＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
<7/14/2019 Postscript>We wish Rikako Ikee, who has announced that she has leukemia, a speedy recovery.
Rikako Ikee, who announced in February 2019 that she has leukemia and is currently undergoing medical treatment, we hope that she will continue to take good care of herself.
In the swimming events, there are “stars” or “leading athletes” in freestyle (crawl), butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke, and individual medley. These include Kousuke Hagino in individual medley and freestyle, Daiya Seto in butterfly and individual medley, Yasuhiro Koseki in breaststroke, Ryosuke Irie in backstroke, and for women, Rikako Ikee in freestyle and butterfly, Kanako Watanabe in breaststroke, Natsumi Sakai in backstroke, and Yui Ohashi in individual medley.
However, the one who is attracting the most attention is Rikako Ikee, a third-year high school student. Last year, she set a series of new Japanese records, and at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics she will be 20 years old, which is likely to be the best time of her life as a swimmer.
1. High-speed swimsuits
The British manufacturer of competitive swimwear, SPEEDO, has developed a high-speed swimsuit called the “Laser Racer.” For both men and women, the swimsuit is similar to a scuba diving wetsuit, tightly covering the entire body except for the arms. In 2008, athletes wearing it set a series of new world records, which caused quite a stir.
High-speed swimsuit is characterized by having no seams, which reduces resistance and is said to be water-repellent, but it has the disadvantage that it is so tight that it cannot be put on or taken off by oneself.
Subsequently, leading Japanese manufacturers Mizuno, Descente, and Asics, as well as Yamamoto Chemical Industry, a top manufacturer of wetsuit materials, joined the competition. However, in 2009, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) decided to ban the use of the LZR Racer from 2010, bringing an end to the “high-speed swimsuit development race” using materials other than fabric.
Because of this dramatic decision to ban the use of high-speed swimsuits, the records set after that were naturally lower. For this reason, records set using high-speed swimsuits are sometimes referred to as “records from the era of high-speed swimsuits.”
Thus, the “high-speed swimsuits” that were developed with the aim of shortening times were banned in 2010 because they were too restrictive, difficult to put on and take off by oneself, and took a very long time. I think this was a good thing, as it put an end to this “excess.”
2. Drug suspicions and doping violations
As I mentioned in my previous article on track and field, drug suspicions and doping violations have also come to light in the swimming world.
China’s Sun Yang is a superstar who won two gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics and holds the world record in the 1500m freestyle, but in 2014 he was banned for three months for doping violations.。
<7/14/2019 addendum> China’s Sun Yang destroyed a blood sample with a hammer to obstruct a doping test?
According to a report of the Australian Daily Telegraph, which obtained a report compiled by the doping panel of the “International Swimming Federation” (FINA), “Chinese swimming ace Sun Yang, sometimes referred to as a problem child, was arrested in September 2018 at an ‘unannounced test’ at his villa in Zhejiang Province after a blood sample taken from him and a security guard destroyed it with him,” according to the report.
FINA has allowed Sun Yang to compete in the 2019 World Championships, which will begin on July 21, but other athletes are angry and calling for him to be banned. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has also filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Many Chinese swimmers were found guilty of doping violations in the 1990s. When Ye Shiwen won the gold medal in the 400m individual medley at the 2012 London Olympics in an astonishing time, drug allegations swirled.
In 2005, Petra Schneider, a female swimmer from the former East Germany, made the shocking news by confessing to doping violations, saying, “The 400m individual medley record I set in 1982 was the result of doping, and I want it to be erased.”
She won the 400m individual medley at the 1982 World Championships, setting a new world record of 4 minutes 36.10 seconds. At the time, this record was even called “an immortal record.”
This record was later broken by China’s Chen Yan, who won the 1998 World Championships in a new world record of 4 minutes 34.79 seconds. However, she was completely defeated by Japan’s Yasuko Tajima at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games and the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and has not been seen since.
At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, there was also news that a Chinese female swimmer had tested positive for doping.
Drug allegations and doping violations in China and former Soviet Union, such as East Germany, have been pointed out many times before. However, what is particularly concerning is the revelation in 2015 of “Russia’s state-sponsored doping violations and its sophisticated and malicious cover-up.”
While drug suspicions and doping violations may have an aspect of a desire for individual records, it seems to be true that in the world of sports, not only in military, economic, and scientific power, but also in the world of sports, there is a frightening aspect of the ambition of a hegemonic nation that will stop at nothing to win, aiming to increase the number of gold medals won to enhance national prestige.
Just how far can a person’s swimming records be improved as a result of “natural training without the aid of drugs”? After all, nothing good comes from going too far. Swimmers are probably training hard for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but please do your best and don’t push yourself too hard.