平泳ぎ／ぎよおらひ

I don't know if it's the strangely appropriate B'z song that's playing in the background or what, but this clip never fails to crack me up.



I retired my goggles quite some time ago, but this video actually makes me want to learn how to swim backwards. Interestingly, when I was much younger and swimming competitively, I amassed a rather alarming collection of 1st place ribbons with this very stroke. Had I decided to continue to pursue swimming, I think a backwards (or sideways) breaststroke might have been a natural progression. After all, if you've got an unbeatable stroke - which at the time, I certainly thought I had - why not do it backwards to change things up a little? =) I think swimmers probably go a little crazy from spending too much time in the water, but as a former swimmer myself, I can totally understand this guy's train of thought.