The Swim Wonder - Original East Germany (GDR) Production скачать в хорошем качестве

The Swim Wonder - Original East Germany (GDR) Production

A film on the development of the East German Women’s National Swim Team. The team that won 11 of the 13 Gold Medals awarded at the Montreal Olympic Games and then again won 11 of the 13 Gold Medals at the Moscow Games; a total of 22 of 26 in these two Olympic Games alone! How did the East Germans (the GDR), with a population of only 17 million, achieve such enormous success in the world of competitive swimming? The film shows how the girls were selected, developed, and nurtured as children and then, how a handful, were eventually cultivated into world champions. The Swim Wonder shows the East Germans’ revolutionary training and fitness methods - which have never before been shown! It depicts the science, the toughness, and the versatility of the preparation for their competitions. While the East Germans concentrated on the physical aspects of their swimmers’ training, the film shows how they also emphasized the psychological and emotional needs of the girls. The heart and brain of the GDR sports miracle, the place where the Olympic Gold medalists were spawned, was the famed Institute of Physical Culture in Leipzig. Before the unification of East and West Germany this Institute trained the hundreds of sports doctors and the thousands of coaches that fanned out across the country to develop East Germany’s athletic legions. In the computers of the Sports Institute were stored the records of performance, of metabolism, blood composition, and physical characteristics of the country’s top swimmers. When a swimmer won a gold medal, broke or tied a world record, or had an extraordinary performance in the pool she was immediately examined. Blood was taken from the earlobe so she could be examined at her absolute peak; the information was then fed into the Institute’s computers. If, after a couple of months, the swimmer was in a slump she was again examined -and in one day - after checking the computerized records in Leipzig they would know if the swimmer had a chemical imbalance or had overtrained which could have caused her poor performance. The film deals impressively with the accusations of drug usage by the East Germans in achieving their unparalleled successes. The camera follows the girls through their training and self-sacrifice and also at relaxation. Rolf Glaser, the world’s most successful swim coach and head of the GDR’s Women’s National Swim Team discusses, during an interview, his attitudes, methods, and philosophy. While the film contains a wealth of information and insight it is also entertaining with slow-motion scenes and an outstanding musical score. The Swim Wonder won the award for Excellence in Sports Journalism at the international festival in Milton Keynes, England. (54 mins)