Swimming Finals at the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain

1) Regarding my yesterday's 'flash in the pan' comment that I wrote about Biondi -which predictably triggered American outrage on this board-, I repeat that compared to the others, Popov is in swimming the Michael Jordan or the Pete Sampras of the freestyle sprints. I didn't like when in 1992, my then-hero Matt Biondi, after being defeated by Popov in the Olympics in the 50 and the 100 free, splashed around for one more year and a half, then quit instead of rasing to the challenge brought by higher competition. So, what did my hero do, when challenged at age 26? He quit. Easily. Such a hero... Contast this with the one who defeated him in 1992 and wins now in 2003: .) undefeated in the 100 free for eight years; .) when defeated in the 100 free recently, humbly working through the challenge of fighting within striking distance of the winner, like in the case of him winning silver in the 2000 Olympics, and winning silver in the 2002 European championships; .) adjusting in his late 20s to address the challenge posed by new winners (unlike Biondi in 1992), so that in 2003 at age 31 he is #1 again, and not a quitter. 2) Today's action shows: Hackett (Aus.) is solid in the 800 free; Jensen (U.S.), age 18 and coached by Bill Rose at Mission Viejo -who produced in 1976 the Olympic gold medal winner Mike Bruner- makes big strides to become the equivalent of Phelps over long distance freestyle; So, it looks like Phelps over 200 free and Jensen over 800 free, did catch or are catching up with Hackett now. Topic to follow next year in the Olympics. Not in the 800 free though -because it is not there-, but in the 1500 free... Coman (Rom.) swam a very fast for him 800 free, for #5, in a very fast field of racers; MacGillivary (Can.), predictably to me, swam a little slower in the 800 meter free final than he did in the qualifying round yesterday. In men 200 back final, Peirsol (U.S.) was fast, Welsh (Aus.) was slow for his ability, Florea (Rom.) was steady compared to his semi-final. Phelps is phenomenal in 200 I.M. and Thorpe is a world class I.M.er. In 50 meter free semi-final, Popov nails a 21 seconds -which is still rare today on the world stage-, Volynets (Ukr.) -of the 2000 Olympic final fame- is in the final, Sicot (Fra.) is in the final but over the years I hate this slacker, and 33 years old sprinter specialist Foster (GBR.) is also in the final. Neethling (R.S.A.) just misses the 50 free final (I told you about this distance free racer who shines in sprints too!), with a 22.46. In the 100 fly semi-final, Phelps and Serdinov (Ukr.) break the world record, Crocker (U.S.) and Ruprath (Ger.) go fast. 32 years old Esposito (Fra.), who last year led the 200 fly world rankings but here didn't make the 200 fly finals, made the 100 fly final. In the 100 free final for women, top three were close. Beard (U.S.) won the 200 breaststroke women, and Kristi Kowal (U.S.) is not here, she is AWOL. Inge de Bruijn (Ned.) makes a token appearance in 50 fly, to qualify for the finals.

1) Regarding my yesterday's 'flash in the pan' comment that I wrote about Biondi -which predictably triggered American outrage on this board-, I repeat that compared to the others, Popov is in swimming the Michael Jordan or the Pete Sampras of the freestyle sprints. I didn't like when in 1992, my then-hero Matt Biondi, after being defeated by Popov in the Olympics in the 50 and the 100 free, splashed around for one more year and a half, then quit instead of rasing to the challenge brought by higher competition. So, what did my hero do, when challenged at age 26? He quit. Easily. Such a hero... Contast this with the one who defeated him in 1992 and wins now in 2003: .) undefeated in the 100 free for eight years; .) when defeated in the 100 free recently, humbly working through the challenge of fighting within striking distance of the winner, like in the case of him winning silver in the 2000 Olympics, and winning silver in the 2002 European championships; .) adjusting in his late 20s to address the challenge posed by new winners (unlike Biondi in 1992), so that in 2003 at age 31 he is #1 again, and not a quitter. 2) Today's action shows: Hackett (Aus.) is solid in the 800 free; Jensen (U.S.), age 18 and coached by Bill Rose at Mission Viejo -who produced in 1976 the Olympic gold medal winner Mike Bruner- makes big strides to become the equivalent of Phelps over long distance freestyle; So, it looks like Phelps over 200 free and Jensen over 800 free, did catch or are catching up with Hackett now. Topic to follow next year in the Olympics. Not in the 800 free though -because it is not there-, but in the 1500 free... Coman (Rom.) swam a very fast for him 800 free, for #5, in a very fast field of racers; MacGillivary (Can.), predictably to me, swam a little slower in the 800 meter free final than he did in the qualifying round yesterday. In men 200 back final, Peirsol (U.S.) was fast, Welsh (Aus.) was slow for his ability, Florea (Rom.) was steady compared to his semi-final. Phelps is phenomenal in 200 I.M. and Thorpe is a world class I.M.er. In 50 meter free semi-final, Popov nails a 21 seconds -which is still rare today on the world stage-, Volynets (Ukr.) -of the 2000 Olympic final fame- is in the final, Sicot (Fra.) is in the final but over the years I hate this slacker, and 33 years old sprinter specialist Foster (GBR.) is also in the final. Neethling (R.S.A.) just misses the 50 free final (I told you about this distance free racer who shines in sprints too!), with a 22.46. In the 100 fly semi-final, Phelps and Serdinov (Ukr.) break the world record, Crocker (U.S.) and Ruprath (Ger.) go fast. 32 years old Esposito (Fra.), who last year led the 200 fly world rankings but here didn't make the 200 fly finals, made the 100 fly final. In the 100 free final for women, top three were close. Beard (U.S.) won the 200 breaststroke women, and Kristi Kowal (U.S.) is not here, she is AWOL. Inge de Bruijn (Ned.) makes a token appearance in 50 fly, to qualify for the finals.