Comment by onlypassingthru

According to the article it was 1998...

"That all changed in 1998, when FINA, the world governing body of competitive swimming, ruled that swimmers performing the backstroke had to surface after 15 meters."

... which aligns with my recollection of the '96 Olympics and being gobsmacked at how long the swimmers were holding their breath.

jraines 2 days ago

The article is wrong. That’s when they changed it for fly/free.

Here is the 92 backstroke final. The announcers mention the rule: https://youtu.be/FTfTyzkSzQs?si=E82rvKql-w9vuwSf

I tried to find 96 and cannot but it was the same.

Here is the butterfly performance in 96 that ultimately triggered them to chamge it for fly/free: https://youtu.be/Zp2NTFjeXQQ?si=e_E-D1ZAvzNmjACe

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onlypassingthru 2 days ago

I haven't seen that final in 29 years, thanks.
Pankratov's start really was incredible. His lungs have to be off the scale.

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xarope 2 days ago

They would swim the entire 50m underwater, if given the chance. I've seen them do so in practice, very lazy-looking dolphin kicks, but still faster than most swimmers on the surface.

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