Use goggles? I don’t think they’d been invented back in 1948

they can check we are not getting too fat or too skinny. HALSALL: I’ve not got much muscle, have I?!

HALSALL: I don’t know. I didn’t want to do 800m. So boring! So 100m became my thing. I think it comes down to technique and power-toweight ratio. I’m not that heavy but what I can do compared to my weight is pretty good. I can bench-press more than I weigh. I can bench-press 65kg and weigh 60kg. And I can deadlift 100kg. I do chins, too. Compared to my weight I am fairly strong. Do you think swimmers look different now, Ron? Have their physiques changed much?

STEDMAN: I don’t think there has been an enormous change. We didn’t do weight training and we had no coaches. I’m not sure the technique has changed that much. Watching it I certainly can’t see much difference, except that you’re much quicker than we were. You guys can do 100m flat out. In my day I think we probably had to pace ourselves more. The fitness levels today are much higher. STEDMAN: In my day you had to touch the end of the bath with your hand. Today you touch with your feet. The turn was slower. And no, there were no goggles. I don’t think they had been invented.

HALSALL: I wouldn’t be able to swim with my eyes open without goggles. Did you have a national championships, Ron?

STEDMAN: We did. I was beaten in 1947 and, while I’d still like to congratulate the fellow who beat me, it was an open air pool in Hastings with the sea coming over the wall. On that particular day it was like swimming in open water, it was so windy. The race was a 100- yard straight, you couldn’t really see where you were going in the dark water and I got beaten on the touch. But I went on to win the title in ’48 and ’49.

STEDMAN:

I appeared on the