Shiwen Ye, the sixteen year old Chinese swimming sensation, swims faster than men. It's the first time in Olympic history a woman has swam faster than a male gold metalist. There is only one man on the planet who can beat her fastest lap time and that's the greatest swimmer and Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps.
"It's not possible" people are saying "She must be on something." Not so, say the Australian coaches she trains with, they say the Chinese just work harder. Ye trains in Queensland with Australian coaches Ken Wood and Denis Cotterell under contract to the Chinese.
Back in 2008, the legendary coach Ken Wood sold his top-secret training regime to China. "They pay for the programs" he said "They pay good money, big money, I wouldn't help them for nothing."
Ken Wood
Thanks to Mr Wood, our own Jessica Schipper was beaten by a Wood-trained Chinese swimmer in the final at the Beijing Olympics. Wood said "Money is one thing, I have to make a living, but Jess was my swimmer and I brought her through since she was 12 years old." His swimming academy located in Redcliffe is his business. "I work for Australian swimming when I'm on the teams, but anyone can come into my program if they want to."
He said the poor remuneration of Australia's top swimming coaches left him little choice but to seek international customers and his programs contain detailed information on stroke technique, weight training, diet and preparation for elite swimmers.
Wood received a bonus for Ye's 200m medley gold medal at last year's world championships in Changai. Rumour has it that for the London Olympics, coaches are getting bonuses of $250,000 for gold, $150,000 for silver and $100,000 for bronze.
"I get paid per month, per swimmer, four times more than I do with my own swimmers" Wood told Associated Press. "China is putting a lot of money into its program and I am only too happy to work with them." Wood is now 83 years old and said four years ago "If I was 20 years younger, I wouldn't be sitting in Australia, I'd be coaching overseas."
Thanks Ken and Denis. You are my heroes. You can show the world that lean body forms in normal fabric suits are world dominating.
ReplyDeleteThe Australian olympic team has a bit of explaining to do now. Please ask your local MP how much each medal has cost Australia for the 2012 games.
Why blame Ken for 'selling out to the Chinese'? The title is degrading to both Ken and the Chinese swimmers. And speaks of a bias mindset over this end. There are other coaches who coached foreigners to success. Did they sell out to the other countries?
ReplyDeleteI don't blame our swimmers for not winning golds nor the coaches. They just need to return to the drawing board with regards to future training. Elite competition is organic. We have to constantly push ourselves because we cannot assume others will remain static. If we adopt the attitude that others are to be blamed, then we deserve to lose.
Before you post this kind of message, you might want to learn a bit about swimming and the history of what you are writing about. Jessicah swam side by side for three years with the Chinese swimmer. Hardly selling the training secrets.
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