Talk:Benoît Lecomte

Untitled
This sounds like a massive accomplishment. Why isn't this guy more famous?

Regarding the suspected typo (and the absentfamousness), please take ocean currents into account when you look at the average speed. Ynh 14:50, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

A comment on the factual accuracy follows. Originally by User:131.156.3.93, moved from the article text here by me. GregorB 17:04, August 23, 2005 (UTC)


 * Note that there must be a typo or something here and in the reference below, which states he swam 72 days. Swimming that long at 8 hours per day, a 3736-mile journey would require an average speed of over 6 mph. The world record speed for a single mile is just 4 mph. Perhaps "16-18 hours a day" was intended, although even at that, a sustained 3mph pace is a very good speed.

although you do make a good point for the impossibility of such a feat, here are a few references to back the story: http://www.france-amerique.com/infos/dossier/September11/anniversary6.htm http://www.legendinc.com/Pages/ArchivesCentral/COTDArchives/1998/10198.html http://www.freep.com/news/nw/wswim19_19991119.htm http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/09-98/09-26-98/zzzwnppl.htm http://www.hsilai.org/english/merittimes/detail.asp?index=16396&page=A http://www.ambafrance-us.org/news/statmnts/2002/franceus082802.asp

And they all agree on the facts. He made the swim in 1998 to raise money for cancer research after his father died. He performed the feat in 72 although some say 71 days from Hyannis, Mass., to Quiberon, France. he now lives in Austin Texas. He's also swam across the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast between Washington DC and NYC on September 11, 2002, an event he called the 'swim for Liberty'

Also, he used a "monofin" which enables swimmers to swim quite a bit faster than traditional swim strokes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/180273.stm

Time On Your Hands
WOW! I am quite glad to see you have enough free time and raw ambition to muse over swimming speeds and actually go and back yourself up with those websites (BLATANT SARCASM). The truth is the IP adress from the edit is the Pennridge High School of Perkasie, Pennsylvannia network. Me and many other students use and abuse wikipedia from there and also frequently vandalize. You could of just told the kid that he is a frikin idiot and been done with it he'll never see the talk anyway. --Igilli 02:26, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

He SHOULD be more famous
We had a chance to meet and interview Ben Lecomte a few years ago, and he provided us footage taken by his support crew during the marathon swim. We have no reason to doubt his accomplishment, and have alwyas been surprised that he only achieved 15 minutes of fame for it.

Our interview and some of the footage can be seen at walkie-lookie.com.
 * Please, do it without a boat an electric forcefield and I'll be impressed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.231.90.116 (talk) 18:26, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Hm, try it yourself and stop whining. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.126.234.220 (talk) 00:38, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Google Maps
The Google Maps directions no longer appear. Just "We could not calculate directions between Hyannis, Massachusetts and Quiberon, France."Kylefreeman (talk) 21:44, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Took this out
It looked like it belonged here instead: " The world record for 1500M freestyle is 14min:34.56sec set by Grant Hackett of AUS in 7/30/2001.  1500 meters is .93 miles. This converts to 15:39/mile. If a swimmer swam at this pace for 8 hours a day it would take 120.768 days to swim 3,716 miles. The pace per mile for the swim listed above at 8 hours a day is 9 minutes 18 seconds which is 6 minutes per mile faster than world record pace for merely one mile.  Did Lecomte actually swim this distance in the time state above?"

128.36.70.173 (talk) 07:44, 8 February 2009 (UTC)


 * And I took out the spurious calculation of his average speed and distance, which showed him exceeding the world record (in a 50m race ) for the entire crossing of the Atlantic!)

The "spurious calculation" was based on the numbers listed in the article. If the numbers in the article are correct then you would find the calculation of the average speed per mile was not only objective, but also correct, hardly spurious. (which is why I showed the step by step math)Why it was completely deleted rather than put in discussions is curious. The post that was deleted was as follows: "Lecomte covered 51.6 miles per day swimming 8 hours a day his pace per mile would be 9 minutes and 18 seconds. (8 hours x 60 minutes/hour = 480 minutes. 3716 miles / 72 days= 51.6 miles/day.  480minutes/51.6 miles= 9.30 minutes per mile )"  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.91.179.162 (talk) 19:23, 9 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Clearly he did NOT actually swim the whole distance, as the previous comment shows (I agree it was inappropriate in the main article.) See also the comment to this effect by Jennifer Figge's manager (original here). Earthlyreason (talk) 18:08, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

If the calculation was "spurious" then so are the numbers in the main article because the calculations are based on the numbers from the article. So by that logic, the numbers in the article need to be verified or justified by supporting facts or should be deleted as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.91.179.162 (talk) 02:40, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I agree that the numbers appear to be fishy (ha), but that is what the sources cited say. Your calculation is good, but Wikipedia is not the place for original analysis of data. If you can find a -published- source with this analysis, feel free to add a section back in. 128.36.70.173 (talk) 06:21, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Article Incomplete
As an encyclopedia entry more facts should be listed to make the article more credible. An encyclopedia article should cover the facts of the topic in its entirety. For example:

1. Did the boat remain at the same GSP coordinates at the end of each session in order for him to start the next session at the same location?

2. Did the boat drift or sail during his breaks, thus changing the actual distance that he swam?

3. Did ocean currents enhance his pace?

4. Was it a freestyle swim or was a snorkel and mono-fin used?

None of these items would diminish the remarkable feat achieved by Benoit Lecomte, rather they would more clearly describe his phenomenal achievement. The calculation of the pace merely adds perspective and raises some questions about the details of the event that are missing from the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.91.179.162 (talk) 02:28, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

This man is a FRAUD. As reported by the Rocky Mountain News while investigating the Jennifer Figge scandal, Lecombe's "feat" is physically impossible http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/09/aspen-womans-atlantic-swim-carries-asterisk/. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Smratlik (talk • contribs) 02:26, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I just deleted some original research from the article, suggesting that the Gulf Stream could have given Lecombe a 4 mph push. That's spurious (I doubt he followed the Gulf Stream perfectly, and the speeds still defy credibility), but I deleted it only because it was original research. If someone can find a source making this same claim, we can include it in the article. David (talk) 22:54, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

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