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...
Former Member
I think that Thorpe is "racing" for medals to simulate his attempt to swim four individual events at the Olympics. At this level, it's the medals that count not world records. Even the remarkable Mark Spitz had to learn how to swim so many events in that format, and he didn't swim semi-finals. 1968 was his learning experience. Perhaps Thorpe lost the 200 to Hoogie because he swam that 400 so fast in Sydney. There's still a lot of swimming left and we'll see how fast Thorpe goes over the next few days.
To my uneducated eye he looked pretty good in that 400 and I thought he could have gone much faster. We'll see if Thorpe can win the 100. It's not going to be easy.
Meanwhile, the best "all around" swimmer in my opinion (yes, I know that best all around is subjective) certainly made a pretty big answer to Talbot inflammatory remarks in the 200 fly. Phelps is scheduled to swim the 200 fly finals AND the 200 free relay. I hope the coaches let him lead off that relay. A new US record is a possiblity even after swimming a 200 fly.
If Thorpe can defeat Phelps in the 200 IM then I'll retract the statement above. Also if Thorpe can defeat Popov (the greatest freestyle sprinter in history in my book) and Hoogie in the 100 then I'll agree he's the greatest current freestyler.
Thorpe has the 4th fastest time in the 100 prelims @ :49.17. But I guess he won't be "best all-around" because he only swims one stroke on a regular basis.
The 200 IM is going to be a hell of a race! Don't think he can beat Phelps but I sure hope so. Also don't think he can win the public opinion forum unless he wins with a WR. If not it will be a) "He didn't win so he is not best" (even if he medals) or b) "So he won the 200, the 400 is the real test".
Personally I would like to see Thorpe start swimming the 1500. I think he would be top 3 in the world easy. He sort of reminds me of Dolan-don't know if he trains as hard. Dolan once did a 16,000 IM in practice!!!- both are absolute machines in the pool.
Thorpe NY Times article:
www.nytimes.com/2003/07/23/sports/othersports/23swim.html
Thorpe will "win" the public opinion forum if he can:
1) Win the 100 (still a possiblity since the qualifiers don't mean that much)
2) Beat Phelps in the 200 IM (probably a stretch but not out of the question)
3) Lead off the 800 free relay with a world record.
If he "only" wins 200/400 and Phelps wins the 100/200 fly and 200/400 im then I don't see how his Thorpe's WC performance can be considered superior to Phelps.
It's still early but right now Kitajima is the swimmer of the meet based on his 100 *** (in my book). He also has a pretty good chance to break another in the 200 ***.
Re the 1500, based on some of the reported sets that Phelps does, especially his amazing 1000 repeats, suggests that he would be in the top 5 in the 1500.
Jenny Thompson (US):
www.nytimes.com/2003/07/22/sports/othersports/22swim.html
Seems that Thorpe's standards are higher than those applied to others. He has to win off events (100 and IM) or set WR's to get attention.
Thorpe is judged by higher standards, just like Tiger Woods, because he is an extraordinary talent. When he doesn't set world records he won't get the press (unless it's the Olympics). That doesn't mean that swimming fans don't appreciate his talents. Thorpe is a great middle distance freestyler but if the 100 is an "off" event then once can't claim he is the greatest freestyler ever. Murray Rose, his fellow countryman, was able to beat the best in the 100 through 400--and he reportedly couldn't do more than 2-3 dips or pull-ups!
Originally posted by nyswim
...
Personally I would like to see Thorpe start swimming the 1500. I think he would be top 3 in the world easy.
...
1) Ian Thorpe (Aus.) has a lifetime best in the 1500 free of 15:25.05, from 2000, a few months before the Australian Olympic Trials.
The 15:25.05 gave him 946 points in www.swimnews.com, and the rank #33 in the world (not "...top 3 in the world easy.") for the 1500 meter in 2000.
The rank #1 in 1500 meter in 2000 was held by Grant Hackett (Aus.) who swam 1500 meter in 14:48.33 and got 1005 points.
Hackett got even faster than that, a 14:34.56 in 2001.
Aram Kevorkian (U.S.) who swims in San Diego where I am, during the year 2000 swam the 1500 meter free in 15.30.65 for a #46 world rank of the year, and it in the same league as the 15:25.05 by Thorpe.
14.34 and 14.48 by Hackett are way out of Thorpe's league.
2) Ian Thorpe has a lifetime best in the 100 meter free of 48.73, from 2002.
The 48.73 gave him 989 points in www.swimnews.com, and the rank #3 in the world for the 100 meter free in 2002.
The rank #1 in 100 meter free in 2002 was held by van den Hoogenband (Ned.) who swam 100 free in 47.86, and got 1015 points.
The rank #2 in 100 meter free in 2002 was held by Popov (Rus.) who swam 100 free in 48.70, and got 990 points.
Thorpe is trying over the years to diversify himself for the most performances.
This 1) and 2) that I post here are always very big news in swimming.
(The part 2) is even present in one of my earlier posts in this thread, so I recommend reading).
Based on 1) and 2), Thorpe is way closer to the top in the 100 free than in the 1500 free.
This statement is also in the swimming news.
It was big news prior to the 2000 Olympics that Thorpe after considering the top world opposition in 100 free and in 1500 free, did choose the route 2) -100 meter free- over 1) -1500 meter free-.
UGH! Please stop moving the bar. Now he has to be best in the 100 to be best in the world. Help! He is #1 in the 200, 400, 800 Free, after the WC's probably top 3 in 100 Free and 200 IM and swims relays. What else can the man do?
ION,
In your analysis of Thorpe did you consider the fact that he is pacing himself throughout the meet? Clearly he is taking that route - just look at some of his semifinal results. Whoever wrote that at meets like this Thrope is just trying to win the races is spot on.
Lefty--I made the claim that it was likely that Thorpe is figuring out how to medal in multiple events to prepare for the Olympics. I believe he can swim faster in the 400/200.
Re Ion's speculation that Thorpe elected the 100 versus the 1500 based on his reported 1500 swim. It might be more likely that he spoke to his countryman Perkins. You might remember when someone asked Perkins why he selected the 1500 as his event he told the inquirer that it was because he couldn't sprint! Thorpe can sprint.
