Anti-Competitive Swimming Scandal

At a large inter-provincial competitive swim meet, hundreds of swimmers had to be disqualified as a result of rampant anti-competition practices, invalidating all of the race results. Heather Morgenstern, race director and meet coordinator, was "shocked and appalled that such practices would be allowed into the noble sport of competitive swimming." It turns out that, rather than competing in good faith, various swim teams and individual athletes had:

• agreed in advance on what race lengths would be used
• colluded to define standard strokes, including butterfly, back stroke, breast strokes, and freestyle
• used standardized timing methods, timing technology and record-keeping procedures
• met at pre-arranged locations for practice meets and coaching clinics
• coordinated age and skill levels of swimmers in each race
• colluded to limit each race to specific strokes
• encouraged swimmers to train together and develop a feeling of teamwork
• enabled swimmers to feed off each other's pace to go faster
• used standardized water safety and rescue equipment
• used the same lighting, heating, and ventilation systems
• used the same water, at standard temperatures, with standard filtration and chemical treatments
• used standard communication protocols and transportation systems to organize and get to swim meets. 

The shameful list goes on and on. Despite the obvious advantages of competing with each other, these swimmers and their coaches stooped to using cooperation to improve their performance.

Obviously, this is not an entirely serious post; there was no scandal, and the race results were valid. The point is that in every activity, even ones that we think of as purely competitive, we cooperate and work together far more than we realize. The advantages of cooperation, collaboration, and standardization are significant - for companies, customers, society, and swimmers.

Cooperation - dive in and try it!