I don't know if he will do it--but I sure want him to!!:D
Former Member
I believe Phelps qualified in 6 individual events and this does not include the relays........He has chosen to forgo the 200 back for Athens.
Yes, that's what I meant.
Hey, SwimsWithAFist -- Great screen name!
You make a good point about Phelps being in the medley relay. At least in the finals. There is a better guy at each slot (unless Phelps proves otherwise in events at the olympics), and it would not be fair to ask any of them to step aside for him simply because he needs his 7th. He'd make a great fill-in for practically any slot in the unfortunate case of someone else getting injured.
The dilemma of depth!
Phelps can swim the fly leg in the medley relay prelim and still earn gold if the team wins the final, regardless of whether he swims the final. All relay team members who swim prelims or finals earn the final medal. No requirement that it be the same team in the finals. At least, that's my understanding.
okay, bear with me on how to get to the janet evans article. go to yahoo, click on olympics, then on the right hand side is "expert analysis sports exclusive" from janet evans. she has been commentating all week, and some articles have been good, others a bit critical of the "older" swimmers, i.e. misty hyman. i read between the lines a bit of wistfulness... maybe it's just me?
I said this when Spitz won 7 Gold Medals back in 1972... and I will say it again here….and….for what it is worth…I hope I am wrong because Michael Phelps is one of life’s good guys….No one will ever win 7 Gold Medals in swimming again….Not going to happen! NEVER…..
If anyone might be interested, Michael will be appearing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight (7/15) which is on at 11:30 P.M. EDT. Check your local listings for your NBC Network carrier. Cheers!
Janet Evans commentaries
I followed your trail, Princess.
Today's article is this: sports.yahoo.com/.../news (Linked above.)
Clicking links through Yahoo, it seems, only lets you get to the current day's article. (That's the one I linked above.) But I found that I can change the URL and get to the old ones. just change the '0714' in today's URL to 0713 and you'll get yesterday's. 0712 gets that day's article... Etc.
I went back and found the one about older swimmers. Evans seems to be a really good writer and drills down to some interesting nuances of the swimming world. I like her stuff! Thanks for the pointer.
Those of us here in Maryland are collectively hoping (praying) that Tom is wrong. Very wrong. :D (No dispect intended, either, for the record.) Re: Michael Phelps is one of life’s good guys ...If the press would focus more on athletes like Michael than those like Kobe Bryant et al, then the world would be a much place for up-and-coming athletes, i.e., our children. I can tell you this, Michael is genuinely a good guy. IMHO.
I think Michael Phelps quest for 7 golds will be a lot harder than when Spitz did it. It must be pointed out that when Mark Spitz swam in the Olympic Trials in Chicago, he only swam 8 times for 4 events. Michael Phelps had to swim 17 times for 6 events. Only the 400 IM was not swam 3 times. We will never know if Mark Spitz would have won those 7 golds under todays format. Rumor has it that he wanted to scratch his last individual event the 100 Free in the 1972 Olympics. This is documented in one of the great swimming books "50 Meter Jungle" by Sherm Chavoor who coached Spitz in the summer of 1972 before the Olympics.
I really believe that if Michael Phelps swam with the same format as in 1972 that he would not drop the 200 Back and would have possibly swam the 100 Free at trials. We will never know what he would be capable of under these conditions. So you cannot compare what he does now because its not a valid comparison.
It was mentioned on NBC that Michael Phelps will attempt to break the record of some Russian that won 8 medals in the 1980 Olympics. Dropping the 200 Back means he can tie if he gets a chance to swim 5 individual events and 3 relays.
