The title of this post is the famous principle by legend Forbes Carlisle and I was reminded of it by an article on swimnews recently pointing out that Ryk Neethling had finaled in both the 1996 and 2000 1,500 freestyle events then gold medaled in the 4 x 100 in Athens 2004.The example of starting in the distance events before developing into a world-class sprint star is not unusual. Tom Jager (pictured in what has to be the best ever picture of a power start) first held the world 50m record on 6 December 1985 and eventually reliquished it on 16 June 2000, taking it from 22.52 to 21.81. However, the first time he qualified for US Nationals he did so on the 1,500. Mark Spitz held the 400m freestyle world record twice. Ian Thorpe combined a 48.56 100m and a 7:39.16 800m.
It's highly unusual for a swimmer to be good at short and long distances at the same time, although Shane Gould managed to hold the world records at all distances from 100m through 1,500m during the 1970's (FINA did not recognise the 50m at that time), and Brett Naylor won the NZ Championships at every freestyle distance, 50m through 1,500m, but they are exceptional exceptions. It's not unusual, though, for swimmers to stand out at different distances as they develop and mature. In these cases the pattern is invarably long to short, giving substance to the 'rule' that younger swimmers should be given a substantial diet of aerobic-based work and lending evidence to the 'command' of Carlisle; speed through endurance.
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