Brembilla and Hackett

Brembilla has also gone sub 15 minutes for the 1500m (before Hackett first
did).

"4precious" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Well, I'm at it again. Created another document on my website of photographs of elite swimmers to
show how much of what these guys do is the same. Obviously I have too much spare time on my hands,
but somebody has to try and keep the group focused on swimming 🙂

I found some video on Brembilla. Had never heard of him because I'm a narrow minded American pig.
But he's quite a swimmer! European champion at 400m. And finished 4th in the last two Olympics in
the 400 (that must have hurt). Started breaking down the video frame by frame, and he swims just
like Hackett when Hackett is using a 4-beat. And as mentioned in another post, it's exactly how
Phelps was swimming freestyle about a year ago. (Phelps has since changed his style a bit)

www.geocities.com/ekurth99

brembilla_hackett

I don't get much feedback on this stuff on the user group, but plenty of hits on the site.

Eric

"Colin Priest" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Brembilla has also gone sub 15 minutes for the 1500m (before Hackett first
did).

Yes, Brembilla is also a 1500m swimmer. But I believe he will never beat Hackett at 1500m or Thorpe
at 400m due to his technique. He has a very deep straight armed sweep on the left side and his kick
pattern reflects that. In contrast, when Hackett goes to his 6-beat rhythm, his stroke changes a
great deal, to very high elbow catch on the left side and the same rhythm employed by the likes of
Thorpe, Phelps, VDH, etc. I think most age group swimmers grow up with deep arm sweeps while they
go to breath. I think to compete at the highest level, this habit needs to change - Brembilla's
never has.

Eric

4precious said:

"Colin Priest" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Brembilla has also gone sub 15 minutes for the 1500m (before Hackett first did).

Yes, Brembilla is also a 1500m swimmer. But I believe he will never beat Hackett at 1500m or
Thorpe at 400m due to his technique. He has

<snip>

Not to be too anal about it but that's a little like saying He'll never beat Phelps in the 400im or
Ruppath in the 100im because he needs to work on his technique.

--Mike

Mike Edey <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

4precious said:

"Colin Priest" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Brembilla has also gone sub 15 minutes for the 1500m (before Hackett first did).

Yes, Brembilla is also a 1500m swimmer. But I believe he will never beat Hackett at 1500m or
Thorpe at 400m due to his technique. He has

<snip>

Not to be too anal about it but that's a little like saying He'll never beat Phelps in the 400im
or Ruppath in the 100im because he needs to work on his technique.

--Mike

Brembilla is World class, no doubt about it. Is he ALWAYS going to lose because he has a deep catch
on the left side, while the majority of men in his company do not? I probably shouldn't say that.
(I'll start sounding a little like T.L. who seems to imply there's only one successful way to swim,
while we have evidence at the highest level that there are dozens.)

But I've been avidly comparing the video I have of Phelps when he set the World Record in the 400
I.M. awhile back, and video from the more recent World Championships. Phelps has totally revamped
his freestyle stroke! He's gone from a four beat kick (ala Hackett in a 1500m) with fairly deep arm
sweeps on both sides, to the traditional 6-beat kick and higher elbow both sides. So he now swims
exactly like Thorpe, Hackett (in a 400m), VDH, Vendt, etc. Brembilla never made that switch.

I remember an old western, (maybe Clint Eastwood). The big cliche in the movie from the bad guy
was something like this: "when a man with a pistol meets a man with a rifle, the man with the
pistol is dead".

So I say when a freestyler with a big kick meets a freestyler with deep arm sweeps, the second guy
will never win. The first guy, who swims flat with high elbow catches, will simply kick away from
him in the end.

Eric

PS I think the switch to 6-beat and high elbow is not something rec swimmers can and should
attempt. We just don't have the size, talent, and training time necessary to do it. I try to
swim like Phelps did in his 400 I.M. As I pointed out before, that style is very similar to
Hackett (in a 1500m), and also Brembilla (if you take away two kick beats). So that's three
elite males that use the same style, and it's a technique that CAN be emulated by this middle
aged rec swimmer, unlike a lot of other things that are going on at the elite level.

(4precious) said:

I remember an old western, (maybe Clint Eastwood). The big cliche in the movie from the bad guy
was something like this: "when a man with a pistol meets a man with a rifle, the man with the
pistol is dead".

Like so many spaghetti westerns, they borrowed the plot of a Japanese samurai film. In the Japanese
film, one samurai had gotten a pistol in the big city. He hardly knew how to use it, but he was
unbeatable in the small town because no one could get close enough to stab him with a sword. The
hero (Toshiro Mifune) was shot, recovered, then learned to throw a knife very well and took out the
pistol-wielding samurai.

In Eastwood's movie everyone already had firearms of course, so they invented this silly distinction
between pistols and rifles to imitate the samurai plot. Not very convincing.

Donal Fagan AIA Donal@DonalO'Fagan.com (Anglicise the name to reply by e-mail)

Donal Fagan said:

(4precious) said:

I remember an old western, (maybe Clint Eastwood). The big cliche in the movie from the bad guy
was something like this: "when a man with a pistol meets a man with a rifle, the man with the
pistol is dead".

Like so many spaghetti westerns, they borrowed the plot of a Japanese samurai film. In the Japanese
film, one samurai had gotten a pistol in the big city. He hardly knew how to use it, but he was
unbeatable in the small town because no one could get close enough to stab him with a sword. The
hero (Toshiro Mifune) was shot, recovered, then learned to throw a knife very well and took out the
pistol-wielding samurai.

In Eastwood's movie everyone already had firearms of course, so they invented this silly
distinction between pistols and rifles to imitate the samurai plot. Not very convincing.

It is perfectly true, though, over any distance greater than 5 metres. Other things being equal.

Now, back to swimming.

Helgi Briem said:

Donal Fagan <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

In Eastwood's movie everyone already had firearms of course, so they invented this silly
distinction between pistols and rifles to imitate the samurai plot. Not very convincing.

Quoted message said:

It is perfectly true, though, over any distance greater than 5 metres. Other things being equal.

That sounds a bit short, though I'm sure there's a distance where the accuracy and power of a rifle
makes up for its unwieldy size. At that point, Eastwood could have used his own rifle. They weren't
hard to find.

Instead, he built a suit of armor, I recall, much like that Aussie bandit.

Donal Fagan AIA Donal@DonalO'Fagan.com (Anglicise the name to reply by e-mail)