[tripwires]

South African gold medalist Cameron van der Burgh admitted to taking extra underwater kicks during his 100-meter breaststroke victory last week at the Olympics, an illegal move that would have earned him a disqualification if the judges on deck had seen it.

Swimmers are allowed one underwater dolphin kick during their underwater breaststroke pullouts. Replays show Van der Burgh took three on the start.

He told the Sydney Morning Herald that he took extra kicks, but says he’s not the only one.

”If you’re not doing it, you’re falling behind,” he said. “It’s not obviously – shall we say – the moral thing to do, but I’m not willing to sacrifice my personal performance and four years of hard work for someone that is willing to do it and get away with it.”

Allowing dolphin kicks during breaststroke is relatively new. The rules were changed, in part, because of four-time gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima, a Japanese breaststroke star who routinely added rogue kicks to his underwater. These kicks angered rivals, like American, Brendan Hansen. Then the rule was changed to allow one. But the old “give ‘em an inch” rule came into play and now breaststrokers are trying to sneak in as many kicks as possible, hoping to do it without drawing the attention of officials.

”It’s got to the sort of point where if you’re not doing it you’re falling behind or your giving yourself a disadvantage so everyone’s pushing the rules and pushing the boundaries, so if you’re not doing it, you’re not trying hard enough,” the South African said.

Van der Burgh can get away with the kicks because there is no underwater video review of swimming races. After testing the technology at a meet in 2010, FINA, the international swimming body, has yet to incorporate it in international meets.

After these comments and the potential uproar they’ll create, expect that to change by next year’s world championships.

http://blog.sfgate.com/olympics/2012...-breaststroke/

Pathetic.

When I was in uni, I had a couple of courses where the mode of assessment was by way of a three-hour take-home exam. I knew that virtually everyone was discussing the exam questions on MSN (discussions were obviously not allowed). I did the exams all on my own. I felt great when I got a good grade. I would not have felt as good if I had gotten it by cheating.

What's the value of an Olympic gold medal that's obtained by cheating? Saying that 'everyone else is doing it' is just a cheap excuse, and it's quite sad that this guy seems to feel justified in doing what he did.

Kudos to him for admitting it, I guess.

[Mae]

I think since he admitted himself that he cheated the Gold Medal should be taken away from him! I don't really know which is worse the cheating and getting away with it or coming out and bragging that he got a Gold Medal by cheating!

[tennizen]

That's very idealistic thinking. It happens and everyone is complicit. Every field has its tricks and shortcuts. At least he has the decency to admit it.

[Tommy_Vercetti]

Nothing compared to what Kosuke Kitajima used to do. I shudder to think how many medals have been taken from Hansen by cheaters and incompetent officials.

[BigJohn]

This is not good news, but I am more troubles by the revelation that Olympic swimmers pee in the pool all the time... I swam for years in the National Training Center pool in Montreal, sometimes in the very next lane to a few dozens of those guys and gals who trained there everyday. Unclean... UNCLEAN!!!

[Li Ching Yuen]

Tripwires reminds me of that lawyer in your favorite crime drama. Endearing.

Everyone cheats.
I wear suspensors whenever I make love for example.

[Johnny Groove]

No offense, Miss tripwires. I understand your point, but a uni exam is just a tad below an Olympic Gold medal. Just a tad.

Personally, I believe that swimmers should be able to do whatever extra kicks or whatever that they have taught themselves to get an edge.

Why inflict a rule that you cannot enforce? Allow them as many kicks as they want, give them carte blanche, and the true champion will emerge, and the crowd will enjoy it more.

[BroTree123]

Originally Posted by tripwires

Pathetic.

When I was in uni, I had a couple of courses where the mode of assessment was by way of a three-hour take-home exam. I knew that virtually everyone was discussing the exam questions on MSN (discussions were obviously not allowed). I did the exams all on my own. I felt great when I got a good grade. I would not have felt as good if I had gotten it by cheating.

What's the value of an Olympic gold medal that's obtained by cheating? Saying that 'everyone else is doing it' is just a cheap excuse, and it's quite sad that this guy seems to feel justified in doing what he did.

Kudos to him for admitting it, I guess.

That just defeats the purpose of doing the "exam" (if you can even call it that since you could take it home for crying out loud)

But relating to this issue, there's some validity in your point. Except what the swimmer did was illegal, yet the case of a take-home-exam is not since you can look up answers at home during free time (I assume because of that reason). I see where your coming from though in terms of self-fulfillment.

[tripwires]

Originally Posted by tennizen

That's very idealistic thinking. It happens and everyone is complicit. Every field has its tricks and shortcuts. At least he has the decency to admit it.

Doesn't make it okay, and why is being idealistic a bad thing?

Originally Posted by Li Ching Yuen

Tripwires reminds me of that lawyer in your favorite crime drama. Endearing.

Everyone cheats.
I wear suspensors whenever I make love for example.

Off topic.

Originally Posted by Johnny Groove

No offense, Miss tripwires. I understand your point, but a uni exam is just a tad below an Olympic Gold medal. Just a tad.

I expected this response. Sure, an examination isn't done on as large a scale as the Olympics; but it is of analogous importance to the university student studying in a rather competitive environment who actually cares about her results: it was the pinnacle of my existence as a student, just like the Olympics is the pinnacle of an athlete's life (except tennis players ). The principle is the same: it's a matter of integrity. On a personal level, I can't imagine how anyone can take pride in something that they had to resort to cheating in order to achieve. I couldn't; it'd just be confirmation that I wasn't good enough to do it on my own. But maybe I'm just too idealistic.

Why inflict a rule that you cannot enforce? Allow them as many kicks as they want, give them carte blanche, and the true champion will emerge, and the crowd will enjoy it more.

I agree the rule seems stupid, though I can't proclaim to understand why it's there because I'm not a swimmer. Still, the fact remains that doing more than 1 dolphin kick is against the rules. He did 3. He won a gold medal. Now he's talking about it and getting away with it.

Is this better than those (Asian) badminton teams tanking their matches to avoid facing China in the SFs? Why did they get punished and not this guy?

Originally Posted by BroTree123

That just defeats the purpose of doing the "exam" (if you can even call it that since you could take it home for crying out loud)

It was really awesome I must say. I had my favourite beverage while doing my exam and it was totally relaxed. We downloaded the question from the school's intranet and uploaded our answers after 3 hours.

But relating to this issue, there's some validity in your point. Except what the swimmer did was illegal, yet the case of a take-home-exam is not (I assume because of that reason).

The fact that it was illegal made it a worse form of cheating than, well, cheating on a take-home exam.

[Tommy_Vercetti]

Kozuke use to do at least 3 kicks in every race. They need to crack down on it. And yes, they have the technology. They just don't seem to want to bother.

[rocketassist]

There's a difference between outright cheating and exploiting a loophole.

[djokovicgonzalez]

It is more the judges' fault than the swimmers

[Tommy_Vercetti]

I agree. It's just like in tennis, I don't blame a player for not calling things on himself. It's part of the game.

But it is about character. Like I said, Hansen is the most notable for absolutely refusing to cheat, which definitely cost him gold medals in the OG and WC's for years when he was in his prime.

I respect this guy more than say Fernando Gonzales, who blatantly lied about what happened. Once again, I don't blame him for the incompetence of the official, but lying about it just shows a complete lack of personal character. While this guy obviously knows that the winner of all the breaststroke events from the last two games won because he shamelessly cheated.

[Allez]

Cameron's argument is beyond ridiculous. It's akin to a doper using the mere possibility of competitors doping as an excuse for taking illegal substances themselves. If I don't dope I don't win mentality. If it is an illegal move he ought to be disqualified, though having watched that race, I reckon he still would have won regardless. Seems like a nice fella so it's such a shame he had to knowingly resort to something he knew to be illegal.

[bad gambler]

Originally Posted by Tommy_Vercetti

Kozuke use to do at least 3 kicks in every race. They need to crack down on it. And yes, they have the technology. They just don't seem to want to bother.

FINA changed the rules because of Kitajima