Christine Goodair gives a newcomer's impression of the Munich World Masters Championships.

My first thoughts on arriving at the Olympic Park in Munich a couple have days before the Championships started was the sheer scale of the site and how fresh and modern it looked. Busilt for the 1972 Olympic Games, it is said to be the largest single-site sports complex in Europe. It includes the Olympic Stadium, the Olympic indoor sports hall, and the Olympic Pool. The outside skin of each of these buildings is made from acrylic plates attached to a steel frame. The overall impression is of a series of tents, apparently supported from beneath by giant tent poles, but in fact held up from above by huge cables. The design still seems unmistakably modern, but unlike Crystal Palace, there are few signs of decay or neglect.

Adjoining the site in the Olympiasee, a lake formed by widening the Nymphenburg Canal, itself built to provide water to the gardens of the summer palace of the Electors of Bavaria. Towering over everything is the Olympia Tower, a television tower with a revolving restaurant and a viewing gallery from which the Alps can be seen on a clear day.

The Olympic Pool building houses a 50-metre 8-lane competition pool, 50-metre training pool, and a diving pool. Races started as early as 7 a.m, and on some days did not finish until late evening, understandable when you realise that the men's 50 metres freestyle involved 1000 swimmers in 126 heats. The organisation of the heats was very slick. but one criticism would be the lack of information as to when events were likely to start during the day.

This was my first time at such a major event. After the discovery that I met some qualifying times, and with the encouragement of two members of my club who had already decided to go, I made up my mind to enter. One of the coaches of my club, Jane Asher of King's Cormorants, devised a special training programme for the three of us, which was built into the club training sessions. This helped me decide to enter the 50 and 100 freestyle.

From February onwards I started training with the aim of peaking at Munich. The programme was designed around microcycles to build up stamina and speed. Interspersed through the training I attended several competitions, taking every opportunity to race long course so that when I saw the pool at Munich I would not be too shocked at its length! One of the hardest parts was learning about tapering, as I had not come across this before. One piece of advice from a fellow swimmer, which I followed, was to rest as much as possible for the 24 hours before your race, as wonderfuIly it won't make you lose the speed and technique achieved through training.

Months later I found myself in Munich wondering what I had let myself in for! Would I be nervous? Would I swim well enough? Would I achieve mv aim of getting two new personal bests?

An early conversation gave me some useful tips on how the competition would be organised, in particular the no-false-start ruIe. I quickly realised that there were many ordinary swimmers like me, and from all around the world. Over 7000 swimmers had made the journey to Munich - many from Japan, Brazil, and Australia, as well as large contingents from the USA and Germany. Everyone was very friendly and helpful, for instance the South African Iady who helped me when the zip stuck on my costume.

After 10 days in Munich, I left with the two PBs I had hoped for and the pleasure of winning my 50 heat. I also had many memories of the competition. not least the wonderfully warm reception given to all the 90-year-old swimmers on completion of their races.

And the view of German journalist Claudio Catuogno

At the World Masters for seniors - the largest swimming meet of all time - 16000 athletes passed through the Olympic pool in one week i.e. 16000 starts.

The person who wants to be able to swim in the Masters World Championships must not only swim fast. Above all, they have to be able to change quickly. Just minutes before the start the athletes were standing in the cold outside the schwimmhalle. Klaus Huber was also there, chairman of the governing body of the Munich Men's Swimming Union. He directed his team using an intercom and in addition gave interviews and watched over the identification procedures. The swimmers were called out one by one; from that time it was three minutes until they were in the pool, said Huber.

For rucksacks and training suits, divested at the start, baskets were ready. Quickly changed, a last flex of the muscles, onto the starting block, and Go. Now the time counts, but no one has time here. Seconds after the last swimmer has completed the course the next lot are already diving into the water. For the 400 and 800 freestyle two swimmers compete in the same lane. Seven days long. From 7 in the morning until 11 in the evening.

The World Masters. says Huber, is the largest swimming meet of all time. This makes him proud, but it also stresses him out. 16000 starts in the pool, not counting diving, water polo, and synchronised swimming. Certainly, the majority of the participants are not seniors. Anyone can sign in who meets the relatively low qualifying times and in addition is at least 25 years old. Despite this, well under half the participants are under 40. In 1998. in Casablanca, there were 2500 swimmers. In Munich there are almost three times as many.

While nobody knows exactly when their turn will come, the swimming pool works as an overfull railway station forecourt when there is a strike. Everywhere the waiting people are lying on the stone flags, rolled up together, sleeping, head on sports bag. One Japanese has stretched himself out. undressed. under the hair drier: that was a bit of a nuisance. Children wail, get lost, are found again, cry again.

Chaos constitutes the attraction of the meeting. 'Nothing makes me happier than to see people who bring swimming into their lives" says Hamada Kandil from Cairo. The 77-year-old is himself such a person since he became the Egyptian under-16 champion in 1938. In 2 minutes 28. Today he needs 3 minutes 28. Ivan von Trompowsky, retired airforce pilot, has travelled from Rio de Janeiro. Swimming? 'Wonderful'. Winning? 'Ah, well.' Above all, he has met up in Munich with children and uncles who live in London. The best times, says the 65-year-old, cannot be achieved under these circumstances.

The World Masters functions like an international swimming day. A melting pot of the generations. Indeed, while amongst the older generation some have come to the sport new with the many 25-year-olds competitors have never stopped. Such as the four swimmers from Bologna who spend their time playing cards. They are here 'because we can swim passably well.'

Take as well our swimmer Margot Lenigk and her walking stick. Surely she sought it out, painted black, and elegant. Were such a thing as a sporting stick to exist, then this is it. None of the functional ambulatory aids which signal 'Look, I'm not so good on my feet.' Such a thing is not yet used by this 89-year-old American lady. She is on her way to lane 6, and the 100 metres freestyle. Lenigk does not have to swim fast, and she doesn't. When 91-year-old Julia Dolce reaches the end after 1 minute 22, Lenigk had covered only a quarter of the distance. The water became still, the arena too for the first time today. Lenigk needed 4 minutes 17 seconds, which made her event unusual. Slowness is an exception at the World Masters.

Long after her race Lenigk is still around the pool. She trips away from the pool in the direction of the changing room. That bathing hat! Not a sporty one, as all the other people have. Not even one with a national flag. One of hard rubber, white, ruffled, as people wore in the 1950s. It is noticeable. For minutes there is an active chattering in the grandstand. Behind Lenigk is the Olympic pool. The age groups get younger and younger as they are sent to the start. Changing, diving, swimming. Until 11 in the evening....

Looking the part

One noticeable feature of the Munich meet was the ease with which one could identify the national origins of many of the swimmers. Some are naturals, such as the Dutch swimmers who always stand out in their orange shirts. The Germans too had a distinctive set of team clothing for the occasion. Others were more in your face about it, notably the Peruvians with the stark slogan 'PERU" on their hats and costumes (hats incidentally supplied by a British supplier). The USA swimmers were, as one might expect, very firmly labelled as American swimmers. The British effort was an excellent selection of kit made up by Arena, which gave British participants a corporate identity they often feel they lack.

For a long time the international swimming federation has frowned upon the tendency of swimmers in masters events to seek to identify themselves in national terms. For one thing masters swimmers are self-selecting. They cannot be said to be part of a national team, which conventionally would need to be a selection made by a national body. Another point is that masters competition is based primarily on individual events, with club teams rather than national teams in the team events. (That some 'club' teams seem to have a national dimension is by the way).

To form a judgement based on simple observation of the masters swimmers present in Munich one would be forced to conclude that the pass had been sold as far as a national identity was concerned. Too many swimmers had invested in unofficial or official national uniform. To what extent this urge to swim for one's country rubs off on the legislators remains to be seen, but it would not be surprising if these semi-official national groups did not become a bigger and bigger feature of this meet in future.

Making a point

Meanwhile Dave Francis has been comparing national performances in Munich. 'With a few tweaks to my macro,' he writes, 'I created this country-based league table on a 8-for-first and 1-for-eighth basis:

'I don't know if this is generally seen as desirable,' he continues, 'but if the question of financial support for masters swimming ever comes up these figures might be useful.' W