Swimming Finals at the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain

Vocabulary fails, Michael Phelps: 3 individual events, 2 gold medals, 4 world records (with 2 event finals and 2 more preliminary swims on deck). Spitzian! AND, he is swimming the 200 & 400 IM instead of the 100 & 200 free, AND this is the prelim-semi-final format instead of prelim-final. Mere words do not suffice. Ian Thorpe: defends his world title in 2 events where he holds the world record, passes on the 3rd event where he holds the world record, to finish 3rd in the fastest 100 free race in history, and 2nd (!!) in the fastest 200 IM race in history, the last in an event he has been competing in for less than one year, and is composed 75% of strokes outside his area of expertise. My imagination is staggered. AND, oh BTW, we have a Russian who has regained his form in the freestyle sprint races he first started dominating in 1996, AND a Japanese breaststroker who is breaking stardards that were considered astounding, first time ever under a psychological barrier records when they were set, AND an Aussie who is head and shoulders the best ever at 1500m, and would be everything in freestyle swimming that Ian Thorpe is if he were not competing at the same time as Thorpe, AND an American swimmer who is threatening to become the female version of Czar Popov, AND a U.S. Backstroker who is threatening to become as dominant as the other U.S. Backstroker who is the defending Olympic Champion in both the 100 & 200, AND many other amazing swims that are as deserving as anything I have mentioned above, but my mind can only grok the fullness of so many wonders at one time... Hey, what do we do if they measure the pool, and find it was 0.01 meters short of 50m? (I'll leave now, before everyone finds the ripening produce...)

I agree with the comments about Amanda Beard. I was thinking about the coverage of the Trials and the Games in 1996. They kept showing her walking around with a large stuffed animal. Who would have thought that she would be setting a WR seven years later?-- Especially when you consider the generally short pool lives of young female breaststrokers. Way to go Amanda!!

ion- you should be quite happy. papov goes 21.98 in the 50 prelims for a CR. though i don't agree with the way he got the WR in this event you gotta love the guy for his longevity as a world class swimmer.

Originally posted by lefty I would be in favor of moving the 100fly semifinal up in tonight’s program in order to give Phelps more rest. I know that in Track and Field such accommodations are made on occasion. What do you guys think? I'm in favor of canning semifinals altogether. I see no reason in swimming the same event three times to get a medal. Given the current format, no, i don't think the heats should be shuffled to give Phelps more rest. He's tough :)

Ion-you need to put the beer away. Biondi a flash in the pan. No way! Maybe he didn't live up to his hype, maybe he was a better college swimmer than olympic or maybe he was a better relay swimmer than individual swimmer. But not a flash in the pan. I didn't look for times but here is a quick look at what i found on google: 3 Olympics- 8 golds, 2 silver, 1 bronze WC's- 7 medals 1986 4 time all american swimming and water polo (3 times NCAA champs in polo) NCAA champ 50,100 and 200 1986 and 87 (still holds record in 200 and i think he is tied w/ ervin in 100) anyone that can compete in 3 olympics in my opinion is the real deal. your popov bias is showing:)

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.

Originally posted by nyswim ion- you should be quite happy. papov goes 21.98 in the 50 prelims for a CR. though i don't agree with the way he got the WR in this event you gotta love the guy for his longevity as a world class swimmer. Popov got the 21.64 World Record in 50 meter free in 2000, in a time trial during the Russian Olympic Trials. Still the time trial was on choppy water, because it was a time trial comprising of five racers. Unlike Rowdy Gaines (U.S.) racing alone in non-turbulent water for a World Record of 49.36 in the 100 free in the early 80s. Also, Popov broke in this time trial the 21.81 world record by Jager (U.S.) who raced head-to-head the 21.85 by Biondi (U.S.). Jager and Biondi did not race then in a regular field of eight competitors making waves. Earlier in that 2000 Russian Olympic Trials, in a regular final for the 50 meter free made of eight racers, Popov got a 21.95. 21.95 by Popov in that regular race, is still faster than the 2000 Olympics winning time in 50 free of 21.98 by Ervin (U.S.) and Hall (U.S.). In the 2000 Olympics, in the 50 free, Popov was leading anyone with five meters to go, but unexplainably he finished with a slow dolphin undulation that dropped his rank.

Uh, that's called choking...

Originally posted by lefty ... Regarding Biondi being a flash in the pan. Here are a couple of non—swimmers to add to that list: Al Oerter...and Carl Lewis. ... I don't care about defending the others, but Carl Lewis (U.S.) won golds in track in the 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympics. Al Oerter (U.S.) won gold for discus throwing in four Olympics. Now, this is character.

Originally posted by Bert Bergen Uh, that's called choking... About Popov in the 2000 Olympics 50 free final? It's not choking: Popov won the 50 free and the 100 free in the 1992 Olympics, repeated winning 50 free and the 100 free in the 1996 Olympics, and got silver in 100 free in the 2000 Olympics behind Hoogenband (Ned.) who simply broke new ground in speed and was not catchable by anyone. I think that uncharacteristic mistakes happen, and this outrageous mistake happened to Popov then. What is he doing then? He comes back and fights now.