Swimming Finals at the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain
Former Member
The finals of the first day, show:
.) in the men 400 meter free final, Thorpe (Aus.) went 3:42.58 for #1, Hackett (Aus.) went 3:45.17 for #2, and Coman (Rom.) went 3:46.8x for #3;
Coman -who is my fellow countryman, and I was telling you about him for years-, defeated Rossolini (Ita.) of the 2000 Olympics fame, Keller (U.S.) and Carvin (U.S.);
.) in the women 400 meter free final, Simona Paduraru (Rom.) finished #7, with a fast time;
.) in the 4x100 men free relay, Russia won;
the fastest split was by Frenchman Frederic Bousquet at 47.03 -which is the second fastest split in history-, and fast splits (in the 47s) were recorded by Alex. Popov (Rus.) and Jason Lezak (U.S.);
.) in the 4x100 women free relay, U.S. won, anchored by an ace 53.xx from Jenny Thompson (U.S.).
He! he! he! :D ho! ho! ho!
I post this, ahead of www.swiminfo.com and www.swimnews.com who are sandbagging...
Parents
Former Member
"As a flash in the pan, Biondi and Spitz are versatile"
Why then when a swimmer goes after a large number of wins in a single meet is he compared to Spitz and not Popov. Because Spitz set the standard for all others to attempt.
"Michael Jordan or Pete Sampras of sprint swimming"
Sampras maybe, Jordon never. Jordon transcended the sport to become a cultural icon. Spitz did that, Popov never has. Spitz has name recognition outside swimming, Popov does not.
"faster than Biondi and Spitz"
I would hope so. The progression of human performance is to be faster, otherwise we would still trying to break records from the 1950's. While some records in swimming are Ruthian in nature, most are not. Spitz's performance in 1972 is probably unbeatable. I don't think Popov or Biondi have done anything that approaches that.
Best times, Olympic finals:
Biondi
50 :22.14
100 :48.63
200 1:47.99
100 Fly :53.01
Popov
50 :21.91
100 :48.69
"As a flash in the pan, Biondi and Spitz are versatile"
Why then when a swimmer goes after a large number of wins in a single meet is he compared to Spitz and not Popov. Because Spitz set the standard for all others to attempt.
"Michael Jordan or Pete Sampras of sprint swimming"
Sampras maybe, Jordon never. Jordon transcended the sport to become a cultural icon. Spitz did that, Popov never has. Spitz has name recognition outside swimming, Popov does not.
"faster than Biondi and Spitz"
I would hope so. The progression of human performance is to be faster, otherwise we would still trying to break records from the 1950's. While some records in swimming are Ruthian in nature, most are not. Spitz's performance in 1972 is probably unbeatable. I don't think Popov or Biondi have done anything that approaches that.
Best times, Olympic finals:
Biondi
50 :22.14
100 :48.63
200 1:47.99
100 Fly :53.01
Popov
50 :21.91
100 :48.69
