Imagine being so good that the
organizers of the sport change the rules to make you slower. That is
what happened to Ryan Lochte in 2015. When Michael Phelps started breaking
the world record of the 200 IM in 2003, we didn't think anyone would beat
him in this race. In 2004 Michael looked still very dominant. Then in 2006 Ryan
Lochte got very close, but Phelps kept getting faster and kept breaking the world record. It
wasn't until 2009, the year of the supersuits that Lochte finally broke Michael Phelps'
world record and became world champion. Then the suits were banned. We thought "that's
it. This record will take decades to be broken again. The combination of Phelps and Lochte
competing had produced extraordinary results. But without the supersuits breaking
this world record seemed far-fetched. Then, 2 years later this epic rivalry
would produce the 2 fastest 200 im times ever recorded. Lochte touched the
wall .16 seconds faster than Phelps, breaking the world record and leaving him in
the top spot for 13 years and counting. No one has swam faster than these two that day,
not even the new sensation Leon Marchand. Lochte and Phelps continued to produce
great spectacles in the pool. But in 2012 Lochte would lose against Phelps
on the biggest stage, the Olympics, one more time. One day he was tinkering
in the water, as many great swimmers do, and discovered that he was faster underwater
doing dolphin kicks face up than face down. This gave him the idea of kicking underwater
on his back before doing freestyle. This doesn't seem like a big deal. Isn't it the
same movement? Why would it be faster? Well, I suspect that it has to do with balance.
Underwater, the chest full of air wants to pop up leaving the legs deep. While doing
kicks, many people have a stronger front kick than a back kick, this makes them maintain a
more horizontal balance that keeps the legs in line with the chest. When on the back, swimmers
often pop up too steep because the front kick causes them to push their legs deeper. Lochte had
a very strong backkick, probably the strongest in the world. As a result, he was more balanced
and faster on his back than on his stomach. The times he tried this new technique in
2015 were impressive to watch. Not only because he was doing something different,
but because he was faster than everyone. FINA didn't like this. It looked too much
like backstroke when everybody was swimming freestyle in the last leg of the IM. So
they said that was illegal. The swimmer must be on his stomach on the freestyle
leg. Despite it being called freestyle, it's not what it sounds. At least not in the IM.
Because of lochte, many people got disqualified, even if they were not doing backstroke kicks. See
almost everyone spends some time on their back when doing a flipturn. This new interpretation of
the rules left the officials making unnecessary calls. all because Lochte changed things
up. After they realized it was ridiculous, they changed the rule to allow people to swim
on their backs before doing a kick or a stroke. They just changed the rules to prohibit one
swimmer to swim faster. And even though Lochte hasn't been seen in international competitions
for a some of years now, everyone, especially in the 400 im, are doing careful and awkward
turns in freestyle. The rule is so confusing and unnecessary that in 2022 after watching a replay
the officials decided to disqualify Leon Marchand. Then after rewatching the
replay they dedesqualifiied him? Even though you can do this lochte
turn legally in freestyle events, no one is powerful enough on their back kick
to swim as fast as lochte. Lochte still holds the world record that he broke without a super
suit or his lochte turn. Now we are left with a rule that was created against one specific
swimmer and just makes the life of officials and swimmers a bit harder. Lochte
hasn't announced his retirement yet, so maybe they are still afraid of him coming back
and doing a couple of dolphin kicks on his back. The last time Lochte and Phelps swam this race
together, the amazing japanese swimmer, Kosuke Hagino, got 2nd place behind Phelps with a time
of 1:56.61. This season the 7th fastest swimmer is faster than Hagino's silver medal winning
time. That means this year is going to be fast! But do you think someone will
break Ryan Lochte's world record? If you want to learn to swim any stroke
faster, I recommend watching this video next! See you there! swim fast!