I saw a swimming contest where all the swimmer except one were normal peple (who swim regularly, the ones on the fast lane at your local pool) and an olympic swimmer.
They jumped except for the swimmer who just got on the starting pole, adjusted his glasses, smiled around, stretched and finally started. He expectedly won.
He was not showing off, it was to show the difference between active people and top class pros.
I was a competitive swimmer in high school, and I note that the Olympic lap times are about on a par with mine.
Except that they're in a 50 meter pool, and I was in a 25 meter pool.
At one point I could run marathons in 3 hours, 50% longer than the winners. Now I'm old, and I'm trying to get back to running them merely 100% longer. That is unlikely.
It’s just unbelievable unless you’ve experienced it. At the absolute top of my game, on my best day, I would still be more than a boat length behind the Olympic guys on their off days.
I find some consoling symmetry in that I can run faster than the fastest swimmers and bike faster than the fastest runners. At least on some distances.