The Phelps phenomenon: Swim coaches here explain it

Samara Kalk Derby  —  8/15/2008 5:53 am

The Phelps phenomenon is capturing the eyes of the world.

Not only is swimmer Michael Phelps smashing world records right and left, but every record in swimming seems to be falling at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Is it the new swimsuit technology? The deeper pools that create fewer waves? That the elite swimmers have bigger hands and feet?

Those are some of the answers, say local swim experts.

Eric Hansen, the highly regarded men's and women's swim coach at the University of Wisconsin, said there are several explanations.

"This new suit technology has a lot to do with it. But it's more than that," Hansen said. It's really a sign of the times, he added.

What's important to keep in mind is that Phelps is dominant with everyone else in the suits at the same time, he said.

"I almost think it's unfortunate because if these new suits hadn't come along I think he would've been almost where he's at right now. I think his dominance would have been equal or parallel without them, if not more so," Hansen said.

Through Friday, Phelps won six gold medals in the 2008 Olympic Games in six world record times. He has 12 career golds now, the most of any Olympian in history, with two races left in Beijing, and at least one more Olympics in his future.

The suit technology gets a little bit better every four years, said former UW-Madison men's swim coach Jack Pettinger, who was instrumental in pushing for a public swimming pool in Madison.

In the 1950s nylon suits came out and helped quite a bit, he said. "These full body suits, they are excellent."

Speedo's LZR Racer, which was developed in cooperation with NASA and is designed to reduce drag, has received a lot of attention for its laser-bonded seams and its ability to increase oxygen intake by 5 percent. The suit compresses a swimmer's body so much that it can take more than a half an hour to get into it.

There's also the pool factor. Each time a new pool gets built, especially for the Olympics, it's faster, Hansen said.

"And I think each time a pool is built, something is learned," he said. "This pool is 3 meters deep. It's an incredibly fast pool. It's got good gutters. If you know what to look for, you can tell even from TV, it's a fast pool."

The water dissipates and flattens out, Hansen said, and when swimmers go into a turn, they come right back into flat water. That's what makes a pool real fast, he said.

Then there are the biological factors. A bigger, flatter foot provides more thrust, and Phelps' size 14 feet certainly help him, Dr. Rajat Mittal, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at George Washington University, told National Public Radio Wednesday.

Mittal has studied underwater video that shows Phelps is able to hyperextend his ankle beyond the point of a ballet dancer. That flexibility provides Phelps with a tremendous advantage because a swimmer wants to whip his feet for maximum thrust.

Hansen said there are a lot of swimmers with flat feet. The size of a swimmer's hands and feet are extremely important, as is flexibility, particularly knee and shoulder flexibility, he said.

Phelps and Natalie Coughlin, the American swimmer known for her underwater kicking ability, both have phenomenal flexibility and both have huge hands and feet, Hansen said.

"They are definitely hyper-mobile and also have big paws, and all of that helps," he said.

The 23-year-old Phelps has a near-perfect physique for swimming: He's 6-foot-4 with a 6-foot-7 wingspan and has double-jointed ankles, elbows and knees, paddle-like hands and feet and an amazing ability to process oxygen.

But when it comes right down to it, Hansen said, world swimming is fast.

"I think the world is getting faster. But at the same time I'm really proud of what the U.S. is doing," he said.

There are also hidden factors in terms of lifestyle and nutrition that the athletes who are swimming really fast are taking very, very seriously, said Hansen, who has coached men's and women's swimming since 1999.

"It is something we stress in our program: The sport is fast enough now where you need to pay attention to detail and you can't get away with mistakes. They will catch up to you," he said.

"I just think that the swimmers are getting bigger and stronger, more flexible, and their hidden training is better and better," Hansen said. "It's fun to see the innovations in terms of stroke technique and stuff come to the forefront. It's fun to watch what it's producing."

Pettinger agrees that there is a lot of swim talent out there today, but like Hansen, he said there are a number of factors pushing world swimming to the next level.

"They are really talented. It's not necessarily just the swimsuits, the LZRs .... The pool is fast, because it's deep. It's deep, smooth water. You don't have a lot of turbulence. The swimmers are in great shape, they are well-trained. The suits are very, very, very good. The suits are very helpful."

Pettinger, who helps out at Badger Aquatics Club in Madison, said he hopes all of the attention focused on the Olympics right now will boost Badger Aquatics. The swim club has seen its numbers grow immediately following Olympic years, he said. There are more than 400 swimmers on the club team, which in the summer trains at Edgewood and Shorewood pools.

On the college level, the Olympics always increases interest in swimming, Hansen said.

"Each quadrennial it does. At the same time, it's a brutal sport," he said. "It's a suffering sport, and the people who aren't willing to pay their dues, if they really want to be great, usually don't last real long in it."

Samara Kalk Derby  —  8/15/2008 5:53 am