The Biggest Swimming Competition happens once every 4 years. An Olympic medal can
change a swimmer's life. Especially if they are from a nation that doesn't get
many Olympic champions. Ruta Meilutyte from Lithuania, Joseph Schooling from Singapore,
and Dmitriy Balandin from Kazakhstan come to mind. These three swimmers
became instant national heroes in their countries after they won Olympic gold.
When a swimming event is not part of the Olympic program,
there tends to be fewer resources and swimmers' effort put into it. But when they add a new event
to the Olympic schedule, swimmers and coaches start caring more about it. The
world record is always put in danger after this happens. But in the case of the 800 freestyle,
the opposite happened; swimmers do not want to break this world record.
The men's 880-yard freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the Swimming at
the 1904 Summer Olympics programme. The length of 880 yards (804.672 metres) was
slightly longer than the 800 metres. It was the only time the event was held at the Olympics;
the men's 800-metre freestyle event was introduced 116 years later, at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
But this event has been part of the world championships for a long time. Swimmers have
been breaking this world record ever since. Some of the most famous swimmers in history have had
the privilege of being the 800 meter world record holders. Even though it wasn't an Olympic event,
swimmers were still getting better and better at it. And then 15 years ago,
improvement stopped. In a big part, it was because Zhang Lin broke the world record by
a huge margin. It's almost unimaginable for someone to swim that fast now.
But I think it is because the best swimmers are holding back.
When you are part of the 8 best swimmers in the world in this event,
the organ in the human body that makes the biggest difference is the brain. Technically, because you
have your own lane, you should swim your own race regardless of the other swimmers around
you. Logically that is the best way to swim your fastest. But that rarely happens. Most swimmers,
even most Olympic champions, are influenced by the competition. In longer events, it is harder
to know your own pace. So people gauge their own speed by looking at other swimmers. If
you are swimming faster than the fastest swimmers, doubt might creep in and fear
of running out of energy at the end will start growing subconsciously.
The world and Olympic champion Oussama Mellouli was watching Zhang Lin almost the whole race of
the 800 freestyle. He wasn't far behind and maybe thought he had a shot at passing him. It's hard
to imagine, but Zhang Lin was probably holding back a little. The super suit helped a little
but regardless, this is still a super impressive swim. His 50 meter average pace was 28.25 seconds,
but his last 50 was 25.99. More than two seconds faster. You can see the way he kicks in the last
50 that he wasn't all that exhausted. He was playing a strategy game that destroyed his
opponents, even the great Oussama Mellouli who still has the second fastest time in history. His
skills that day were so far ahead of everyone that he could stay in front of the whole race
while still not swimming as fast as he could. So that in the last lap he would turn on the
engine and break his best opponents' spirits. This ability of fast endurance
swimming and the skill to sprint at the end is the best combination to win gold medals.
This strategy works even better when you are behind
your competitor and you pass him during the race.
Researchers Martinent and Ferrand (2009), in their study of long-distance runners,
found that when another competitor overtook a runner during a race,
it often led to a decrease in the passed runner's motivation and performance.
Knowing this, the swimmers with the best qualifying times, the ones in the middle
of the pool, will often hold back a little through the race, just so they can pass and
demoralize their opponents at the end. In 2021, Paltrinieri didn't want to play those mind games
and just gave it his all from start to finish. He had the slowest qualifying time of that final
but he managed to get a silver medal. Finke won by passing his closest rivals on the last 50 meters.
Now we have 5 swimmers that can all swim faster than the Olympic winning time from 3 years ago,
but will they swim faster? Or will they hold back as a strategy to win gold? Daniel Wiffen
recently broke the 800 short course (Semi-Olympic pool) world record, one of the longest-standing
records in the books. Interestingly, he swam his last 50 meters in 25.99 seconds.
The exact same time Zhang Lin swam his last 50 meters of his long course world record.
I say swimmers do not want to break the 800 world record; they would rather win an Olympic gold
medal. And to win, the best ones will hold back a little as a strategy to sprint to the finish
line and win gold. And unless more than 2 people are in pace to break the world record, like it
happened in 2009, I think the 800 freestyle long course world record is safe for now.
Who do you think will win this race in Paris 2024?