Can someone outline the ideal physical characteristics for excellence in the front crawl stroke of swimming?

Question

and why is this so?

Answer 1

I disagree completely with the previous answer. First of all, Barrowman and Hansen are breaststrokers. Piersol and Rogan are backstrokers. And Biondi, Phelps, and Dolan are in totally different freestyle events - sprint, mid, and distance respectively, but DO have the same build.

For excellence in front crawl, ideal physical characteristics include being tall, having long arms, and having a lean body composition. A tall person with long arms and good technique can cover more ground per stroke cycle than his shorter counterpart. Throw in the fact that a lean object travels through the water with more efficiency than a wide-body object.

Phelps, Dolan, and Biondi are all tall, lanky, and lean. So are Cullen Jones, Peter Vanderkaay, Klete Keller, Ian Thorpe, Peiter VdHoogenband, Grant Hackett, Jason Lezak, and Gary Hall, Jr. All truly great modern freestylers with the exception of an occasional distance (1500m) swimmer are tall.

Answer 2

There is no "ideal" body type in swimming... People tend to think great swimmers have one shape.

Tom Dolan looks nothing like Michael Phelps, who looks nothing like Matt Biondi, who looks nothing like Mike Barrowman, who looks nothing like Brendan Hansen who looks nothing like Aaron Peirsol who doesn't even resemble Markus Rogan.

Janet Evans looks nothing like Jenny Thompson, who looks nothing like Kaitlin Sandeno, who looks nothing like Amanda Beard...

You get the idea.

The main thing is to have a feel for the water given your body type. A good balance of fat to lean muscle mass can help. Ideally a swimmer has a healthy body with good cardio and amazing technique. A good coach, good workouts and lots of desire are more "ideal" than any body type!

In repsonse to the height question below, being "tall" does not necessarily make you a good swimmer. Though granted it is a physical characteristic shared by most male Olympians and champions, being over 6' tall doesn't instantly make you a good swimmer. Short people can be fast too! And tall people can be slow, trust me! Technique does not come based on body type alone and I stand by that simply because I've seen people of all shapes and sizes compete and compete well.