Re: Oldest Swimming World Champion in History

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 02:30:18 -0500, runnswim@xxxxxxx (Larry Weisenthal) <runnswim@xxxxxxx> wrote:

Cribbed from some website I don't remember...



<snipped>

Germany's Mark Warnecke, who competed in his first Olympics in 1988 and
set the world record in the 50 breast 10 years ago, won the 50 breast
final and became the oldest swimming world champion in history, at 35.
Warnecke, a medical doctor who said he trains just two hours a day,
touched the wall in 27.63 seconds, topping American Mark Gangloff, who
claimed his first major international medal (27.71).

"I like swimming, I like the sport," Warnecke said. "For me, it's just
enough to swim here [at the world championships]. If you can swim here
and not the masters' championships, why not here?"

Warnecke said he adds targeted weight training to the approximately
4,000 meters he swims daily.

"If you do it all together, you can swim fast in the 50," he said. "The
100 is more complex. . . . There you feel the age."

<snipped>

Quite inspiring.. or would have been back when I was 35. If only 50's (other than freestyle) were an option after I graduated from college I could have seen training for one - fly, in my case. Coulda, woulda, shoulda... :-) Thanks for posting this.

- Al

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