The distribution of a swimmer's stamina in competitive 200 m race is very important. The performance depends not only on a swimmer's capability, but also on the strategy of stamina allocation across the four segments. In the present research, athletes who had participated in 200 m items in the 13th FINA World championships (2009, Rome) were allocated into three groups based on their performance, and these groups were top-elite swimmers (top 3 in finals), mid-elite swimmers (top 16 in heats) and lower-elite swimmers (bottom 12 in heats) respectively. Data of the segmental time and the time ratios (the percentage of segmental time in one's total time) of the three groups were analyzed. The results showed that the first and second segmental time ratios (STRs) of the top- and mid-elite groups were relatively larger than those of the lower-elite group. But the situation of the last two STRs was opposite. SONI Rebecca (a very famous USA breaststroke swimmer) missed medals of her strongest 200 m breaststroke event due to her too fast velocity in the first and second segments. These suggested that only the proper allocation of four STRs in 200 m items could bring athletes to their highest performance. So it is very important to optimizing the mode of time allocation during daily training, especially for the gifted swimmers lacking experiences. Based on the above research results, we developed a navigation system for regulating athlete's swimming speed during training. The system was composed of 15 watertight LED lamps laying on the bottom of the pool, a computer, a control unit, a starting unit with speaker, and other components. It can modulate the timing and duration of every LED lamp. The course of a swim training session could be guided by the lighting timing of each lamp in turn and therefore could be converted into a parameter file. Coaches could compile the parameter file to obtain desired training speed for the very athlete. And the athlete could regulate his/her speed according to the clue of the lamps controlled by the navigator. For instance, if the lamp ahead of the athlete was illuminated, it meant their speed was too low. If the illuminated lamp was just under the athlete's face, it meant the speed of the athlete was the desired one. All kinds of distance training course could be navigated by the system. It could not only guild a single training course, but could also perform several training sessions which demand strict intervals. It will save considerable amount of energy and time of coaches and improve their training efficiency. It has been authorized the invention
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