Cullen Jones video

[Lawrence]

I just happened upon this, which seems to be the video from which Shinji took an excerpt when putting together the comparison of his stroke with that of Phelps and Jones which is posted on his youtube site.

There's a little bit more of Jones's freestyle in the following clip than in Shinji's compilation, with the bonus of Jones demonstrating the other strokes.

His freestyle really is a thing of beauty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pilM...eature=related

[mformatt]

great video, thanks lawrence, really wish i could swim like that :)

[Richardsk]

Geography is obviously not the interviewer's strong point. Duke Kahanamoku was from Hawaii and not an African American. In addition to being a great swimmer, he is credited with introducing surfing to Australia.

Here's some footage of Duke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk_5GLAEqIQ

[Richardsk]

And here's a brief history

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdpK0...eature=related

I'm sure there's plenty more to be found.

[Richardsk]

But to get back to Cullen Jones, his freestyle is very silky. His butterfly looks unusual to me but I'm sure it's very effective, and his backstroke and breaststroke both look good. I wonder if he ever does an IM?

[Rhoda]

A 25 meter pool is way too short for him. A breast stroke length in just three strokes??!!!
His fly is very dolphin-like, apart from lifting his head on the breathing strokes.
I could watch swimmers like this all day. He must do I.M..

[Richardsk]

I don't recall ever seeing any report of Cullen Jones swimming an IM, although it is quite possible that he has.

A lot of these elite swimmers can do almost any stroke to a very high level but it seems mostly choose not to. Aaron Peirsol is a pretty good butterflier, for instance, and I seem to remember that he swam a fast 400m a couple of years ago - just for fun no doubt.

Three strokes for 25m breast is hard to comprehend. I must go back and watch it again. It started with quite a long plunge, I think, desperately looking for a way to justify my ten strokes per length. ;-)

[Grant]

Originally Posted by Richardsk

But to get back to Cullen Jones, his freestyle is very silky. His butterfly looks unusual to me but I'm sure it's very effective, and his backstroke and breaststroke both look good. I wonder if he ever does an IM?

He has the standard 2 kick per stroke pattern (kick in, kick out) and the pattern of the bigger kick ( can see his feet above the water) on the pull potion (kick out). It is his over water recovery that looks different to me. In that he does not do a wide sweeping straight arm recovery (just above the water) which for me allows me to keep my head closer to the water and in line better. When I recover like he does it results in a much bigger sine wave and loss of smoothness.
As Rhoda says "I could watch that class of swimmer all day." Actually it makes me want to go to the pool.
May we swim with at the speeds we choose.

[Richardsk]

For comparison purposes perhaps, or just for the pleasure of seeing some smooth drilling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR4IgctibNg

[Grant]

Thanks Richard
Right at the very end it shows his normal butterfly stroke and I note that his recovery is low, just above the water. Also that his palms are facing down as Terry advises. Some others advise bringing the arms forward with the thumbs pointing downwards.
These videos are really prodding me to get a video of my own swimming as I have no idea how far I have to go before being close to being that smooth in the water. It feels smooth but from what alot of others have said it is often shocking to see oneself on the video.