" The first was the news that if the great American swimmer Buster Crabbe, winner of the 1932 men’s 400-meter freestyle, had swum in the present Olympic Games at the same pace he did in 1932 (and admittedly this would be asking a lot, as he has been dead for many years), he would have lost to Ian Thorpe by two full pool lengths. Isn’t that amazing? "

― Bill Bryson , In a Sunburned Country