Rafael Muñoz knows little about the history of his sport and was unsure whether Ian Crocker or Michael Phelps held the world record in the 100m butterfly, according to a report in El Pais in Spain today.
The paper quotes the 21-year-old as saying: "I'm not interested in the world of swimming." Munoz is currently training at Marseilles with coach Romain Barnier in the programme linked to Auburn in the US, via Fred Bousquet and to the Jaked01 that is enhancing performance in the race pool beyond the natural capacity of swimmers this season.
When asked about his equalling of Michael Phelps' 50.58 seconds in the 100m 'fly at the Spanish Open on April 5, and whether he now felt as though he was closing in on the global mark, Munoz replied: "I've no idea, I'm not worried, the important thing right now is just to swim." Not in briefs, of course. In a suit that boosts performance fort one swimmer more than another and provides different benefits on different strokes and distances o such an extent that it is all but impossible to tell where the swimmer and the hard work ends and the swimmers starts.
Muñoz was born and raised in Córdoba in what El Pais describes as "the working-class neighborhood of Cruz Conde". He trained with local club El Navial. In 2007, the talented 19-year-old clocked 23.80 to rise to 14th in the world that season and 26th best all-time. In 2008, he improved to a 23.60 and rose to 20th all-time. In April this year, sporting a red-hot poker for a suit, he set the inaugural non-textile-suit world record of 22.43 - a massive gain over 50m in the race pool - in the 50m butterfly to claim the world No1 spot and set himself up as favourite for the world title in Rome this month.
That will be a test not only of his new speed and his suit but of himself and how he deals with the pressure of the big occasion. At the Olympic Games in Beijing last year, Munoz says he suffered one of his worst crises of confidence. With a season best of 52.09 at Spanish trials in March he had had his eye on the Olympic final but in heats at the first suit-enhanced Olympic Games in history, Munoz fell shy with a 52.53 that did not make the semis. In April this year, wearing his red-hot poker of a suit, he clocked 51.06, 50.85, 50.58 and 50.46 at Spanish and French trials for Rome 2009 world titles. A 2sec difference over a 100m race is enormous in the race pool: in this season alone, 39 men follow within 2sec of Phelp's world record of 50.22, while all-time 55 men follow within 2sec of the America's new global standard, which got past Crocker's 50.40, set in a textile suit en route to the world crown in 2005.
After returning from Beijing, Munoz almost quit the sport but after a month back home decided to try again and hooked up with Barnier in Marseilles. The French coach places much focus on land-based muscle work and his efforts with Munoz have doubtless made an impression on the Spaniard's form, but few conclude anything other than that the edge belongs to the suit. Munoz's progression is exceptional, to say the least. Where it took the American eight years to improve 2sec to world-record pace, it took the Spaniard a season.
Asked the question: is it technology or technique that counts most right now in the pool, Munoz, described by El Pais as having provided a "terse" answer, stated: "People don't appreciate what I have achieved. They think that if you throw the suit in the water, it swims by itself."
No, Rafa, they don't think that. They think you're a terrific swimmer, and they think that 22.43 and 50.46 has much to do with a suit that enhances your performance to a significant degree beyond the place where you would be if you raced in the suits worn by swimmers yesterday, from Pankratov to Crocker. And they ask: why do you get to wear a 100% polyurethane suit when brands such as TYR, arena and Descente have been told that their 100% poly suits are not allowed?
That position places Munoz and all others between a rock and a hard place: damned if they win, damned if they don't.
And all of what has come to pass and what will pass in Rome is telling a whole generation that the leaps and bounds that would traditionally have raised suspicions of doping are now "normal. Take this from 17-year-old Inadian Virdhawal Khade, who clocked 22.9 at the Darmstadt meet in Germany this past weekend: "I'm sure under good conditions at Rome, and after resting and shaving and with a good new suit, I will go a whole lot faster. I think a 22.0 or a 21.9 is within reach." His best is 22.68. He's looking for a .7sec gain in a season.
Over 13 years of one of the most, if not the most, outstanding sprint careers in swimming history, Alex Popov went from a 22.78 best at 19 to a 21.64 best that survived by the time he called it a day in 2004. For most of that time, he raced within a half-second range and was a podium placer on almost all big occasions, including winning gold at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games.
Khade is working on new things: land training, starts, turns, race strategies and much more. His should be a fascinating story as the first Indian man ever to find himself at the elbow of the best in the world. His efforts this summer will be tainted by a suit of one kind or another. By 2010, FINA out to bring fairness back to the race pool and allow the likes of Munoz and Khade to race in conditions that allow their achievements to be celebrated for what they are and not for what they may be, depending on the influence of apparel that ought not to be in the race pool.
