What is Greatness?
By: Ben Achterhof
How do you become great at swimming? Is it strength, speed, or just a love for the sport? For some who have done the sport for more than six years, it is all three, with a little bit of dedication thrown in. Brett Vandenberg, who has been swimming for 11 years, has an overwhelming dedication and love for the sport, as do many of the other swimmers. But when it came to this season, he and the rest of the team had a good meet against Spring Lake, but in the end, they came up just short.
When it came down to the end, we lost by 1 point. There were head-to-head races all night. Brett might not have gotten 1st, but he had a good night swimming, which was a personal best. “They weren’t necessarily the best team we’ve faced, but they were the hardest to compete against,” Says Reece Nykamp. “It was such a close meet, and losing by just one point made it even tougher.”
Reece and Brett said that the 200 IM is the hardest event. The 200 IM is when you do all 4 strokes in one event. The strokes are the butterfly, breast, free, and back strokes. Most say that it is the hardest because it involves all four of the strokes. It is also a long swim that involves lots of energy. It started being a main part of the sport in 1956 for men. For women, it started in 1957.
Before the butterfly was officially recognized as a separate discipline in 1952, the individual medley consisted of only 3 strokes. One of the most iconic 200 IM events was at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai. The highly anticipated showdown where Ryan Lochte set a new world record. He swam a 1.54.00, which was .16 of a second faster than Michael Phelps. When he swam the previous record, he was wearing one of the full-body polyurethane swimsuits. They were often called “super suits”. They called them this because they were made out of neoprene materials, which enhanced the swimmer. After all, they were extra buoyant, and this reduced drag.
That is why some ask what it takes to be great. Is it love for the sport or is it a special swimming suit that is extra buoyant?.