Swimming Excellence OR An Excellent Swim?

[cwarner]

As a swimmer and coach for 50 years this question has run through my mind frequently. I'm getting ready to publish my second book in an attempt to further explore the question.

In 1988 Matt Biondi won seven Olympic medals in swimming. Up until Michael Phelps did it only Matt and Mark Spitz achieved the feat (hmm...does your first name have to start with an M to do this?!?)

After the '88 Seoul Olympics, Matt went on a speaking tour and presented his "Process For Excellence." His four main characteristics were 1) Dreaming/Visualizing, 2) Skill Development/Reducing Bubbles 3) Commitment and 4) Consistency. Even though Matt was still in his early twenties he recognized that the process he stumbled upon was something he could duplicate in other parts of his life.

So I pose the question: How do you achieve consistent "Swimming Excellence" vs. a "Single Excellent Swim?" Is Matt's process common to all?

[cwarner]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrRWK7WkXsE

The link above is to Matt Biondi's swim in 1988 winning the 100 meter freestyle. Matt really worked as a thin teenager at maximizing his leverage points and reducing resistance.

[cwarner]

One of the characteristics of Matt's skill development was swimming very, very, very slowly in warm-up before races. He actually became famous for being the slowest person in the pool during most of warm-up. His purpose with the common method of skill improvment, "slow it down, break into parts, correct and then speed up again."

[Richardsk]

http://www.sports-reference.com/olym...-biondi-1.html

This link is to a good summary of Biondi's career. There are also some nice videos on youtube of Biondi and Tom Jager. The video quality is not as good as it is nowadays but pretty good all the same. I seem to remember Terry saying that until Popov Biondi was the most efficient sprinter. He certainly had a nice-looking stroke to judge from these videos.

The Biondi drill for butterfly still lives on.

[cwarner]

The use of leverage by both Biondi and Popov is striking. That ability didn't come easily since Matt had to wallow through a period of being so skinny and weak he had no success at all and Popov accomplished his first success as a backstroker.

What is the Biondi Drill for Fly?