They Changed The Rules To Make Him Slower

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!