Simon Burnett - Applause!

[crawler]

What a week he has had!

Old British records were:
50 Free - Mark Foster 22.13 set 2001
100 Free - Matt Kidd 49.65 set 2004
200 Free - Simon Burnett 1.47.72 set 2004

This week Simon has reduced them to 22.12, 48.76, and 1.46.59 respectively which is a great advance.

It's the extent to which he has lowered the 100 and 200 times that is so encouraging, and to see 3 men under 50 sec in the 100 FS semis is pleasing.

I guess he is pretty much allowed to do his own thing - and let's face it the US have the set-up. He trains with Schoemann per BBC so not a bad partner!

Let the applause ring out!

[londoner62]

:king: :king: :king: Massive applause. Particularly I think for the 100 time. To take almost 9/10ths is huge. :king: :king: :king:

[Gina]

OMG! It was amazing. He was on top form in the 200 free final. After the 50 free heats, I thought mmm... he could win this. After the semis it was more like can he break Fosters record and he did! I agreed with Sharon when she said 'can wait for the 100,' and he didn't disapoint. It took him about half an hour to walk down poolside after each swim. :love: :love: :love:

[Steve]

I guess he is pretty much allowed to do his own thing - and let's face it the US have the set-up. He trains with Schoemann per BBC so not a bad partner!

Apparently Schoemann had been back in South Africa in the lead up to Montreal, but certainly him, Ryk Neethling and one of the other two guys in their WR setting relay (I think it's Darrian Townsend) all train at Arizona State, so there are some pretty good sprinters there for Simon to work with.

The 100m free for the commie games could now get very interesting if Burnett can recapture that kind of form; Thorpe has a best in the mid 48's then there's Schoemann of course at low 48's and the Canadian Brent Hayden swam a useful 48.92 in Montreal. If they all bring it, it'll be a corker.

As for the 200, well if Thorpe's fit then no chance for anyone else, but at 1:46.59, Hackett may have to start looking over his shoulder. In the 50 it's hard to go past Schoemann at this stage for obvious reasons!

[patlamb]

Schoeman is good but he is not unstoppable as he was beaten yesterday at US Nationals by Benjamin Wildman-Tobriner (can swim 50 faster than you can say his name).

Both times were slower than Burnett.

[SearchforSpeed]

SB trains with Lyndon Ferns (one of the SA awesome foursome) at Arizona. As commented above, the programme has been hugely successful in developing sprint freestyle talent. It's fantastic to have such a talent developing for Brit Swimming. Unlike some of the US based college athletes (who do a lot of their swimming in 25yd pools), the good news is the SB is great at LC swimming. Looking forward to seeing what SB goes in the 100 final tonight. Low 48?

[Steve]

SB trains with Lyndon Ferns (one of the SA awesome foursome) at Arizona. As commented above, the programme has been hugely successful in developing sprint freestyle talent. It's fantastic to have such a talent developing for Brit Swimming. Unlike some of the US based college athletes (who do a lot of their swimming in 25yd pools), the good news is the SB is great at LC swimming. Looking forward to seeing what SB goes in the 100 final tonight. Low 48?
Oh well I had a 50/50 chance of being right!

[londonboy59]

Hello everyone from my lofty perch at Ponds Forge - my second home for many years..

Mr Burnett has been superb this week and what's more he's already one of my favourite interviewees..sharp, lively, funny and doesn't mind me having a dig about his mid-Atlantic accent either.

Looking forward to talking to him after the 100 final tonight - he told me the other night that sub 48 was unrealistic right now - but is it?

It's a long final session but one with plenty of interest.

By the way - clear the air talks were held with Bill on Saturday and although the hatchet was buried it wasn't in anyone's head, fortunately.

I have been staggered by the response to the interview in Montreal - thanks all, but lets put that unfortunate incident behind us now.

Bob B

[Baker]

Does anyone have any info on the sort of sets and training they are doing in Arizona?

[Tara]

48.68 in the final. great job!

[Bazza]

Fantastic swimming from Simon this week - am I right in saying Bill dismissed the US system as not being any good, or at the very least not beneficial to our swimmers? I can't remember the exact words but I remember him saying something along those lines - funny that the first world class sprint freestyler we have had for a long time is based there. We might even have a relay team if guys like Davenport, Carry, Cozens can just kick on a little bit.

As for Commonwealths, I don't think the 50 is out of reach - Schoeman is the only Commonwealth swimmer who has ever been 21-point and I think Simon is capable of that.

[Gina]

I found this post from a few years back. http://www.swimclub.co.uk/forum/showpost.php?p=6899&postcount=8

I've been thinking about going to America for a few years, but have chickened out. However, seeing swimmers such as Simon Burnett, Jo Fargus and Laura Graham swimming well at trials this year, I am thinking again about whether I should.

[Woodward]

Here's a vid of Simon breaking Matt Biondi's long-standing yards rec in the 200 this last collegiate season from the Univ of Arizona site. The footage was taken by one of his teamates but it's surprisingly high quality and it is easy to stream from the unversity's server. I think you'd all enjoy this.

http://www.arizonaathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=8321&SPID=525&DB_OEM_ID=1600&ATCLID=43214&Q_SEASON=2004

Link to stream vid just below pic. You cannot download it.

[GettingFaster]

Cracking video, particularly liked the camera-man's inability to stay quiet at the end! Astounding to watch swimmers like that doing SC pools - 11 or 12 strokes to a length and looking like he just wasn't trying at all - awesome.

[Bazza]

GF bear in mind that is 25 yards!

Thanks for the link though, was good to see that.

[GettingFaster]

My answer to that has to be "Yes, but..." He still looks so relaxed as if he's not even trying, and 25 yards is not 5 strokes shorter than 25 metres - he looks like he's swimming in a paddling pool he gets from one end to the other so fast. Going back to Lane4's comment from a couple of years ago, when Mr4 gets back from Sheffield it'd be interesting to see what he has to say now.

And although Mr Burnett has turned out so well, are there other swimmers that have gone over there and not got to the same heights? There have been a lot of comments regarding swimmers that go over to school in Australia never to be heard of again. Just because Simon has done such a terrific job who's to say it's any better than the Australian track many are taking? By saying this I'm looking for comments from those more knowledgeable than me. I don't know enough about it to be expressing a view, just posing a question and am looking forward to your views.

[NotVeryFast]

Speaking as someone with a maths degree, what I will say is that you have to be very careful in trying to determine what benefit there is in going to Australia or the US, say, to train. It would require a highly skilled statistical analysis to answer this question, taking care to correct for any other correlated factors. It certainly isn't possible to just look at people's results and make a vague mental judgement on the issue, you'd be very likely indeed to come to an incorrect conclusion.

[Baker]

I also think you have to take into account that every country is going to have its great swimming clubs and its not so great ones. By the looks of things though this facility in Arizona looks like it is very successful developing sprinters - and possibly other types of swimmers aswell (Ryk Neethling I believe was quite a decent 1500m swimmer before he changed events)

[Woodward]

It's not just freestylers, Amanda Beard also attended the U of Arizona. It seemed to give her career a second wind. She had been dating Ryk for awhile, don't know if that's still the case or not ... as I don't keep up on that stuff. ;)

There have been great outcomes and mediocre outcomes for the few UK swimmers that have entered NCAA programmes. Stephen Parry had a very successful four year stint at Florida State whereas Margie Pedder didn't really improve measurably. The only others I can think of are Matt Kidd at Auburn, Georgina Lee at SMU and Joanna Fargus at USC.

I think the main question is just being away from home, family, and being in an unfamiliar environment at a relatively young age. That's the biggest issue and might possibly detract from the focus on swimming if your head is not in the right place. Some US collegiate athletes have difficulty just being in a different part of the country.

Having said that, the facilities are great, the coaches are by and large first class, and perhaps most importantly the training company and competition is excellent. This is why most swimmers from smaller countries that don't have a national programme choose to come to the US, they get all of this plus a free education. Kirsty Coventry (Zimbambwe), Markus Rogan (Austria), Ous Mellouli (Tunisia), Duje Draganja (Croatia), Martina Moravcova (Slovakia), Flavia Rigamonti (Switzerland), the South Africans, etc. are all from relatively small countries. You rarely ever see swimmers from Germany, Holland, Italy, or France (Bousquet excepted) come here. It seems most that are compelled to come from overseas do so simply because of a near complete lack of the above mentioned pull factors in their home countries.

[selkie]

If you're swimming the NCAA system, there's also the academic side to think about. In life beyond swimming, a degree from top 15 swimming schools like Stanford, Cal Berkley, Michigan, and UCLA really does mean something because of their reputations for superior academic quality. And a lot of other schools at the top level at NCAAs have some very good academic opportunities and different academic strengths and weaknesses. So it's not just athletic program fit to think of, but academic fit as well.

[Slowcoach]

I hear Simon Burnett does not get any lottery funding. Anyone confirm? If true, why??

[Gina]

Thinking about it, he probably doesn't need it as he's over in the USA. He is probably on a 100% scholarship which means he gets everything paid for (course fees, swimming fees, rent etc) and receives monthly money for food etc too. Lottery funding is probably not needed in his case. I don't know if this is true (as he might actually receive lottery funding!!!), but it seem logical to me if he didn't!

[Steve]

Simon's performances haven't gone unnoticed internationally either - although it helps that he's relatively well know in US swimming circles already I guess - the following is from Swimming World's "Summer Awards"

Quiet Noise: Unlike the remainder of the world, Simon Burnett didn’t use the World Championships as his summer platform. Instead, Burnett used the Commonwealth Games Trials to demonstrate his growing talent on the freestyle scene. An Olympic Finalist in the 200 free in Athens, Burnett has taken his skills to another level.

A standout at the University of Arizona, Burnett cracked a trio of British records at the Commonwealth Games Trials, turning the trick in the 50, 100 and 200 free events. After producing a stellar swim of 1:46.59 in the 200 free, Burnett checked in with clockings of 22.12 in the 50 free and 48.68 in the 100 free.

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/9945.asp

[Patrick Bateman]

Thinking about it, he probably doesn't need it as he's over in the USA. He is probably on a 100% scholarship which means he gets everything paid for (course fees, swimming fees, rent etc) and receives monthly money for food etc too. Lottery funding is probably not needed in his case. I don't know if this is true (as he might actually receive lottery funding!!!), but it seem logical to me if he didn't!

Are you actually trying to say he doesn't deserve it because he has a scholarship??? So what that has not one thing to do with British Swimming at all so how can you see logic behind this are you blind????

[selkie]

I'm not certain he'd be allowed to take lottery money and athletic scholarship money at the same time. NCAA rules specify that athletes are supposed to be amateurs, and their definition of amateur is stricter than even what the old Olympic rules ever were. You're not allowed endorsement deals (why Michael Phelps never swam college meets) or prize money beyond getting your travel expenses covered from any sort of outside source or really all that much in the way of sponsorship from a national federation.

On the other hand, Agnes Kovacs managed to be NCAA-elgible, and I always assumed all the good Hungarians were effectively professional swimmers, so there are probably some loopholes involved in the whole eligibility process.

[Chris]

Are you actually trying to say he doesn't deserve it because he has a scholarship??? So what that has not one thing to do with British Swimming at all so how can you see logic behind this are you blind????

As I understand it, a scholarship is intended to cover his academic (and possibly living) expenses whilst at College in the US, and is offered by the College.

I would assume that Lottery funding covers the same thing, so why should he have it? The funding assessors would surely take into consideration other forms of (effectively) charitable income when allotting any funding?!?

Chris

[Gina]

Are you actually trying to say he doesn't deserve it because he has a scholarship??? So what that has not one thing to do with British Swimming at all so how can you see logic behind this are you blind????

Never said he didn't deserve it, did I?!?! He is our best swimmer by far. I said he doesn't need it. As Chris said, lottery funding is there to cover the cost of living and so are the top tier of scholarships in the USA. Does he need two lots of funding?

[Breezer]

He is our best swimmer by far. I said he doesn't need it.

Second best

[Gina]

Second best

Ok in my opinion he is the best we have. Who is yours?

[Breezer]

Davies

[Woodward]

Davies is clearly better if measured on accomplishment ... being an olympic and worlds medallist.

Burnett may be the most important swimmer for the British team. A realistic medal hope in more events at international meets. UK record holder from 50 to 200 meters. UK swimming is targetting both 4x200 relays for medals in Beijing. When Simon's in the mix the men's relay can medal, without him you might as well dial it in.

[londonboy59]

Rather than make comparisons between Burnett and Davies - whose events don't really overlap, I'm more excited at the prospect of having the freestyle events covered through the range.

Simon is going to be a force to be reckoned with from 50 to 200 and, crucially, the anchor leg swimmer in the relays, you'd think. Signs are that David is getting to grips with the 400 - should take Paul Palmers record in 2005 and come down to around the 3.47's soon, and the 800 and 1500 will only improve.
Although the young Pole is coming through, I reckon Dai the Splash, as he's being called by BBC Wales, will beat Grant Hackett before Larsen Jensen does - and I think the Aussie does too. Hackett told me he thinks David could be the best swimmer we've ever produced.

Praise indeed from the big man.

Take care - Bob B

[Woodward]

Although the young Pole is coming through, I reckon Dai the Splash, as he's being called by BBC Wales, will beat Grant Hackett before Larsen Jensen does - and I think the Aussie does too. Hackett told me he thinks David could be the best swimmer we've ever produced.

Huh? Dai the what?

C'mon can't they do better than that? Poor David.