65 and Wang Shun of China earned the bronze with a 1:56.81.
Dan Wallace was in third place with 50 meters to go, but was ran down and bumped off of the podium. He finished fourth with his time of 1:57.59. Conor Dwyer was the only to finish under 1:58. He touched fifth with a final time of 1:57.96.
Marcin Cieslak finished sixth in 1:58.14, finishing just ahead of the second Brazilian in the field, Henrique Rodriguez who finished seventh at 1:58.52.
Simon Sjodin of Sweden rounded out the final with his time of 1:59.06.
Please reread the 101.6.2 which discusses the stroke rules for the individual medley, in summary it states that the swimmer must start and finish in accordance with the prescribed rules for that stroke. A forward start is required in freestyle (101.5.1). A forward start is defined in the Official Glossary of the rule book as, “an entry made while facing the racing course”.
This is how the turn judge will be evaluating a forward start in the freestyle portion of the individual medley. When the swimmer’s feet leave the wall, the turn judge shall observe the swimmers shoulders and determine if they are past vertical to the breast or past vertical to the back. If they are past vertical to… Read more »
He has to push off the wall… if he dolphin kicks, then it could be said that he is doing “butterfly”, if he is on his back, it could be backstroke… that could be a can of worms I don’t think needs to be opened. Years ago, the starter would say ” Butterfly, Backstroke Breastroke, and any other stroke other than those three… we would joke on the ready bench that we should do dog paddle one of these days if our coach wouldn’t kill us!!!
Serious question – what possible rationale is there for this rule in the first place? I.e., that for the free leg of IM and medley relay, the swimmer can’t do another stroke? If somebody wants to anchor a medley relay swimming fly, why not allow that?
Why not just say “freestyle is truly free” — 100% of the time?
Because you must have 4 different strokes in the medleys – IM or relay. You have to do them in order and you must do 4 different strokes.
I think he is asking why does that make sense (the order sure, but why must free style be a ‘different stroke’). Doesn’t seem to be much logical sense for this rule. Frankly, I don’t see much logical sense for any rules regarding freestyle, other than maybe, pulling on the lane line or getting out of the pool and running to the end.
I’d sort of like to see someone try both pulling on the lane line AND running to the end of the pool, just to see if they could get away with it. 🙂
I think there is a youtube video of someone doing that in a meet btw…
I imagine it’s because the intent of a medley swim is to swim four different strokes. I suppose they could go the other way and just say “the fourth stroke in a medley swim must be front crawl.”
I think I would still be slower even if I climbed out and ran!
Good job, Ryan! In addition to the gold, you may have a rule named after you!
Lochte raises an interesting point. The rule book for USA Swimming says that the freestyle portion of the IM can be done in any manner except for back, breast, and fly styles. With him doing an underwater on the back off the wall in the freestyle leg, there might be a temptation to call him for doing a backstroke swim. However, the backstroke swim is done on top of the water and the underwater portion is not considered part of the backstroke swim (you certainly have to have shoulders past vertical toward the back off the wall in the backstroke but the swim is conducted on top of the water). Therefore, unless there is something different about FINA rules used… Read more »
Agreed. FINA rule book is the same as the USA rule book in this instance. There are almost no regulations as to what you do underwater off the wall during the free leg of a relay. If you want to push off upside down, feet first, go for it. If you want to push off some other way, go for it. As far as I can tell, the only thing you cannot do off the wall on free is a breaststroke pullout.
Any sort of DQ would have been called on very shaky ground and would likely result in a very quick appeal and overturn (if you can overturn DQs).
Talk about manufacturing a controversy!
As long as you surface by 15m, you can do whatever you want underwater during a freestyle event including a breaststroke pullout. You can’t re-submerge however.
From the USA swimming rulebook
101.5.2. In an event designated freestyle, the swimmer may swim any style, except that in
a medley relay or an individual medley event, freestyle means any style other than butterfly,
breaststroke or backstroke. Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the water
throughout the race, except it shall be permissible for the swimmer to be completely submerged during the turn and for a distance of not more than 15 meters (16.4 yards) after the start and each turn. By that point the… Read more »
The rule is ambiguous for the reasons you point out. The rule about what constitutes the backstroke style encompasses both the underwater portion (up to 15m) and the surface portion. So while your argument makes sense, I don’t think you can definitively say that the underwater dolphin kicking is not part of the backstroke swim. Other than having to surface by 15m, the only rule for backstroke is that you stay on your back (other than entering the turn).
Here’s the USA Swimming Rule on backstroke:
Backstroke
101.4.2 .2 Stroke — The swimmer shall push off on his back and continue swimming on the back throughout the race. Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the… Read more »