Qualifying for world events?

"Micheal Artindale" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have always wondered how the poeple who compete in the world events,
like
FINA at Montreal, or any other races like it?

Is it just pay an amount and you are in? Or do you have to have a
qualifying
time?

Different sports handle this in different ways, but it's never allowed
(at least publicly) just to pay and get in. It's usually some
combination of your placement at one or more authorized meets during the
year before the world's and/or the judgement of your country's selection
committee. The World's and the Olympics don't necessarily work the same
way in any given sport.

I compete as an AAU powerlifter, and they take the approach that they
want people in all ages and weight classes, so the qualifying standards
for some of us (me included) are quite low. I went to the most recent
world's although there wasn't anything particularly world-class about my
performance and even came away with a couple of gold medals and a world
record (the record was simply because none had ever been set in my
age/weight class before).

I realize this is not exactly about swimming as I've answered the
question but I thought some perspective might be valuable to the
discussion.

Steve "swam a little this afternoon" Freides
http://www.kbnj.com

Quoted message said:

....more things that rattle around in my brain

Thanks,

Micheal

"Micheal Artindale" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I have always wondered how the poeple who compete in the world events, like
FINA at Montreal, or any other races like it?

Is it just pay an amount and you are in? Or do you have to have a qualifying
time?

....more things that rattle around in my brain

Thanks,

Micheal

If by "world events" you mean "world masters events", then the answer
is "it depends".

In general, it seems to be that at a world masters "Games" event then
there are no qualifying times etc. You just put in your entry, pay
your money, book your travel & accommodation & off you go. There also
seem to be less restrictions about having to belong to registered
organisations, ie USMS etc.

At a world masters "Championships" event there is more likely to be
qualifying times. You also have to belong to your appropriate
national organisation. The qualifying standard required seems to be
variable depending on where they are being held and seem to be mainly
a tool for keeping entry numbers manageable. When they were held in
Christchurch, New Zeland in 2002, there were only qualifying times for
events of 200m & up (all strokes) and these were reasonably easy times
(for me, anyway). There were under 3000 swimmers at that meet, as
obviously travel was a factor for many. However for last years' event
in Riccione, Italy, there was qualifying standards for all distances &
all strokes, and in my age group (womens 40-44) I could not have made
any of the times. I think they had something like 6000-7000 swimmers,
so needed a more stringent standard.

The standards generally seem to be tougher in the younger age groups
where there are more swimmers competing, and relatively easier for
older age groups. When I swum in 2002 I was only asked to declare
where & when I had swum the qualifying time, there was no requirement
that this was in any level of competition or sanctioned event. If you
swum outside that time at the event then you didn't have a time
recorded for that race.

This has been my experience of the situation with swimming, anyway -
other sports may well be different.

HTH

Liz D

[email hidden] (Liz D) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"Micheal Artindale" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I have always wondered how the poeple who compete in the world events, like
FINA at Montreal, or any other races like it?

Is it just pay an amount and you are in? Or do you have to have a qualifying
time?

....more things that rattle around in my brain

Thanks,

Micheal

If by "world events" you mean "world masters events", then the answer
is "it depends".

In general, it seems to be that at a world masters "Games" event then
there are no qualifying times etc. You just put in your entry, pay
your money, book your travel & accommodation & off you go. There also
seem to be less restrictions about having to belong to registered
organisations, ie USMS etc.

At a world masters "Championships" event there is more likely to be
qualifying times. You also have to belong to your appropriate
national organisation. The qualifying standard required seems to be
variable depending on where they are being held and seem to be mainly
a tool for keeping entry numbers manageable. When they were held in
Christchurch, New Zeland in 2002, there were only qualifying times for
events of 200m & up (all strokes) and these were reasonably easy times
(for me, anyway). There were under 3000 swimmers at that meet, as
obviously travel was a factor for many. However for last years' event
in Riccione, Italy, there was qualifying standards for all distances &
all strokes, and in my age group (womens 40-44) I could not have made
any of the times. I think they had something like 6000-7000 swimmers,
so needed a more stringent standard.

The standards generally seem to be tougher in the younger age groups
where there are more swimmers competing, and relatively easier for
older age groups. When I swum in 2002 I was only asked to declare
where & when I had swum the qualifying time, there was no requirement
that this was in any level of competition or sanctioned event. If you
swum outside that time at the event then you didn't have a time
recorded for that race.

This has been my experience of the situation with swimming, anyway -
other sports may well be different.

HTH

Liz D

The first requirement to qualify for FINA World Championships, which
is what the proposed meet for Montreal is, is to be a competitive
member of a National swimming body affiliated with FINA. In Australia
this then means being a registered member of a State Association
afilliated with Swimming Australia. In my case I am a member of
SwimSA.

The next requirement is to be selected by this National organisation
as one of their maximum two representatives in any event at these
championships. Stringent time limits do generally apply and these can
be found on the FINA website at www.fina.org . National organisations
may impose further time limits, as does Swimming Australia. Their
further restrictions are that the swimmer must come first or second in
the event at the National Championships, which also usually serve as
Selection Trials for whatever major event is taking place that year
and to swim a time within the predetermined mark. These criteria are
what caused the problems in selecting the Australian team for the
Athens Olympics when Ian Thorpe false started in the heats of the 400
m Freestyle at the Australian Championships, therefore being
disqualified. The impasse was only resolved when the swimmer who did
place second in the Championship final withdrew from the event,
thereby enabling Swimming Australia to exercise their selection powers
in choosing a replacement and reinstating Thorpe.

Olympic Games have similar restrictions to World Championships with
two swimmers per country per individual event and one team per relay.
Other events may have different restrictions. The Commonwealth Games
allow three swimmers from each country in each event while the PanPac
Championships have a more convoluted eligibility clause. Details can
probably be found on their respective websites.