In order to be completely fair at many professional competitions and marathon swimming events, there are random number selections so no athlete can complain that one boat crew or another escort boat is better than theirs. This objectivity enables an actual and perceived fairness to be shared by all.
At the Faros Maratón in Croatia, this random selection process is done publicly during a presentation of the swimmers.
The process is quite entertaining and cool.
On stage with the athletes waiting in the wings, two young girls randomly pull out the names of swimmers and then the name and number of the swimmers are matched up. Each swimmer is given a shirt with their specific number on it (1, 2, 3, 4, up to 35) as the numbers are drawn.
Then cute young children walk the athletes across the stage and each athlete is photographed with their new number and t-shirt. Through a whiff of smoke emitted on stage, the crowd applauds for the athletes. With the cute children escorting the warriors of the water on stage, the random selection process is a great way to generate excitement for today’s 16 km professional marathon swim.
But in a nod to tradition and in an exception to the randomness of the number selection, Irene van der Laan of the Netherlands, swimming in her 20th Faros Maratón was intentionally given the number 20.
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.