Science Reveals How the Brains of Swimmers Are Different Than Everyone Else's
Science Reveals How the Brains of Swimmers Are Different Than Everyone Else's
By Sam Wollner, Sports.Mic, August, 2014
USA Swimming's finest are currently in Gold Coast, Australia, for the Pan Pacific Championships. The event, which began Thursday and continues through Monday, is the first of several high-level competitions leading up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. Pan Pacs marks Michael Phelps' return to international competition and also features America's latest swimming prodigies: Katy Ledecky and Missy Franklin. Ledecky is especially exciting to watch as she may be emerging as America’s best swimmer now that Phelps is past his prime.
But few Americans care. As USA Today suggested, Ledecky may be "the most dominant athlete you don’t know."
Phelps aside, this is a common phenomenon in the sport. American swimming is, like Ledecky, dominant. During the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Americans won more medals in swimming than they did in any other sport. Bleacher Report noted the 31 medals that Americans won in swimming alone in London were more than every country that participated in the Olympic Games except China, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Australia and France.
This comes despite the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) best efforts to curb American aquatic dominance: After the 1976 Games, to ensure that Americans could not sweep the medal stand, the IOC reduced the number of swimmers that each country could enter in a race from three to two.
Perhaps no sport better reflects America's athletic prowess on the global stage than swimming. U.S. Soccer continues to fall short at World Cups. USA Basketball suffered through the 2004 Athens Games embarrassment. USA Track & Field has experienced a few too many doping scandals. Through it all, USA Swimming has consistently been a stalwart for national pride in international competition.
So, why don't we care?
Read more:
But few Americans care. As USA Today suggested, Ledecky may be "the most dominant athlete you don’t know."
Phelps aside, this is a common phenomenon in the sport. American swimming is, like Ledecky, dominant. During the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Americans won more medals in swimming than they did in any other sport. Bleacher Report noted the 31 medals that Americans won in swimming alone in London were more than every country that participated in the Olympic Games except China, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Australia and France.
This comes despite the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) best efforts to curb American aquatic dominance: After the 1976 Games, to ensure that Americans could not sweep the medal stand, the IOC reduced the number of swimmers that each country could enter in a race from three to two.
Perhaps no sport better reflects America's athletic prowess on the global stage than swimming. U.S. Soccer continues to fall short at World Cups. USA Basketball suffered through the 2004 Athens Games embarrassment. USA Track & Field has experienced a few too many doping scandals. Through it all, USA Swimming has consistently been a stalwart for national pride in international competition.
So, why don't we care?
Read more:
