When I was 14 my swim coached showed and analyzed the Lochte rule to the team. It made me approach the sport in a whole new waying knowing that there were still techniques to be discovered. Making me fall in love with the sport and opened my door to swim in college. Shoutout Lochte and my Coach. Also I got DQed for this in a 200 fr once which was swiftly overturned after opening the rule book for the official.
I agree, I think that´s why it´s called Freestyle. Finding your way through the water to the other side. Personally I think a dolphin kick could be the fastest way
@@joris5429 Yes and it would be nice to see how different swimmers would implement different tactics in case if there would be no requirement for stroke consistency. For example maybe some swimmers will start doing more underwaters before turns or on finishes. Anyway - it could definitely bring more excitement both for swimmers and spectators.
Freestyle isn't free and the fish kick is the fastest. I'm OK with Fina saying swimmers have to come to the surface. As a parent of swimmer. Yes, people could swim 50 meter underwater doing a fish kick, but I don't think it is a good idea for kids to be training to do that. It would be interesting to see it done though. There are people who have done it in back stroke and taken the DQ, and totally beat the pack. th-cam.com/video/Vox9KOxC1ZA/w-d-xo.html
Freestyle should've been an innovative type of competition that favors the fastest swimming methods, no matter what they are. Forcing rules like only being able to swim one type of stroke is completely nonsensical - might as well change the name of the competition from "Freestyle" to "Front Crawl"
I agree with this. Free style should have no rules. If I want to do a 25 underwater followed by a flip turn into alternating fly breast stroke i should be able to do that
@@vincentlee7359 There is a huge difference between being able to choose your swiming style freely, as the name "freestyle" implies quite heavily, and your reductio ad absurdum. It is swimming in free style. The other rules of the cometition not concerning style are not touched by being able to choose your style freely.
I hate it when governing bodies rule out innovation in their sport. Why allow for the wearing of swimming googles? Why allow for the wearing of swim caps? Why start races on raised blocks? Why allow tumble turns to be used?
@@ccbgaming6994Im personally very glad super suits are gone, it would suck for some random high schooler to have to race someone with rich parents who can actually afford one
Chinese will take over this sport soon. They have been trying for decades. But they only reach their prime at the age of 23 and above age which is quite less energetic than younger swimmers. They finally produce pan zhan le who now break the world record at 19. They finally found the solution. Sooner chinese will dominate both diving and swim.
Creating or adjusting a rule to limit an athlete who has dedicated his life to a sport and discovered a technique or style that gives him an advantage is outrageous. It not only takes away the advantage he has developed through his knowledge of the sport and the science behind it, but also discourages young athletes from pushing boundaries to make the sport more competitive. This does not diminish the impressiveness of previous records or turn the swimming community into rebels seeking an easier way. The advantage of Lochte's flipper kicks was based purely on science and experience. Punishing him, and others like him, harms the sport. I have always seen Lochte as a great athlete. His greatest blessing and curse was competing with Phelps throughout almost their entire swimming careers. Yes, he may not excel at giving interviews, and the necessity and point of his reality show are questionable, but still... He shouldn't be judged by these. He is a legend in the eyes of many swimmers and swimming enthusiasts. Phelps was chosen as the golden boy by the mainstream media, who then needed to create a less favourite child to constantly compare him with. They are both legends of the sport. They were both pushed to the brink... Phelps contained his anxiety until his retirement, while Lochte tried to gain the popularity and attention he deserved through very unnecessary acts. Neither of them needed the extra stress imposed by popular or mainstream media. I always remember their era in the sport as the pinnacle of competitive swimming, but also as an unnecessarily painful and brutal one, thanks to the clowns of popular culture.
WHY EVEN IS THERE A RULE IN FREESTYLE ?!?!? I don‘t fucking care if someone spins in a circle and is faster. It should not fucking matter !?!?! Why is there a rule ?!? You have water, distance, athlete and time.THATS IT.
Freestyle, by original definition, is swimming anyway you want so that you can get to A - B, with the winning condition being to swim an accumulated distance fastest. It just so happened that what was originally called the “front crawl” was found to be the most efficient and fastest stroke to swim with to the point everyone did it and then the stroke was eventually kinda “renamed” “freestyle”. Point is, it shouldn’t actually matter how you swim because of the race’s original description
I HATE when sports officials do shit like this. I am not a swimmer but as an athlete, I am always thinking of ways to leverage my strengths to distance my competitors. When the competition is so fierce, what else are you supposed to do?? It's not like no one else can do what Lochte did, it's still an even playing field.
I believe so, the only reason the rule is there is because in IM, you can only swim one type of stroke once. So if you did breastroke during the last 50m then you would get disqualified. If you did breastroke in the last 50m of a 200m freestyle race, you would NOT get disqualified.
@@NicolasMorus you must stick to the same stroke you choose during the entire freestyle event. I also heard you can swim IM in free, but I haven’t found that rule in writing
@@northsta I just double checked, and Fina only has 3 rules for freestyle. 1. The IM rule I stated above. 2. The swimmer must touch the wall after each lap. 3. The swimmer must not be completely submerged off the wall for more than 15m
@@NicolasMorus in freestyle after 15 m some part of the swimmer must be above the water, backstroke the same plus be on the back, in fly is enough to be on the surface and breaststroke swimmers can submerge 😇
My daughter, May Li, did this back dolphin kick on her freestyle since 2013 in Canada racing and showed this technique at 2015-2016 USA season and NCAA D3 final.
I seem to remember that the Lotche rule came about because of his butterfly. Still no matter. The supposed reasoning behind it was that he had some mechanical advantage when using the dolphin kick on his back. I have never heard any reason that made any sense, as to how there was a mechanical advantage....
Difference is swimming on your back is always illegal in butterfly, not freestyle. I got DQed for doing the wrong turn on 200 IM accidentally after 25yd once and flipping over underwater.
Well, that brings up another thing, it makes no sense to me that flip turns are not allowed in the fly or breast stroke..... The Lotche rule, which made it illegal to do the dolphin kicks on your back, came about from him doing that. It was not a rule before.
It was not Lochte. Years before a Japanese backstroke swimmer won gold in the 1988 Olympics. Daichi Suzuki. He swam underwater most of the way. Swimming underwater for long periods was banned after that. Ever realised that submarines are faster submerged than travelling on the surface? This is because of interaction with waves.
One of the greatest athletes ever, inspiration to many :) Loved watching his battles with the Hungarian Cseh Laszlo :). It's little known, but Phelps genetically has longer hands proportional to his body than "normal". It's also a big advantage when swimming.
In medley I can see why it's not allowed, you can't use the other 3 strokes in the freestyle leg. So being on the back is considered backstroke. In freestyle events however, should be perfectly fine. Whichever gets you through the water fastest.
And why wasn’t Lochte informed before hand that they would not allow this technique? It seems as if the rule was made up swiftly AFTER he got the WR! 🤔
A new event should be added to swimming competition. The new race is any means of propelling yourself through the water with your body unassisted by anything other than currently approve cap goggles and suit. Start out of the water on the existing approved start blocks or in the water off the wall any way you like. Stay above or below the water as long as you like. You must touch the walls at the turns. This would encourage innovation. It's likely underwater dolphin kick and lung capacity would prevail but you can't rule out something new. I'm curious what someone might come up with at the turns.
IM is different. The purpose of the IM event is to do all four strokes. The freestyle stroke is technically the front crawl stroke in the context of the IM. You can't do fly, back, breast and breast, for example. Have to swim the front crawl.
There should be no limit on freestyle. It should be a demonstration of individual abilities and techniques. Even if the swimmer will go all underwater - it shouldn't matter. As long as they touch the wall and dont interfere with the pool.
@playboisharty2840 Your anecdotal experience doesn't count for true or false, because your memory could be faulty or the referees could have been terrible. What determines true or false is the rule book. According to World Acquatics (formerly FINA) rule SW 5.1, you have to swim the front crawl in a medley event. SW 5.1 Freestyle means that in an event so designated the swimmer may swim any style, except that in individual medley or medley relay events, freestyle means any style other than backstroke, breaststroke or butterfly.
I was a freestyle swimmer with a special technique. I never bent my arms, I was swimming crawl with quite straight arms (for my body it was a faster movement) and my trainers said, after they saw that there was no other way to convince me, that if I don’t bend my arms, they will ban me from the club so yep :/ Power sucks
Like really. That's the very way sports techniques evolve, leading to even better performance in the future: letting the athletes pick their own technique. Take for example the 'flop' in high jump, which was superior to any other technique at the time. Now it's become the standard.
Here's a fun fact about Lochte. During the Rio Olympics he got drunk during a night out and lost his belongings. Next day he filed a bogus claim at the police station claiming he got robbed by armed men. This incident put the entire Rio games' reputation at risk. He did it to his own personal gain, to avoid punishment from his delegation for the party night out. A couple days later video evidence surfaced proving his story was completely made up.
Whales and dolphins all do dolphin kicks while face up. The reason is that it is easier to break with nostrials on top. The other benefit is that it is easier to float up so face-up so you use that spared strength to move forward. The secret is that you have to use full strength to dolphin
Well make sure the officials know the rules (not all officials in every country are up to date although they should be). It's difficult doing it on swim meets! But I say try it out if you are up for the challenge.
The analysis here is just wrong. I can find documents going back to at least 1998 that Free style is pretty much do what you like EXCEPT in the IM where you are not allowed to swim Back, Breast or Fly during the Freestyle leg. What Ryan Lochte did was legal Freestyle (and still is) but not allowed in IM as swimming backstroke is not allowed. Whenever a swimming rule gets enforced that no one has thought about it is suddenly called a newly changed rule. Kaylee McKeown got DQed in World Champs last year for a similar infringement, not swimming on the back at the end of the backstroke leg of the IM. In a lot of coverage (especially Australian) they referred to recent rule changes but that is simply incorrect. I've tried to find rule changes around 2015 and there is no "Lochte" rule change. There might have been clarification of the rule but not a change. Swimming backstroke during the freestyle leg of the IM has been illegal years before Lochte got DQed. He wasn't DQed for swimming faster, he was DQed for swimming illegally. In the latest rule change World Aquatics has actually made it easier to turn in the Freestyle leg of the IM rather than harder. Before the last change it was illegal to be on the back when leaving the wall, now it is permitted to leave the wall on the back as long as you return to the breast before the first kick or arm pull.
@@SkillsNT I would first like to say I love your content. You do amazing work and you are helping my kids. I am not a swimmer but I have been a judge for 3 years. So I only know the rules intellectually and do not have a swimmer's perspective like you do. My children's coach would always tell me this 😁 What I was trying to say is that the rules did not change because of how Ryan Lochte swam. Swimming on the back during the freestyle leg of the IM has been illegal since before 1998. It's just that he was the first to test where the limit of the rule was in this way. How he swam is legal in a freestyle race, just not during the freestyle leg of the IM. Fina did not ban the technique directly, they just clarified that what he was doing was against the IM rules. If they were trying to stop him from swimming fast they would have introduced a rule change to ban what he did in freestyle. There have been no rule changes introduced because of how he swam to ban what he did, it was already illegal. Fina just put out a statement to clarify that it was illegal. I see it like this, there is a rule that a swimmer cannot push off the bottom of the pool. If a swimmer found they could be faster by pushing off the side of the pool and did this in a major gala then World Aquatics could, clarify that it is legal as no rule mentions pushing off the side, clarify that it is illegal because of the pushing off the bottom rule includes the side, or they could change the rules to include pushing off the side. Only in the last case would they be changing the rules. This is why I say the analysis is wrong. They did not change the rule because he was swimming faster. They made it clear that what he was doing was illegal according to the existing rule whether it was faster or not.
@@SkillsNT my coach agreed with you! I think it comes down to perspective. As a judge I saw it as clarifying the existing rule. I can see how swimmers and coaches could see it as changing the rules to penalise Ryan's amazing skill. There is also the conspiracy that it was done to favour Michael. Thanks again!
I heard it is because of the fortex is affected differently by gravity upside down and the down kick is usually generating more propulsion than the upkick, wich makes being upside down dolfin kicking make better use of the fortex
The outlawing of the "super suite" reminds me of shooting competitions because they use a heavy leather jacket to reduce their body movement, so the gun doesn't shake as much when aiming. I didn't metal all that much in competition when I was a teen in Arkansas because of this. I came from a poorer area, and we didn't have them so I rarely could beat the kids that did have them. When I did get a metal, I always had a "take that" mentality to the kids that had them.
I have been swimming for over five decades now. Except for this one rule change, every other rule change allowed, that I can think of, has made swimming faster: 1. Track start was illegal when I competed. In fact, you had to be completely erect on the block until started said, "Take your mark." If not, they'd MAKE you stand fully upright. 2. Backstroke turn changed to freestyle turn in 1990 3. One butterfly kick allowed in breaststroke pullout in 2005 4. Use of backstroke ledges for starts (God, in my day, you weren't even allowed to have your toes break the surface on the start) 5. Tech suits Etc., etc. Why? World records sell ad time. So, world records = money.
The suits were banned after the guy from Germany broke the 400m Freestyle WR using the more buoyant suits. Phelps worked his tail off to break that WR and threatened to retire from swimming if they don’t ban the synthetic suits, which FINA eventually did.
This reminds me of the lawsuit of the guy who swallowed a chicken bone and sued. But the Judge said it can't go to trial because "Boneless" chicken wings could contain bones... like Freestyle is not free to swim underwater the entire time
I watched him swim a workout in a North Carolina pool - he was just doing some easy stuff (easy for him) in a warmup/warmdown pool. His underwater motion was fluid, even languid. - below the swimmers swimming on the surface. It was like watching a killer whale, completely mesmerizing.
I see 2 options for FINA: - 1: Lift all rules for freestyle (regarding the swimming technique. You still have to be in the water, in your lane, not use tools etc.). Just see who is fastest - 2: Rename freestyle to front crawl. Simply because it doesn't make sense to call it free style and then prescribe how to swim. Calling it *front* crawl could also justify rules to swim face down instead of swimming/diving on the back
There was a wrestler (Karelin), who was unbeaten for multiple years in the Olympics. They changed the rules to make him lose. The year after he retired they changed the rule back to normal. He lost the match due to a point deduction (due to rule change). His opponent didn't even score a single point. He just won cuz they deducted a point from Karelin.
In my swimming years, Breastrokers were disqualified for their heads going below the surface. THAT was a huge "judge by judge" opinion-call at best. ONCE breastrokers could DIVE their heads, to REALLY THRUST their arms and shoulders forward during their kick, times began dropping dramatically. THAT is an example of a sport-wide change for the improvement of the overall competition. The "Lochte Rule" should be trashed UNLESS Breastrokers can NO LONGER break the plane of the water with their heads. CONSISTENCY AND LOGIC ought to rule the calls and innovations of a sport.
Information in this video is not technically correct, leading to misinformed comments being made. The rule change about the underwater fly kick on a swimmer's back on the freestyle leg of an IM was not to slow Lochte down, it was to close the loophole he found in the rules. In an IM, the freestyle leg can be any stroke, other than one already used in the race, and it was deemed that doing up to 15m of a freestyle length using a component of the backstroke length wasn't legal. You can do whatever you like underwater in a pure freestyle event, even swim full backstroke if you wish, but in an IM the rules are different to ensure that each length is a different stroke.
Interesting but why would dolphin kick on stomach be considered more different from butterfly than the dolphin kick on back from backstroke. The rule still doesn't make sense to me.
Hi I've read a few of the comments and this is what I was taught 30years ago. I the IM you swim CRAWL on the final leg NOT freestyle. You have 4 different strokes and the rule you talk about relates to crawl and has been that way "always". Crawl is is swam on the front just as backstroke is swam on the back. The stroke most people swim in freestyle is crawl (because it is the fastest) but freestyle is an event and not a stroke. Hope this helps clear it up. Kind regards Daniel
good observation butterfly has been added (or the motion) to all the strokes. You would think Freestyle of all of them would be the one you could change at will. Butterfly kick and motion is faster in a pool with lane lines...not in open water. We really can't do butterfly in open water. The waves would make you choke plus barely gliding the hands over the water will get caught by waves. We are not dolphins. Underwater. Fine off the wall. Again in open water there is no walls. So it is becoming more specialized just for the pool. Breaststroke is to keep your head up for air and sight. Now it has become butterfly without pulling arms out of water. Watch open water or water polo. They do the traditonal strokes. Except just holding a spot they do a greatly exagerated freestly kick.
He should break the world record using "illegal" technique (unofficially, but on tape for future FINA), and just wait until it's become recognized :) Thanks to this he may become recordman at his 80s again, or something like that :D
The 2011 final of the 200 IM did not produce the 2 fastest times ever recorded. Phelps’ time of 1:54.16 was slower than the previous world record of 1:54.10
Easily the stupidest rules ever implemented in swimming, especially considering how timely it was with Lochte’s peak or what should’ve been his peak. Not like there’s suit era records from 09 still considered legit, but god forbid you turn underwater on a turn..
It reminds me of when they banned backflip in feminine figure skating because only surya bonaly seemed to be able to do it. (Male competitors were allowed to do it if I remember correctly)
It's the trend even in amateur sports. Younger generations are slower. Strength comes with age. The slowed me down in running and cycling. Not sure why sports even exist.
Ha, there a Ancient 2nd century BC papyrus on the Greeks sending Olympic officials to Egypt to consult on rule changes for foreign Athletes, could try something similar.
In other words, if the judge didn't like Phelps, then they would make rule that says you can only kick stomach upwards underwater... Corruption to the highest level of authority.
I don't understand something. Doesn't Free Style mean that you can swim however you like for that leg of the race? Why would it matter if your free style was under water face up?
? Okay. I'm confused. I swim , and I have been doing underwater dolphin kicks face up, since forever. I think everyone always knew that they are faster on their backs ! The underwater after a turn is very, very important in swimming competitively. ALL of my coaches, always, made us practice turns and underwater.
cool lol when i learned to swimm my teacher turned angry so many times ! i discovered "i was a dolphin", i refused to swin on the surface :) i was sraying , hiding under her boat 😁 swimming under water is so cool :)
Why no western TH-cam channel complained when the table tennis federation changed the table tennis rules or relevant organizationb banned certain gymnastics movements when China was winning medals after medals ? win?
When I was 14 my swim coached showed and analyzed the Lochte rule to the team. It made me approach the sport in a whole new waying knowing that there were still techniques to be discovered. Making me fall in love with the sport and opened my door to swim in college.
Shoutout Lochte and my Coach.
Also I got DQed for this in a 200 fr once which was swiftly overturned after opening the rule book for the official.
This comment is amazing. Thank you!
Just make sure the technique gives no advantage or they will ban it.
@@MagSidiousexactly what i thought lmao.
Freestyle should have no limits. Let swimmers be themselves and find their own fastest way to bounce between walls.
I agree, I think that´s why it´s called Freestyle. Finding your way through the water to the other side.
Personally I think a dolphin kick could be the fastest way
@@joris5429 Yes and it would be nice to see how different swimmers would implement different tactics in case if there would be no requirement for stroke consistency. For example maybe some swimmers will start doing more underwaters before turns or on finishes.
Anyway - it could definitely bring more excitement both for swimmers and spectators.
Freestyle isn't free and the fish kick is the fastest. I'm OK with Fina saying swimmers have to come to the surface. As a parent of swimmer. Yes, people could swim 50 meter underwater doing a fish kick, but I don't think it is a good idea for kids to be training to do that. It would be interesting to see it done though. There are people who have done it in back stroke and taken the DQ, and totally beat the pack. th-cam.com/video/Vox9KOxC1ZA/w-d-xo.html
@@joris5429agreed, these rules are stupid and now they must make even more rules and interpretations because of past rules.
@@olexy.skrypnikAnd it would be different strokes depending on the distance.
Freestyle should've been an innovative type of competition that favors the fastest swimming methods, no matter what they are. Forcing rules like only being able to swim one type of stroke is completely nonsensical - might as well change the name of the competition from "Freestyle" to "Front Crawl"
I agree with this. Free style should have no rules. If I want to do a 25 underwater followed by a flip turn into alternating fly breast stroke i should be able to do that
@@_R_R_R yes, that can potentially make swimming more fun both for swimmers and spectators.
@_R_R_R yes no rules. That means during free style swimming, I can kill my competitors to win, right? Or sabotage their swimming right?
@@vincentlee7359 There is a huge difference between being able to choose your swiming style freely, as the name "freestyle" implies quite heavily, and your reductio ad absurdum.
It is swimming in free style. The other rules of the cometition not concerning style are not touched by being able to choose your style freely.
When I was growing up in the 80s, I always got corrected when I called the Freestyle a type of stroke. The idea was that Freestyle could be anything.
Just let the swimmer do what ever they want in freestyle
Free style + Roods category: let’s how fast a human being can really swim
You guys act like it’s a rule and not just a name.
@@technoracko You can.
Exactly they are just using their body...........
No
I hate it when governing bodies rule out innovation in their sport. Why allow for the wearing of swimming googles? Why allow for the wearing of swim caps? Why start races on raised blocks? Why allow tumble turns to be used?
They only allowed breast stroke swimmers to put their heads under water in the '80s...
I agree!
Including the super suits?
@@ccbgaming6994Im personally very glad super suits are gone, it would suck for some random high schooler to have to race someone with rich parents who can actually afford one
@@_R_R_R This is exactly what I was thinking
Then dont call it freestyle
Shud be called ... Freestyle with censorship !!!
Just used to be called crawl
Official title was AUSTRALIAN CRAWL because it originated in Australia. @@seanhartel5362
My mother taught me that free is not really free. Never trust that person or organization if they said "free"
Chinese will take over this sport soon. They have been trying for decades. But they only reach their prime at the age of 23 and above age which is quite less energetic than younger swimmers. They finally produce pan zhan le who now break the world record at 19. They finally found the solution. Sooner chinese will dominate both diving and swim.
Creating or adjusting a rule to limit an athlete who has dedicated his life to a sport and discovered a technique or style that gives him an advantage is outrageous. It not only takes away the advantage he has developed through his knowledge of the sport and the science behind it, but also discourages young athletes from pushing boundaries to make the sport more competitive. This does not diminish the impressiveness of previous records or turn the swimming community into rebels seeking an easier way. The advantage of Lochte's flipper kicks was based purely on science and experience. Punishing him, and others like him, harms the sport.
I have always seen Lochte as a great athlete. His greatest blessing and curse was competing with Phelps throughout almost their entire swimming careers. Yes, he may not excel at giving interviews, and the necessity and point of his reality show are questionable, but still... He shouldn't be judged by these. He is a legend in the eyes of many swimmers and swimming enthusiasts.
Phelps was chosen as the golden boy by the mainstream media, who then needed to create a less favourite child to constantly compare him with. They are both legends of the sport. They were both pushed to the brink... Phelps contained his anxiety until his retirement, while Lochte tried to gain the popularity and attention he deserved through very unnecessary acts. Neither of them needed the extra stress imposed by popular or mainstream media. I always remember their era in the sport as the pinnacle of competitive swimming, but also as an unnecessarily painful and brutal one, thanks to the clowns of popular culture.
Kicking on your back is a part of backstroke which violates the 25% rule
WHY EVEN IS THERE A RULE IN FREESTYLE ?!?!? I don‘t fucking care if someone spins in a circle and is faster. It should not fucking matter !?!?! Why is there a rule ?!?
You have water, distance, athlete and time.THATS IT.
It's called free style, you could swim the way you want @@drakestallworth3621
Man Lochte defined an era. That 1:54.00 is an amazing amazing record. Rome 2009 and wc in 2011 were scary fast.
Freestyle, by original definition, is swimming anyway you want so that you can get to A - B, with the winning condition being to swim an accumulated distance fastest. It just so happened that what was originally called the “front crawl” was found to be the most efficient and fastest stroke to swim with to the point everyone did it and then the stroke was eventually kinda “renamed” “freestyle”. Point is, it shouldn’t actually matter how you swim because of the race’s original description
“That” was a really “good” “analysis”, have a “good” day
@@davidrahabi thanks… I think. Problem is it wasn’t an analysis. It was an explanation
1:35 yo wtf. that looked like an actual fish swimming underwater. that was crazy
indeed...
Aquaman must be stopped, he's gonna ruin the sport!
innovative should be rewarded imo. if its faster then props for the creativity and work
Oh, I get it. Free style swimming is like free speech....it's allowed as long as you're obeying the rules.
Deep
🗣️ 🔥
This is an amazing comment haha
Lol
They should have a category called freestyle and you can swim however you want...
I HATE when sports officials do shit like this. I am not a swimmer but as an athlete, I am always thinking of ways to leverage my strengths to distance my competitors. When the competition is so fierce, what else are you supposed to do?? It's not like no one else can do what Lochte did, it's still an even playing field.
So you can do it in a freestyle event but you can’t do it on an IM event? Am I understanding correctly?
I believe so, the only reason the rule is there is because in IM, you can only swim one type of stroke once. So if you did breastroke during the last 50m then you would get disqualified. If you did breastroke in the last 50m of a 200m freestyle race, you would NOT get disqualified.
@@NicolasMorus you must stick to the same stroke you choose during the entire freestyle event. I also heard you can swim IM in free, but I haven’t found that rule in writing
@@northsta I do not believe you have to. Once swam a mile with last 100 butterfly, and I was not disqualified
@@northsta I just double checked, and Fina only has 3 rules for freestyle. 1. The IM rule I stated above. 2. The swimmer must touch the wall after each lap. 3. The swimmer must not be completely submerged off the wall for more than 15m
@@NicolasMorus in freestyle after 15 m some part of the swimmer must be above the water, backstroke the same plus be on the back, in fly is enough to be on the surface and breaststroke swimmers can submerge 😇
The footage under water is amazing, they move so fast incredible
What a fascinating story! Reveals the mindset of competitions!
imagine if the Olympics banned the Fosbury flop for high jump. where would high jump be almost 60 years later?
I just saw a video of yours in Spanish on FB, came to TH-cam to check another swimming clip and ran into yours in English! Pretty cool storytelling.
Awesome! Thank you!
i read it as "They Changed The Rules To Make Him Shower" 😭
My daughter, May Li, did this back dolphin kick on her freestyle since 2013 in Canada racing and showed this technique at 2015-2016 USA season and NCAA D3 final.
My second favorite race was Lochte's 200IM - all time favorite will always be LEZAK! what a legend
I seem to remember that the Lotche rule came about because of his butterfly. Still no matter. The supposed reasoning behind it was that he had some mechanical advantage when using the dolphin kick on his back. I have never heard any reason that made any sense, as to how there was a mechanical advantage....
Difference is swimming on your back is always illegal in butterfly, not freestyle. I got DQed for doing the wrong turn on 200 IM accidentally after 25yd once and flipping over underwater.
Well, that brings up another thing, it makes no sense to me that flip turns are not allowed in the fly or breast stroke..... The Lotche rule, which made it illegal to do the dolphin kicks on your back, came about from him doing that. It was not a rule before.
I love your animation for the judge with the twitchy psycho eye. 🤣🤣
Wait so you CAN do it in freestyle events?
Yes.
Of course... until... you know... um... yeah
No
Yes. However the issue is the freestyle turn in the 400IM
No. Once you pick a stroke in free, you have to follow through with it. And strokes include underwaters
well done, good analysis
Amazing analysis as always.
From freestyle became recommended style.
WOW, LOCHTE HAS GREAT UNDERWATER BACKKICKS
AND NICE EXPLANATION.
🔝
It was not Lochte. Years before a Japanese backstroke swimmer won gold in the 1988 Olympics. Daichi Suzuki. He swam underwater most of the way. Swimming underwater for long periods was banned after that. Ever realised that submarines are faster submerged than travelling on the surface? This is because of interaction with waves.
thanks for getting so granular. I noticed some races are won at the turn and underwater.
I'm new in swimming world! Thank your for your videos I'm learning a lot ❤
This is a very interesting breakdown
One of the greatest athletes ever, inspiration to many :) Loved watching his battles with the Hungarian Cseh Laszlo :). It's little known, but Phelps genetically has longer hands proportional to his body than "normal". It's also a big advantage when swimming.
In medley I can see why it's not allowed, you can't use the other 3 strokes in the freestyle leg. So being on the back is considered backstroke.
In freestyle events however, should be perfectly fine. Whichever gets you through the water fastest.
Bruh thanks for sharing this!
I gotta say commentator, you sir, have a very soothing voice.
Thank you
And why wasn’t Lochte informed before hand that they would not allow this technique? It seems as if the rule was made up swiftly AFTER he got the WR! 🤔
A new event should be added to swimming competition. The new race is any means of propelling yourself through the water with your body unassisted by anything other than currently approve cap goggles and suit. Start out of the water on the existing approved start blocks or in the water off the wall any way you like. Stay above or below the water as long as you like. You must touch the walls at the turns.
This would encourage innovation. It's likely underwater dolphin kick and lung capacity would prevail but you can't rule out something new. I'm curious what someone might come up with at the turns.
Congratulations on inventing freestyle. This rule only applies to IM
Freestyle is free style imo
IM is different. The purpose of the IM event is to do all four strokes. The freestyle stroke is technically the front crawl stroke in the context of the IM. You can't do fly, back, breast and breast, for example. Have to swim the front crawl.
There should be no limit on freestyle. It should be a demonstration of individual abilities and techniques. Even if the swimmer will go all underwater - it shouldn't matter. As long as they touch the wall and dont interfere with the pool.
hot take
not true, ive been able to do 2 legs of one stroke before because i also did it in my freestyle in competitions
@playboisharty2840 Your anecdotal experience doesn't count for true or false, because your memory could be faulty or the referees could have been terrible. What determines true or false is the rule book. According to World Acquatics (formerly FINA) rule SW 5.1, you have to swim the front crawl in a medley event.
SW 5.1 Freestyle means that in an event so designated the swimmer may swim any style, except that in individual medley or medley relay events, freestyle means any style other than backstroke, breaststroke or butterfly.
I was a freestyle swimmer with a special technique. I never bent my arms, I was swimming crawl with quite straight arms (for my body it was a faster movement) and my trainers said, after they saw that there was no other way to convince me, that if I don’t bend my arms, they will ban me from the club so yep :/
Power sucks
Man, it almost was just beat ten minutes ago. Incredible!
Like really. That's the very way sports techniques evolve, leading to even better performance in the future: letting the athletes pick their own technique. Take for example the 'flop' in high jump, which was superior to any other technique at the time. Now it's become the standard.
Here's a fun fact about Lochte. During the Rio Olympics he got drunk during a night out and lost his belongings. Next day he filed a bogus claim at the police station claiming he got robbed by armed men. This incident put the entire Rio games' reputation at risk. He did it to his own personal gain, to avoid punishment from his delegation for the party night out. A couple days later video evidence surfaced proving his story was completely made up.
Remember that it was so crazy.
Whales and dolphins all do dolphin kicks while face up. The reason is that it is easier to break with nostrials on top. The other benefit is that it is easier to float up so face-up so you use that spared strength to move forward. The secret is that you have to use full strength to dolphin
great video
I timed myself today for both and found out I’m also faster at dolphin kicking in my back. Should I start racing freestyle that way?
Well make sure the officials know the rules (not all officials in every country are up to date although they should be). It's difficult doing it on swim meets! But I say try it out if you are up for the challenge.
@@SkillsNT USMS Nationals in a few weeks. First I’ll time myself in 50s.
Judges that make rules on free style it’s on the name 😂.
So how do we go about getting this restriction removed? Make our own swimming competition where innovation is allowed?
The analysis here is just wrong. I can find documents going back to at least 1998 that Free style is pretty much do what you like EXCEPT in the IM where you are not allowed to swim Back, Breast or Fly during the Freestyle leg. What Ryan Lochte did was legal Freestyle (and still is) but not allowed in IM as swimming backstroke is not allowed. Whenever a swimming rule gets enforced that no one has thought about it is suddenly called a newly changed rule. Kaylee McKeown got DQed in World Champs last year for a similar infringement, not swimming on the back at the end of the backstroke leg of the IM. In a lot of coverage (especially Australian) they referred to recent rule changes but that is simply incorrect.
I've tried to find rule changes around 2015 and there is no "Lochte" rule change. There might have been clarification of the rule but not a change. Swimming backstroke during the freestyle leg of the IM has been illegal years before Lochte got DQed. He wasn't DQed for swimming faster, he was DQed for swimming illegally.
In the latest rule change World Aquatics has actually made it easier to turn in the Freestyle leg of the IM rather than harder. Before the last change it was illegal to be on the back when leaving the wall, now it is permitted to leave the wall on the back as long as you return to the breast before the first kick or arm pull.
I didn't get what you were trying to say. You said a lot of what I said in the video.
@@SkillsNT I would first like to say I love your content. You do amazing work and you are helping my kids.
I am not a swimmer but I have been a judge for 3 years. So I only know the rules intellectually and do not have a swimmer's perspective like you do. My children's coach would always tell me this 😁
What I was trying to say is that the rules did not change because of how Ryan Lochte swam. Swimming on the back during the freestyle leg of the IM has been illegal since before 1998. It's just that he was the first to test where the limit of the rule was in this way. How he swam is legal in a freestyle race, just not during the freestyle leg of the IM. Fina did not ban the technique directly, they just clarified that what he was doing was against the IM rules.
If they were trying to stop him from swimming fast they would have introduced a rule change to ban what he did in freestyle. There have been no rule changes introduced because of how he swam to ban what he did, it was already illegal. Fina just put out a statement to clarify that it was illegal.
I see it like this, there is a rule that a swimmer cannot push off the bottom of the pool. If a swimmer found they could be faster by pushing off the side of the pool and did this in a major gala then World Aquatics could, clarify that it is legal as no rule mentions pushing off the side, clarify that it is illegal because of the pushing off the bottom rule includes the side, or they could change the rules to include pushing off the side. Only in the last case would they be changing the rules.
This is why I say the analysis is wrong. They did not change the rule because he was swimming faster. They made it clear that what he was doing was illegal according to the existing rule whether it was faster or not.
@@SkillsNT my coach agreed with you! I think it comes down to perspective. As a judge I saw it as clarifying the existing rule. I can see how swimmers and coaches could see it as changing the rules to penalise Ryan's amazing skill. There is also the conspiracy that it was done to favour Michael.
Thanks again!
I heard it is because of the fortex is affected differently by gravity upside down and the down kick is usually generating more propulsion than the upkick, wich makes being upside down dolfin kicking make better use of the fortex
The outlawing of the "super suite" reminds me of shooting competitions because they use a heavy leather jacket to reduce their body movement, so the gun doesn't shake as much when aiming. I didn't metal all that much in competition when I was a teen in Arkansas because of this. I came from a poorer area, and we didn't have them so I rarely could beat the kids that did have them. When I did get a metal, I always had a "take that" mentality to the kids that had them.
I have been swimming for over five decades now. Except for this one rule change, every other rule change allowed, that I can think of, has made swimming faster:
1. Track start was illegal when I competed. In fact, you had to be completely erect on the block until started said, "Take your mark." If not, they'd MAKE you stand fully upright.
2. Backstroke turn changed to freestyle turn in 1990
3. One butterfly kick allowed in breaststroke pullout in 2005
4. Use of backstroke ledges for starts (God, in my day, you weren't even allowed to have your toes break the surface on the start)
5. Tech suits
Etc., etc.
Why? World records sell ad time. So, world records = money.
The suits were banned after the guy from Germany broke the 400m Freestyle WR using the more buoyant suits. Phelps worked his tail off to break that WR and threatened to retire from swimming if they don’t ban the synthetic suits, which FINA eventually did.
This reminds me of the lawsuit of the guy who swallowed a chicken bone and sued. But the Judge said it can't go to trial because "Boneless" chicken wings could contain bones... like Freestyle is not free to swim underwater the entire time
0:07 Locthe had the purple face too back then
I used to think in freestyle you could do butterfly if you feel you are faster in that stroke instead of front crawl.
He is closest human I've ever seen to a fish it's brilliant watching him flip with his legs that quickly
I watched him swim a workout in a North Carolina pool - he was just doing some easy stuff (easy for him) in a warmup/warmdown pool. His underwater motion was fluid, even languid. - below the swimmers swimming on the surface. It was like watching a killer whale, completely mesmerizing.
I see 2 options for FINA:
- 1: Lift all rules for freestyle (regarding the swimming technique. You still have to be in the water, in your lane, not use tools etc.). Just see who is fastest
- 2: Rename freestyle to front crawl. Simply because it doesn't make sense to call it free style and then prescribe how to swim. Calling it *front* crawl could also justify rules to swim face down instead of swimming/diving on the back
There was a wrestler (Karelin), who was unbeaten for multiple years in the Olympics. They changed the rules to make him lose. The year after he retired they changed the rule back to normal.
He lost the match due to a point deduction (due to rule change). His opponent didn't even score a single point. He just won cuz they deducted a point from Karelin.
The word "free" in free swiming is rly poorly aplied. just call it Front crawl or just Crawl swimming and ditch the "freestyle"
As long as you do the correct stroke once you reach the surface, I don't think whether you do the dolphin kick on your stomach or back should matter.
I agree
I bet Leon Marchand will break the WR in the world championship next year
A sideways underwater is the fastest, but the main thing is what you feel is the best
In my swimming years, Breastrokers were disqualified for their heads going below the surface. THAT was a huge "judge by judge" opinion-call at best. ONCE breastrokers could DIVE their heads, to REALLY THRUST their arms and shoulders forward during their kick, times began dropping dramatically. THAT is an example of a sport-wide change for the improvement of the overall competition. The "Lochte Rule" should be trashed UNLESS Breastrokers can NO LONGER break the plane of the water with their heads. CONSISTENCY AND LOGIC ought to rule the calls and innovations of a sport.
Information in this video is not technically correct, leading to misinformed comments being made. The rule change about the underwater fly kick on a swimmer's back on the freestyle leg of an IM was not to slow Lochte down, it was to close the loophole he found in the rules. In an IM, the freestyle leg can be any stroke, other than one already used in the race, and it was deemed that doing up to 15m of a freestyle length using a component of the backstroke length wasn't legal. You can do whatever you like underwater in a pure freestyle event, even swim full backstroke if you wish, but in an IM the rules are different to ensure that each length is a different stroke.
Interesting but why would dolphin kick on stomach be considered more different from butterfly than the dolphin kick on back from backstroke. The rule still doesn't make sense to me.
Hi I've read a few of the comments and this is what I was taught 30years ago.
I the IM you swim CRAWL on the final leg NOT freestyle.
You have 4 different strokes and the rule you talk about relates to crawl and has been that way "always". Crawl is is swam on the front just as backstroke is swam on the back.
The stroke most people swim in freestyle is crawl (because it is the fastest) but freestyle is an event and not a stroke.
Hope this helps clear it up.
Kind regards
Daniel
good observation
butterfly has been added (or the motion) to all the strokes.
You would think Freestyle of all of them would be the one you could change at will.
Butterfly kick and motion is faster in a pool with lane lines...not in open water.
We really can't do butterfly in open water. The waves would make you choke plus barely gliding the hands over the water will get caught by waves.
We are not dolphins. Underwater. Fine off the wall. Again in open water there is no walls. So it is becoming more specialized just for the pool.
Breaststroke is to keep your head up for air and sight. Now it has become butterfly without pulling arms out of water.
Watch open water or water polo. They do the traditonal strokes.
Except just holding a spot they do a greatly exagerated freestly kick.
He should break the world record using "illegal" technique (unofficially, but on tape for future FINA), and just wait until it's become recognized :) Thanks to this he may become recordman at his 80s again, or something like that :D
Dang. I swam fro 68 to 72. The rules were so different then. Rules like that would have gotten me All State.
what a dumb rule. they always hated Lochte
So do i
@@drakestallworth3621 good thing your opinion doesn’t matter lmao
Of course, I INVENTED "UnderBack WaterStroke" at the Sheboygen Olymics in 1977!
Archand swam 1.54.06 at Paros Olympics. Beating the W.R is just a matter of time
The 2011 final of the 200 IM did not produce the 2 fastest times ever recorded. Phelps’ time of 1:54.16 was slower than the previous world record of 1:54.10
True, the two fastest swimmers of the event *
Easily the stupidest rules ever implemented in swimming, especially considering how timely it was with Lochte’s peak or what should’ve been his peak. Not like there’s suit era records from 09 still considered legit, but god forbid you turn underwater on a turn..
We should use the new method to see what gets the fastest swimming!
Now I dont understand why swimmers dont do this in freestyle. After the flip turn, you're naturally on your back so why not dolphin kick from there?
Usually 1-2 kicks are on your back then you transfer to side as your kick tempo increases
Non esisteranno più atleti come lochte e phelps! Vincere così tante gare
Lochte os one of thr GOAT. If you can change rule because of your skills. You're a goat. 😅
Freestyle should be permissive and encourage swimmers to experiment and find faster strokes that all swimmers can learn from.
It reminds me of when they banned backflip in feminine figure skating because only surya bonaly seemed to be able to do it.
(Male competitors were allowed to do it if I remember correctly)
It's the trend even in amateur sports. Younger generations are slower. Strength comes with age. The slowed me down in running and cycling. Not sure why sports even exist.
Freestlye should mean any style of swimming that you believe will make you win.
Ha, there a Ancient 2nd century BC papyrus on the Greeks sending Olympic officials to Egypt to consult on rule changes for foreign Athletes, could try something similar.
Frozone: WHERE IS MAH SUPERSUIT?!?
Freestyle is freestyle. When the high jumper brought in the new style the flop it wasn’t disqualified.
I liked videos when I learned something I didn’t know before.
Did he do that on his world record 200 im
In other words, if the judge didn't like Phelps, then they would make rule that says you can only kick stomach upwards underwater... Corruption to the highest level of authority.
I would be so confused if the person next to me if they were swimming on their back-
200m underwater OG final !
spectators , as kids looking in a aquarium !
👍
I don't understand something. Doesn't Free Style mean that you can swim however you like for that leg of the race? Why would it matter if your free style was under water face up?
If he found a better way, let him do it. What if they banned the Fosbury Flop in high-jump just because it was better than the old way?
Stifling innovation. Freestyle should be free...FREE THE FREESTYLE!
I misread the title as “They changed the rules to make him SHOWER” 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
😂
We should be allowing sports to evolve as elite athletes discover new methods, not banning the latest Fosbury Flop.
? Okay. I'm confused.
I swim , and I have been doing underwater dolphin kicks face up, since forever.
I think everyone always knew that they are faster on their backs !
The underwater after a turn is very, very important in swimming competitively.
ALL of my coaches, always, made us practice turns and underwater.
cool lol
when i learned to swimm my teacher turned angry so many times !
i discovered "i was a dolphin", i refused to swin on the surface :)
i was sraying , hiding under her boat 😁
swimming under water is so cool :)
Why no western TH-cam channel complained when the table tennis federation changed the table tennis rules or relevant organizationb banned certain gymnastics movements when China was winning medals after medals ? win?
As long as everyone else is allowed to do it what is the difference. Ryan should not be in trouble for it.
People aren't all equal so if someone can run backwards faster than anyone else then so be it.