ARNE BORG’S STYLE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 30 March 1929, Page 12

ARNE BORG’S STYLE

* WORLD’S CHAMPION SWIMMER UNIQUE LEG ACTION. DISPLAY AT AUCKLAND. The world-famous Swedish swimmer Arne Borg, furnished evidence ol h» versatile ability last week when R competed at a carnival held by the Auckland Centre at the Tepid Baths He won the two events in which he competed, defeating the Dominion s best sprinter over iOO yards, and the best middle distance swimmer over a quarter of a mile. In neither race was he fidlv extended. Borg’s willingness to compete in all the events in which he was qualified was much appreciated by officials of the Auckland Centre, especially in view of the fact that as the Australian officials omitted to notify lam lie did not know he was to swim m Auckland until informed on his arrival. He immediately consented to fall m with the arrangements that had already been made. By swimming in a handicap, he did something which lie has never done before when on any tour. Ihrthonnorc, ho had not swam a hundred yards since. August. _ T ~ As he was opposed by the New Zealand champion and record holder, J. \Y Cameron, of Wellington, it was thought Borg, who does not claim to lie a sprinter would have nis colours lowered in the 100 yards scratch race. ■ He was apparently hard pressed toi two-thirds of the distance by Cameron, but after this stage he was master of ■ the situation, winning by a second m 55 3-ijsec, one-fifth of a second faster than CaAieron’s New Zealand record and 5 3-ssec. outside the worlds record, held by J. Weissmuller, of Ame-j Irica Cameron put up a plucky hglit, 'but there were several factors which j told against him. 1 ANTICS ON STARTING BOARD. Borg’s antics on the starting board, his action of swimming half a length of the bath to limber up his muscles, followed bv the careful drying of his face and 'to cap all, the manner m which he caused his opponents to leave the board in a false start were probably all factors which would shattter the' calm composure of any young swimmer. However, it is quite piobable Borg would have won in any case. Although he captured the 440 yards handicap with ease, after making no effort to put up good time, Borg, was in good form, registering the very last time for New Zealand of omin 7 2-osec. His best effort in Australia was 4mm | |'sßsec. His fastest known time is 4mm 52 3-ssec, which stood as the world s record from 1925 to 1928, when Weismuller reduced it to 4mm 52sec Some idea of Borg’s remarkable pace when swimming a mile is afforded by the fact that his time, smm 7 2-osec, was 2 2-ssec. slower than his first quarter mile sectional time which lie recorded in a mile swim in Sydney 1 when he created a new world s record iof 21min. 6 4-ssec. His average time I for each quarter of a mile was about omin. 16 3-sse.c. . ~ \ The New Zealand champion, G. Brid-j son, who was conceded 18scc by Borg, swam well, but like Cameron, he did 'not approach his best form. MASTER WATER, POLO PLAYER. At water polo Borg is a master player. His display was a revelation, as he showed how wonderfully interesting and spectacular the game can be when played properly. After seeing him phiy one does riot wonder why crowds attend matches in Europe. With forward or backhand ! shots he buries the ball with terrific force. He is clever, tricky and handles the ball with the skill of a juggler. As a member of the Auckland B team Borg played the opposing A team virtually on his own, scoring five of the seven goals. Borg classes liimself as trie third] best player in the world, acknowledging a Frenchman and a Hungarian to be" better than himself. He said he and a friend in Sweden would defeat any combination in Australia or New ] Zealand. The methods of champions are always regarded as the basis from which points in style are copied, and reports that Borg repaired in America to a noted coach infused a keener interest to see if his stroke had been radically altered since his last visit. Borg’s swimming is characterised by _a very high body position. His back is arched so that the eyes are raised above water level. SLOWER, ARM STROKES.

Close observation proved Borg’s arm strokes are not as quick and are shorter than they were in 1924. When Borg was last here he placed his hands iii the water slightly in front of his head and then shot them out to thenfull length. Now, when .going forward with the arms, the reach is comfort{ablo, not excessive, leaving the shoulders square at the catch. This lengthening of. the stroke appears to be the only difference in his action. The elbow is slightly higher than the hand, which is placed* in the water in line with the shoulders. When applying pressure (the drive) his shoulders roll slightly on the arm, but not the body. It should be noted that his shoulders do not submerge at any stage of the cycle of the stroke. In pulling he follows the orthodox American method which is an accepted principle of swimming action. This is to sweep the hands right under the body to the waist and then to recover. Borg has remarkably relaxed shoulder muscles and the recovery is made by raising the shoulders and then shooting the arms forward and downward. The I right arm catches before the left is recovered and vice versa. RESISTANCE R EDVC ED. Summed up, Borg’s style embraces all the fundamental principles of the modern methods of propulsion. By his high, arched body xtosition, he takes advantage of the hydropianino principle, which reduces resistance to a minimum, thereby saving energy. His non-excessive reach eliminates overbalancing. which would cause the elbow to sink, thus rendering the first part of the drive ineffective. Continuous propulsion is obtained from the arms, j each beginning its pull before the other has relinquished, pressure on the water. Through rolling his shoulders Borg puts ail his weight on his arms to obtain greater propelling power. He follows a correct principle m that the i arm has entered the water before the shoulder falls upon it, thereby preventing the shoulders from being submergo,rat any stage of the stroke. Borg’s foot action differs entirely from present methods. It is undoubtedly his own natural method . He uses more or less the old Australian fourbeat crawl timing, in which it was usual to do only one beat to each arm, 1

but Borg has arranged his kicking so that he does a downward and up and I down heat with the right leg as the left arm drives, and one major downward kick with his left leg with the right arm drive. Therefore he has a .four-beat crawl. He times his right foot actions when he turns to the right to breathe. Borg’s stroke could be copied without any fear that it is against the accepted principles of swimming. In respect to his leg action, however it would not be advisable to adopt Jus method. His timing is characteristic of his own natural style, and it is improbable it could be adopted with am success. The six and eight-beat actions which Johnny Weissmuller and other world’s champions employ are better methods to practise.