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9 Misconceptions About Swimming That Swimmers Hate

Courtesy of a swimmer and his swammer partner Zach Kent, the men behind the iSwim Team.

ONE

Swimmers don’t have lives, we do they just involve less oxygen and other water dwelling humans.

TWO

You either “Win” or “Lose” your swim meet, there is no in between, as we all know sometimes your team wins and you don’t do well, sometimes you have the meet of your life yet your team gets dead last.

THREE

Non-Swimmer Joe can beat you in a race. No buddy.  Unless I give you a 30 second head start and I’m wearing jeans, you ain’t gonna win Joe.

FOUR

You are the next Micheal Phelps, as cool as that would be it probably ain’t true. Sorry.

FIVE

All swimmers make the Olympics, although that would be awesome, last time I checked it’s only two people in each individual event…in the entire USA.

SIX

Swimming isn’t hard, if you hear anyone say this, move on they are clearly not worth your time.

SEVEN

Swimmers always smell like a pool, alright fine we do smell like chlorine pretty much 24/7.

EIGHT

Doggy Paddle is an Olympic Stroke, nope SideStroke and Elementary Backstroke aren’t in the Olympics either.

NINE

You have to be tall to be fast, there are plenty of olympians, olympic medalists, and even olympic champions who aren’t 6’9” with a 7’0” wing span.

About iSwim

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iSwimWithIssues

iSwimWithIssues is the twitter account that started it all in the fall of 2012. Our ‘iSwim’ brand takes on a more “love/hate” approach to swimming.

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9 years ago

Hi There !! i’m a ‘rec’ (short for recreational swimmer), was never fast, but as i enter middle age (by old standards!;), it seems as though swimming is my ‘life sport’ with other sports being complementary and/or secondary to it … i’m not fast by any means, but if i don’t do my laps every day (or 4-6 days/week) i feel like Oscar the Grouch … coincidentally, my (and my two sisters’) comfort in and ability relative to the water is secondary to my Dad who was a LifeScout (BSA), but who didn’t muster the skill set for the American Red Cross’ Life Saving Certificate (then a requirement for Eagle) … he wanted his children to have something he didn’t… Read more »

GoPokes
9 years ago

Ha. Well. Take it from an old short swimmer that never quite made it to the Olympics, always smelled like chlorine (and sometimes a bit like mold), often had to pass on “normal” social events for kids and young adults because there was the inevitable next practice, trip, or meet, lost his fair share of both team meets and individual races, never got confused with Michael Phelps (OK, really it was Matt Biondi back then), and always found swimming “hard” (often, “very very hard”) – none of this matters. What other people think. Even what your peers in swimming think. Do it because you love it, you get immense satisfaction from doing it, and you can’t imagine your life without… Read more »

Oh
9 years ago

I know

MMM
9 years ago

Do you dive, too? Ummm only at the beginning of my races.

DL
Reply to  MMM
9 years ago

I have a friend at work that when he found out that I used to swim in college, all he wanted to talk about was the time that he saw Greg Louganis do an exhibition dive at the local pool.

Mardo4
Reply to  DL
8 years ago

OMG that could have been me, I always mention how my sister dove during summer training w Greg Louganis, We r just dumb and awestruck I guess,

Suzie D
9 years ago

We don’t ALL smell like chlorine. Sometimes we smell of the sea.

Shanahs1
9 years ago

“Do you have to get in the water with them?”. So true, lol.

coach
9 years ago

From a coaching standpoint, somebody asks “what do you do for a living?” and I respond with “I’m a collegiate swim coach”. Then they have one of two responses:

1. “Do you do anything else during the day?”
2. “Do you have to get in the water with them?”

AAAAAGGGHHHHHHLKSJDFGWHRHG!!!!!

ChestRockwell
Reply to  coach
9 years ago

“Yeah, I coach my kids baseball team too. I mean, what do you do to earn a living?”

sharkboy
9 years ago

as a “short” swimmer, can’t agree any more with #9!

spicy tamale
Reply to  sharkboy
9 years ago

How short would one have to be in order to have NO CHANCE at making it to swimming’s elite level (for males and females)? Obviously I’m just fishing for opinions here, not concrete answers, but it’s a serious question all the same.

Sharkboy
Reply to  spicy tamale
9 years ago

In my opinion that’s rather difficult, if not impossible to say since there is no known universal limit on how short one has be to have 0.1% or even 0% chance of making it the top in swimming. It just all depends on the swimmer’s skill rather than their height. Some are 185 cm and over but will never even qualify for big meets like the World Championships or the Olympics, while some range between 170cm and 180cm and will dominate world rankings. Morozov (180 cm) is considered by many as “short” for a sprinter,yet he can totally match up with guys like Manaudou (199 cm), Cielo (195 cm), Magnussen (195 cm) and Adrian (198 cm) who are much taller.… Read more »

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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