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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.
Freestyle is a forward start. When Ryan’s feet left the wall on his breast to free transition, his shoulders were past vertical towards his back, not his breast. Thus, he was not on his breast and didn’t start on his breast. The big difference in his free starts, he’s coming off the blocks on his breast.
Now, on a 400 IM, if he did this on an intermediate turn, that’s legal. But this was a 200IM in a 50m pool. He must leave that wall on his breast to free transition with is shoulders past vertical towards his breast to simulate a forward start.
If we take Ryan’s actions a step forward, why didn’t he start his fly… Read more »
so if we play this out, then dolphin kicking on your stomach as you begin your free in the IM should also be considered illegal since you don’t need arms to “swim” the fly. You would be repeating your stroke. This is not an infraction of the rules on front or back.
Lochte has, and always will, dominate Pereira!
What a Gator final! Hopefully younger generation (Cieslak, Wallace) get to the podium in Rio.
Well done Mr.Gregg…you should be very proud of those men!
The relevant rules (first FINA, and then, USA Swimming, are below.) Essentially, during a freestyle race (as opposed to IM or a medley relay) you can swim in any style (you just must surface by 15m off the start and turns and not fully re-submerge). In IM, the rule is that during the freestyle leg, you can’t swim in any “style” of the other three strokes. Arguably, dolphin kicking on your back is swimming in the backstroke “style” since the only rule for backstroke is that you swim on your back. The rule isn’t crystal clear.
FINA
Freestyle
SW 5.1 Freestyle means that in an event so designated the swimmer may swim any style, except that in individual… Read more »
As an aside, the rule that a freestyle leg in an IM can’t be in the style of any other stroke doesn’t seem to make much sense since there is overlap between the styles, e.g., dolphin kicks.
But just doing a dolphin kick is not the same as doing the butterfly stroke. The butterfly stroke requires arms going forward over the water simultaneously and the kick may be in a downward simultaneously motion (i.e. the dolphin kick). So if a swimmer in the IM did dolphin kicks only, that is not the butterfly. If a swim in the IM comes off the wall and does a complete butterfly stroke with the arms coming forward over the water simultaneously and recovers the arms pulling back and forward again over the water, that is a butterfly stroke. There is no requirement to kick in the butterfly; if you do kick, then the kick has to be a downward simultaneous… Read more »
There is no requirement in free that one come off the wall towards the breast so he is free to come off the wall on his back and kick in any manner he chooses.
Once he takes his first stroke he must be on the surface on his breast.
His breast to free transition is legal and obviously someone clued in the Aussie, probably the meet referee, as to proper interpretation of the rules.
I bet you are right about somebody clueing in the Aussie ref. Rowdy mentioned that the Aussie ref said beforehand that she was going to DQ him if he did it. As someone who is a certified USA Swimming official (N2 S&T and starter), that is quite appalling that an official would announce a DQ ahead of time. You observe the swim and if there is an infraction, then you must call it.
You are right too that coming off the wall onto the back in the free leg is not illegal. The backstroke occurs on top of the water and thus what Lochte does is not a backstroke.
The ambiguity is that whether the “style” of the stroke involves the arms and legs, as well as whether it involves the first 15m underwater. There is no requirement that you do any arm pulls in fly; you can kick the whole way if you want, so long as you aren’t doing underwater recovery and you surface by 15m. Same with backstroke. You don’t need to use your arms in any manner or at all. Breaststroke is the only stroke that has a cycle where the use of arms and legs are required by the rules. So if being on your back = the style of backstroke, then you could justify a DQ for what Lochte did (i.e., he swam… Read more »
My advise to FINA is that they eliminate all of the cheating going on in breaststroke before they start in on this.
Long story short, where Lochte is concerned, he already had the best underwaters so he really didn’t gain ANY advantage by trying the backstroke to free underwater kick. It might have been more trouble than it was worth.
What was Rowdy babbling about Lochte coming off on his back after the turn to free? What rule is he quoting?
It’s Lochte’s new thing. Off all of his 200free walls, and off the breast-free wall in the 200IM, he kicks out on his back and then flips over and swims freestyle.
I am a past swim official. The swim was totally legal. I am not sure what Rowdy is talking about. IM Rule – “Once a legal touch has been made, the swimmer may turn in any manner.” I think he is confused with the freestyle stroke rule which states that the “stroke” means any style other than butterfly, breaststroke, or backstroke. He wasn’t swimming the stroke he was turning after a legal touch.
But even if the back-dolphin were considered “swimming,” is there a rule that says freestyle must consist of the Australian Crawl?
Lochte should have been DQ ed, at the breaststroke touch, he should have swam the freestyle type and that means not one of the first three i.e. butterfly, back and breast.
So rules are rules in the FINA or LEN or what ever swim association.