Murray Rose --TI Pioneer?

[CoachBillL]

I was intrigued to read the following in the Times obit for the great Australian swimmer Murray Rose: "Rose's special signature was... a split-second pause that occurs as he leans on his extended right arm and breathes on his left side, a pause during which he is absolutely relaxed." This may be a poor attempt to describe "front-quadrant" swimming -- if you wait patiently through the talking heads in this Aussie news video (http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3478720.htm) there are some brief underwater shots of Rose's stroke -- he does stay extended for an extra moment at the end of the stroke, but on both sides, i think, not just one. Plus he had a two-beat kick!

[drmike]

Originally Posted by CoachBillL

I was intrigued to read the following in the Times obit for the great Australian swimmer Murray Rose: "Rose's special signature was... a split-second pause that occurs as he leans on his extended right arm and breathes on his left side, a pause during which he is absolutely relaxed." This may be a poor attempt to describe "front-quadrant" swimming -- if you wait patiently through the talking heads in this Aussie news video (http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3478720.htm) there are some brief underwater shots of Rose's stroke -- he does stay extended for an extra moment at the end of the stroke, but on both sides, i think, not just one. Plus he had a two-beat kick!

I read that article and had a similar thought. We met M. Rose when he came to one our swimming workouts in high school, not long after he’d quit competing. My most clear memory is of him suggesting that we would perform best if we limited our consumption of red meat and ate more seafood, vegetables and fruits. It was encouraging to hear b/c I’d already made the change when polite society still shunned a vegan or vegetarian diet, but I did not know then that he attributed much of his Olympian success to a vegetarian diet. Apparently there was more to it than diet (he he).

Mike M.

[terry]

Murray was thought a bit of an oddball by others in the swim community at the time because of his unconventional diet. However he was considered a classical stylist.

[Richardsk]

Here's a tribute to him on youtube with some swimming footage. Nice kick and interesting arm recovery, with left arm almost straight and right arm recovering rather low. Nice wide tracks. Good looking lad with a classic swimmer's build.

Swam masters in the USA it seems and sounds like an all round good chap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQdnIdX3hOU.