USA: Investor's Business Daily has a good piece on John Naber, giant of the 1976 Olympic Games, with four golds, and the first man inside 2mins over 200m. Now 53, he's president of Naber & Associates, a California-based sales improvement and communication skills firm. Naber, who created "The 8-Step Gold Medal Process": Feel the dream. Visualize your success; Have faith (he cites an American Indian proverb: Better to aim an arrow at the moon and hit an eagle than to aim at an eagle and hit a rock); Keep score (something that coaches from around the world described as "impossible", among other things, because of silly suits these past two seasons); Link goals to time frames, creating a sense of urgency; Reward immediate progress; Go at it - Naber says he never saw his training as a sacrifice. "I looked at it as an investment. If there's work to be done, do it willingly, joyfully and consistently."; Tap willpower. Remember that others face the same obstacles you do. Naber: "I got tired at 90m of a 100m race, and so did my opponent."; Embrace pressure: the ability and courage to deliver when it matters most is a great test of adversity and the product of preparation, says the swim legend.
Australia: head coach Alan Thompson believes that the raw materials are there for the Green and Gold shoal to rule the waves over 1,500m free at some stage in the not-too-distant. His comments follow Robert Hurley's World Cup win over Olympic champion Oussama Mellouli in 14:32.47. Shiny suits aside, Australia has some serious challengers for 2010 onwards in the form of Hurley, 20, and Ryan Napoleon, 19. Neither have a lot of experience of 1,500m in international waters. That will change, what with Grant Hackett gone and the gap gaping. He and Kieren Perkins dominated 1,500m racing from 1992 to 2005. Of Hurley, Thompson told reporter Tom Wald: "He has many of the skills that previous 1500m champions have got."
Japan: After taking some daft decisions in recent times on suits, the Japanese Swimming Federation is at it again, according to reports in Japan. It will leave the shiny suits in place domestically until spring to give suit makers more time to get textile suits ready and cover a shortage of stock. A shortage of stock? Baloney: the kids train in them every day of their lives. As things are, swimmers may race in shiny suits but none of their times will count for records nor for qualifying for international competition. So, what's the point - and why is it that federations continue to tie themselves in knots when the simple solution stares them in the face? Listening to (commercial) voices who count the best interests of the sport of swimming as secondary, perhaps. Whatever the answer, Japan's latest moves smacks of the survival of the kind of attitudes that got the sport into the mire of suit wars in the first place.
Australia: And sticking with shiny suits, Ian Thorpe is slowly catching up. He's opposed to asterisks on world records, according to ABC. Since no-one is suggesting asterisks, perhaps he was asked the wrong question. He also noted that his hard work and not the suit he wore was what sealed his speed and victories. Of course, he never wore anything except textile, bodysuit (with compression) or not, and will certainly have benefitted from his suit in the way that adidas claimed he had at the time. "That's the distraction that we have to clear up for swimming, and it needs to happen very soon," said Thorpe. You'll get your wish, Thorpey, from January 1, 2010, in case no-one told you about the July vote, the stance of Phelps, Bowman, USA, Australia, 168 nations, and...well, you get the picture.
