Could anyone shed light on why an Individual Medley goes in the order of
fly, back, breast, free, and then why the team version of the sames uses
a different order? The IM order makes perfect sense to me - I always
feel like the backstroke after the fly is a chance to take in a little
more air, and I feel like the two most strenuous strokes are on the
ends. Maybe that's just me and my particular strengths and weakness - I
don't know. As to the order for the Relay, I have no clue.

Thanks in advance.

-S-

On Aug 19, 6:43 pm, "Steve Freides" <st...@fridayscomputer.com> wrote:
> Could anyone shed light on why an Individual Medley goes in the order of
> fly, back, breast, free, and then why the team version of the sames uses
> a different order? The IM order makes perfect sense to me - I always
> feel like the backstroke after the fly is a chance to take in a little
> more air, and I feel like the two most strenuous strokes are on the
> ends. Maybe that's just me and my particular strengths and weakness - I
> don't know. As to the order for the Relay, I have no clue.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -S-

Back has to be first in the relay, but it's better to have a normal
dive start for the IM.

Either that, or Communists did them the same way, so we changed one.

MW Smith wrote:
> On Aug 19, 6:43 pm, "Steve Freides" <st...@fridayscomputer.com> wrote:
>> Could anyone shed light on why an Individual Medley goes in the
>> order of fly, back, breast, free, and then why the team version of
>> the sames uses a different order? The IM order makes perfect sense
>> to me - I always feel like the backstroke after the fly is a chance
>> to take in a little more air, and I feel like the two most strenuous
>> strokes are on the ends. Maybe that's just me and my particular
>> strengths and weakness - I don't know. As to the order for the
>> Relay, I have no clue.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> -S-
>
> Back has to be first in the relay, but it's better to have a normal
> dive start for the IM.
>
interesting question - until you ponder for a moment...
How do you do a starting block start for Back, if it's not first ?

On Aug 19, 10:09 pm, "ps56k" <pschuman_no_spam...@interserv.com>
wrote:
> MW Smith wrote:
> > On Aug 19, 6:43 pm, "Steve Freides" <st...@fridayscomputer.com> wrote:
> >> Could anyone shed light on why an Individual Medley goes in the
> >> order of fly, back, breast, free, and then why the team version of
> >> the sames uses a different order? The IM order makes perfect sense
> >> to me - I always feel like the backstroke after the fly is a chance
> >> to take in a little more air, and I feel like the two most strenuous
> >> strokes are on the ends. Maybe that's just me and my particular
> >> strengths and weakness - I don't know. As to the order for the
> >> Relay, I have no clue.
>
> >> Thanks in advance.
>
> >> -S-
>
> > Back has to be first in the relay, but it's better to have a normal
> > dive start for the IM.
>
> interesting question - until you ponder for a moment...
> How do you do a starting block start for Back, if it's not first ?

But the IM could be the same order, and it isn't.

MW Smith wrote:
> On Aug 19, 10:09 pm, "ps56k" <pschuman_no_spam...@interserv.com>
> wrote:
>
>>MW Smith wrote:
>>
>>>On Aug 19, 6:43 pm, "Steve Freides" <st...@fridayscomputer.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Could anyone shed light on why an Individual Medley goes in the
>>>>order of fly, back, breast, free, and then why the team version of
>>>>the sames uses a different order? The IM order makes perfect sense
>>>>to me - I always feel like the backstroke after the fly is a chance
>>>>to take in a little more air, and I feel like the two most strenuous
>>>>strokes are on the ends. Maybe that's just me and my particular
>>>>strengths and weakness - I don't know. As to the order for the
>>>>Relay, I have no clue.
>>>
>>>>Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>>>-S-
>>>
>>>Back has to be first in the relay, but it's better to have a normal
>>>dive start for the IM.
>>
>>interesting question - until you ponder for a moment...
>>How do you do a starting block start for Back, if it's not first ?
>
>
> But the IM could be the same order, and it isn't.

I've always assumed that butterfly was put first in I.M. because it was
perceived to be the most strenuous stroke, and it therefore made more
sense to have swimmers do it before they had a chance to tire.

In a medley relay, of course, that isn't a consideration, but it becomes
important that all swimmers after the first be able to do their start
over the head of the finishing swimmer.


Bob

On 19 Aug,
"ps56k" <pschuman_no_spam_me@interserv.com> wrote:

> How do you do a starting block start for Back, if it's not first ?
>
You could do a standard backstroke start, but the problem would be knowing
when to start as you wouldn't be able to see the incoming swimmer. You'd also
be in the way of the incoming swimmer.

--
BD
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

On 19 Aug,
"Robert W. McAdams" <rwm@fambright.com> wrote:

> I've always assumed that butterfly was put first in I.M. because it was
> perceived to be the most strenuous stroke, and it therefore made more
> sense to have swimmers do it before they had a chance to tire.

It would reduce the number of entrants in the 400IM for weaker swimmers it it
was in relay order.

--
BD
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

MW Smith wrote:
> On Aug 19, 6:43 pm, "Steve Freides" <st...@fridayscomputer.com> wrote:
>> Could anyone shed light on why an Individual Medley goes in the order of
>> fly, back, breast, free, and then why the team version of the sames uses
>> a different order? The IM order makes perfect sense to me - I always
>> feel like the backstroke after the fly is a chance to take in a little
>> more air, and I feel like the two most strenuous strokes are on the
>> ends. Maybe that's just me and my particular strengths and weakness - I
>> don't know. As to the order for the Relay, I have no clue.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> -S-
>
> Back has to be first in the relay, but it's better to have a normal
> dive start for the IM.
>
> Either that, or Communists did them the same way, so we changed one.

I assumed it was so that the second swimmer wasn't already in the water.
If you start with butterfly, then swimmer two will need to start in the
water (since diving backwards off the blocks might be somewhat
dangerous! ;-) so there's a chance of collisions etc.
Why breaststroke, butterfly then freestyle are in that order, I guess
it's in order of speed so the conclusion of the race generally gets
faster and more exciting.

Choochter wrote:
> MW Smith wrote:
>
>>On Aug 19, 6:43 pm, "Steve Freides" <st...@fridayscomputer.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Could anyone shed light on why an Individual Medley goes in the order of
>>>fly, back, breast, free, and then why the team version of the sames uses
>>>a different order? The IM order makes perfect sense to me - I always
>>>feel like the backstroke after the fly is a chance to take in a little
>>>more air, and I feel like the two most strenuous strokes are on the
>>>ends. Maybe that's just me and my particular strengths and weakness - I
>>>don't know. As to the order for the Relay, I have no clue.
>>>
>>>Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>>-S-
>>
>>Back has to be first in the relay, but it's better to have a normal
>>dive start for the IM.
>>
>>Either that, or Communists did them the same way, so we changed one.
>
>
> I assumed it was so that the second swimmer wasn't already in the water.
> If you start with butterfly, then swimmer two will need to start in the
> water (since diving backwards off the blocks might be somewhat
> dangerous! ;-) so there's a chance of collisions etc.
> Why breaststroke, butterfly then freestyle are in that order, I guess
> it's in order of speed so the conclusion of the race generally gets
> faster and more exciting.
>


Since butterfly was considered the same stroke as breast stroke until
the early 1950's, how did the order of the 3 stroke IM go? Any old
timers know?

I'm guessing that it could have been the 3 stroke IM was backstroke with
a water start, breast & free. This would also be the same order for a
relay too. When butterfly was accepted as the 4th stroke it was just put
first for the IM and third in the relay to avoid collisions as noted above?

Also butterfly with frog kick used to be legal so swimming butterfly
(frog-fly) next to breaststroke would not be good in the IM.

BTW I beleive that frog fly has been grandfathered in to be legal in US
and International Masters swimming.

"Steve Freides" <steve@fridayscomputer.com> wrote in message
news:6h0bgrFhpk1fU1@mid.individual.net...
> Could anyone shed light on why an Individual Medley goes in the order
> of fly, back, breast, free, and then why the team version of the sames
> uses a different order? The IM order makes perfect sense to me - I
> always feel like the backstroke after the fly is a chance to take in a
> little more air, and I feel like the two most strenuous strokes are on
> the ends. Maybe that's just me and my particular strengths and
> weakness - I don't know. As to the order for the Relay, I have no
> clue.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -S-

Thank you, everyone - very interesting.

-S-