Brian Hoepper
In 100 years’ time, sports historians might puzzle over the FINA Masters Top 10 results of recent years.
Up until 2019, only the most outstanding athletes made the list.
For Noosa Masters, that meant club legend (and coach) Jan Croft – a perennial star – and a handful of other fine swimmers over the years.
But the Top 10 list for 2020 caused a ripple of delight during post-training coffee.
An unprecedented 13 Noosa swimmers gained Top 10 badges in 39 individual events. Many had never dreamed of seeing their names up in lights.
Coach Jan jokingly claimed total credit for this remarkable result, but there was a sobering bigger picture explanation, revealed below.
FINA has now released the Top 10 results for 2021, and what a difference.
Only two Noosa swimmers placed in the Top 10 in individual events – the indefatigable freestyler Jan Croft and the aspiring butterfly queen Jo Matthews. Jan placed ninth in the 200m Free (3:31.87), sixth in the 400m (7:24.26) and fourth in the 800m (14:57.61).
Jo placed 10th in the 100m Fly (1:39.83) and eigth in the 200m (3:59.30).
How might those sports historians of the future explain this rollercoaster ride in Top 10 results? The answer lies well beyond the pool. Put simply, in 2020 the Americans (and many others) were missing.
As Covid ripped through country after country in 2020, competitive swimming disappeared in many places. Some powerhouse nations experienced long lockdowns. Swim meets were a long way down the priority list in seriously suffering societies.
But in those early days, Australia escaped the worst of the pandemic. Enough swim meets were held to allow many swimmers to post times that – unexpectedly – placed them in the top 10 globally.
New names appeared in the FINA lists. But the Americans (and the Germans, the Italians, the Japanese and more) were missing.
In 2021, most of them were back, reclaiming their spots in the Top 10.
But for some Noosa swimmers, there was still a glimpse of glory. The results demonstrated an impressive depth in relay swimming. Fifteen Noosa swimmers placed in Top 10 relay teams: Jan and Jo were joined by Lois Hill, LiQun Hussey, Helen Malar, Wendy Nothdurft, Diane Scott-Davies, Peter Fidler, Brian Hoepper, Robert Jolly, Gerald Little, Studley Martin, Trevor Mathews, Ian Robinson and Ian Tucker.
Who knows what 2022 will bring? A new normal perhaps. Or – with fears that the invasion of Ukraine could provoke a wider European conflict, and with newer variants of the Covid virus striking in various countries – might we see, along with widespread destruction and human suffering, another dramatic impact on FINA Top 10 results? We hope not.
