If I am reading this right, Swiminfo.com is reporting that Craig Stevens is indeed going to back out of the 400 and leave it up to Australia Swimming to "pick another member of the Olympic Team" to swim that race in Athens. If I am ANY other country, swimmer, the 3rd place finisher at the Trials or an organization interested in ethics, then I am raising a stink on this one!!!! Thorpe DQ'd and the Aussies are going to skirt the rule and get him in anyway. They would be relegated to the status of Ben Johnson, Rosie Ruiz, and the 60+% of MLB who are on steriods! This is FREAKIN' UNBELIEVABLE. I have no respect for any of the aforementioned and if this happens, none for Ian Thorpe and the Australian swim federation (or whatever official name they hide behind) are in that seeming, stinking pile.
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Former Member
Oh, and the "team, country, world, and Olympics" didn't get up there and bust their a-s for 1:48 seconds after training for years for that moment to have it taken away. A DQ is not a technicality and the "team, country, world, and Olympics" didn't fall into the water. Thorpe did. He didn't earn the spot (when it was scheduled to be earned). If the O Trials there don't matter (for one or all), DON'T SWIM THEM. You do, and you face the same risks that everyone through history has in competition: there are no guarantees in sports (nor should there be). I believe that the "team, country, world, and Olympics" would get over not seeing Ian Thorpe swim a 400M freestyle...seems to me they collectively might have better things to do with their consciousness!
Oh, and the "team, country, world, and Olympics" didn't get up there and bust their a-s for 1:48 seconds after training for years for that moment to have it taken away. A DQ is not a technicality and the "team, country, world, and Olympics" didn't fall into the water. Thorpe did. He didn't earn the spot (when it was scheduled to be earned). If the O Trials there don't matter (for one or all), DON'T SWIM THEM. You do, and you face the same risks that everyone through history has in competition: there are no guarantees in sports (nor should there be). I believe that the "team, country, world, and Olympics" would get over not seeing Ian Thorpe swim a 400M freestyle...seems to me they collectively might have better things to do with their consciousness!
