Women's 400 IM

Yeah, but young breaststroke phenoms have been common at past Olympics. Anita Nall won a silver and a bronze in '92 at 14, Amanda Beard won two silvers in '96 at age 14, Megan Quann won a gold in 2000 at age 16. I remember a long discussion in rec.sport.swimming in the late 90s about how the women's breaststrokes had effectively become a race for girls. There seems to be a 12-18 month window between the final puberty growth spurt and when the girls Get Hips where there's a lot of fast swimming and then a struggle to get back to those times again about the time they're old enough to get a US driver's license. Some like Amanda Beard eventually get their new bodies figured out; others quietly fade away from the sport.

Yeah, but young breaststroke phenoms have been common at past Olympics. Anita Nall won a silver and a bronze in '92 at 14, Amanda Beard won two silvers in '96 at age 14, Megan Quann won a gold in 2000 at age 16. I remember a long discussion in rec.sport.swimming in the late 90s about how the women's breaststrokes had effectively become a race for girls. There seems to be a 12-18 month window between the final puberty growth spurt and when the girls Get Hips where there's a lot of fast swimming and then a struggle to get back to those times again about the time they're old enough to get a US driver's license. Some like Amanda Beard eventually get their new bodies figured out; others quietly fade away from the sport.