It's a Photo Finish!

There is no doubt that Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer of all-time.  Unlike most sports where there’s at least a debate, Phelps would likely get a unanimous nod if you asked 100 random people to name their choice. 

I’d also bet that the gap between 1^st and 2^nd in terms of greatest swimmer of all-time is probably larger than in any other sport. 

Jack Nicklaus would likely win the debate in golf, but Nelson, Hogan, Tiger, and a few others would be in the conversation.  Football, Baseball, Tennis, and Soccer all have multiple heroes, so arguing the greatest would almost certainly prove inconclusive.  Even in basketball, Jordan may get the most votes, but it’s likely that Russell, Magic, and Bird would get their fair share.

But Swimming?  Who is going to dispute that Phelps is the best swimmer?  Consider a few of these quick fun facts:

1    1.  Phelps has 18 Olympic gold medals…the most all-time.  2^nd place is 9.  Are you kidding?  He’s won double the number of golds as the 2^nd most decorated Olympian in history.

2    2.  Since Phelps took home his first gold in 2004, he has won more gold medals by himself than all but 11 countries have won from all of their athletes combined.  Read that sentence again…not bad.

3    3.  Phelps once swam so fast that Chuck Norris nearly drowned from the waves in the next lane.

Sorry, I made up that last one.  I thought nearly killing Chuck Norris by swimming would provide more credibility to my rationale.

Anyway, you get my point.  Phelps is unbelievably dominant in the world of swimming.

But you know what’s interesting?  “Unbelievably dominant” isn’t really that unbelievably dominant.  After all, Phelps helped the US win the 4X100 relay in 2008 by just 0.08 seconds.  He won the 100 fly in Athens by 0.04 seconds.  He touched the wall just before Cavac in Beijing by 0.01 seconds.  

1 hundredth of a second!  I would say that’s like the blink of an eye, but blinking an eye definitely takes longer than that.  Just check out this picture from his victory.

Crazy.  That’s the sport of swimming for you.  Dudes spend their lives swimming 4-6 hours per day back and forth across the pool for 20 years to try to squeeze out victories by the slimmest of margins.

Surely though, tenths and hundredths of a second only matter for Olympians and not casual swimmers, right? 

Great segue, Schmeis. 

Let’s give that theory a test by attempting my goal of swimming 50 yards in under 28 seconds.

Wow!! Now that was close.  As you see in the video, my feet appear to leave the wall at 19 seconds and I touch the wall at the finish at 47.  47-19 = 28…boom! 

But wait…my goal specifically reads “in under 28 seconds.”  I honestly have no idea whether I did it…way too close to call.  We’re going to need a plan to determine a ruling since there is no Schmeis35for35 international governing body.

I’ve got it!  I’ll use a stopwatch as I view the video so I can get more precision.  It still won’t be exact, but will certainly be better than just having the seconds on YouTube.  I’ll watch 3 times and see what I get for my readings.  Here we go:

You’re not going to believe this…here are the 3 times I got…27.92, 28.02, 27.80.

Well, I guess I’m under 28 if I take the average, but it is still too close to call.  Plus, something seems a bit sketchy about having me as the official timer…that would be like using partisan officials to count votes in an election...that would never happen!

I think we’re going to need a plan B.  I say we follow the Phelps lead and go to a photo finish...

Here’s the new plan:  I will click frame by frame on the video at the start and finish.  I'll then take a picture of each frame.  This should tell me how many frames my feet were still touching the wall at 19 seconds at the start vs. how many frames at 47 seconds it takes before my hand reaches the wall at the finish.

Why does this matter?  Well, assuming each frame is a constant period of time, I can compare the number of frames I'm still touching wall at 19 vs. the number of frames at 47 before I reach the wall and I'll know precisely whether I was over or under 28 seconds in total.

Got it?  I'm sure I've got a few Engineers and Actuaries excited at least.  

Let’s take a look at the results:

Frame 19.1:  Here is the earliest frame I can capture where the clock reads 19.  As you can see, I’m just starting my push and clearly still on the wall.

Frame 19.2:  My hands have come together and my legs are more extended in this frame.  You can see my  feet are still touching the wall though...

Frame 19.3:  Further extension in legs but slight knee bend still exists.  You can also see my hands are now farther in front of the line on the bottom of the pool than in the previous frame.

Frame 19.4:  Legs are nearly fully stretched with toes on both feet still against wall

Frame 19.5:  Toes on left foot barely touching (quality of photo isn’t great here, but original is very clear that toes are still touching).  You'll also notice my head is slightly more across the line on the bottom of the pool than in previous frame.  This is the last frame where any part of me is touching the wall.

So, that proves there are 5 frames with the clock reading 19 seconds where I’m still touching the wall.  All I have to do now is the same thing at the finish to see how many frames exist at 47 seconds before I touch the wall.  

If the number of frames at 47 is less than the number at 19, Mathematics says that I was under 28 seconds.  

Let’s look at the finish:

Frame 47.1:  Here is the first frame where the clock reads 47.  You can see that I have not yet reached the wall.

Frame 47.2:  I’m stretching but still not quite there…

Frame 47.3:  I’m not 100% positive, but very confident I hit the wall in this frame.  My head has pulled up from previous frame and extrapolating where my hand would be should have me touching.

Frame 47.4:  If there was any doubt from the previous frame, I’m clearly on the wall below.  This is the 4^th frame at 47 seconds and I’m definitely touching. 

In summary, this means 2 things:

1    1.  Since 5 frames exist of me touching at 19 and only 3 exist before I'm touching at 47, that means I definitely was under 28 seconds! 16^th goal achieved!

      

      2.  Fractions of a second clearly matter for more than just Olympians.  I just wasted a Sunday evening proving that.

Ok, enough with the proofs.  That goal contained way too much drama for me.  I’ll skip the suspense for this next one and just let you watch as I also tried to do my 100 yard freestyle goal of less than 1:10.  Here you go:

Sweet!  That was either 1:05 or 1:06.  I won’t bother with any analytics on that one, but we can all agree that it is far less than 1:10…I guess all the swim training for the Ironman paid off as I wasn’t even close to these goals at the beginning of the year.

Anyway, beating my goals in the 50 and 100 has me up to 17 Schmeis35for35 goals complete with 5 weeks left in 2012!  

I would be pretty excited but one last Phelps fun fact just popped in my head:

He’s achieved more golds (18) than I have goals (17). 

Puke.

Schmeis