I agree there should be ample focus on Phelps but instead of the story about his pimped-out SUV and his eating and his mother, etc, would it be possible to squeeze in some more races for TV coverage? Yesterday was taped coverage and we got, what, 7 or 8 races in 2 hours.
I'm really hoping that NBC, with it's 14 sister channels, can have some coverage of back to back races. I understand that they have to have the human interest stories in prime time but I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can TiVO dozens of other races on MSNBC or NBCTalk or whatever the other ones are.
Does Phelps get a new suit for every race? I bet he does.
So who here thinks Natalie could have had a very legitimate shot at the 7 golds? I for one think she would have had a better shot than Michael had she decided to swim these events:
100 Fly
200 Back
100 Free
200 Free
All three relays
Would have been a challenge with Inge, et. al. but I wouldn't bet against her especially with the relay issue. The men have their worked cut out for them in the 800 for sure not to mention the 400 free relay.
Just a thought...
It's not highly proabably but wouldn't but it as strongly as Tom.
Phelps is a "lock" to win gold in four events: 200IM/400IM/200 FL and 400 Medley relay (he will at least swim in the prelims).
Here's how he can (will) win the other golds:
4 X 200 relay
I believe that Phelps and Keller will match Thorpe/Hackett. That means Lochte is the key and believe he will step up and be the diference maker. He's 19 but the team building and experience of the other swimmers will help.
4 X 100 relay
Lezak, Crocker, Phelps and Hall (with a relay start he's not much slower than Crocker) touch out the Aussies, Russians and South Africans.
100 fly
Phelps will beat Crocker this time. Watching him 8 days at Olympic Trials it was pretty clear that the 200 back versus Peirsol took a lot out of him and that he knew actually how to beat Crocker but couldn't execute. That won't happen at the Olympics. He'll run him down and touch him out at the wall.
Now that's 7 golds and 7 world records.
But what makes Phelps performance BETTER than Spitz is the 200 free. This should be the "greatest" race at the Olympics. World record holder in Lane 4 (Thorpe); defending Olympic champion in Lnae 5 (Hoogenband); US challenger #1 in Lane 3(Phelps); US challenger #2 in Lane 6 (Keller); greatest distance swimmer of all time in Lane 1 (Hackett) and at this point who can put anyone from this forum in Lane 8 and have the greatest 200 field in history.
I don't believe that Phelps will be beat Thorpe but he will likely go a 1:44 (new American record) but will most remembered for wanting to compete against Thorpe in one of his main events NOT expecting to win gold but for the glory of competition.
Originally posted by Tom Ellison
Heck, the guy is a swimming ICON and anyone who refers to Matt Biondi as a failure is either a moron or knows absolutely NOTHING about swimming!
Careful Tom, you don't want to get the whole flash-in-a-pan discussion restarted. ;)
Originally posted by Tom Ellison
Again, I HOPE I AM WRONG because Michael Phelps is one of life’s good guys and I would love to see him win 7 Gold Medals in Athens….BUT, it is so far off the planet tough these days to accomplish a feat such as this in swimming…. that is akin to….Whizzing in the Ocean to raise the tide……Not going to happen….
Hmmmmm..... is that one of those techincal swimming terms that I am not familiar with ...... whizzing?:p
I could have used a crude term but felt decency would be better served by reading between the lines.....Plus, Mr. Moose is the watch dog around here for decency and he insisted on that term....
That tide is never going to rise....trust me...!
It seems a shame that someone like Phelps will not do as well as he might due to the schedule. Have Phelps and Crocker raced the 100 butterfly recently when Phelps was well rested?
Looking at the trials, I wonder if it wouldn't be more interesting if swimmers could choose to use their time from preliminaries to qualify for the finals instead of swimming in the semi-finals. You would get some swimmers doing fast times in the prelims and arriving at the finals better rested. The prelims and semis would be more interesting and the finals faster.
Originally posted by LindsayNB
It seems a shame that someone like Phelps will not do as well as he might due to the schedule. Have Phelps and Crocker ever raced the 100 butterfly when Phelps was well rested?
Looking at the trials, I wonder if it wouldn't be more interesting if swimmers could choose to use their time from preliminaries to qualify for the finals instead of swimming in the semi-finals. You would get some swimmers doing fast times in the prelims and arriving at the finals better rested. The prelims and semis would be more interesting and the finals faster.
A. I would say that Crocker beat Phelps at World's under circumstances where Phelps was "relatively rested" given his multi-event schedule (remember the 400 im was at the end of that meet).
B. The semi-finals does work to the advantage of some swimmers in that you can finish 16th in the prelim and still make it to the next round.
BTW, for what it's worth I think that Phelps will beat Crocker in Athens, even though I'm pulling for Crocker since we need a 50 meter pool in Maine. That gives him four individual gold medals and means that his Spitzian fate is in the hands of his US teammates (who says swimming isn't a team sport?). I agree it's not highly probable but would disagree that it is so impossible as suggested by Tom Ellison. As Phelps so aptly replied to similar Ellison like prouncement "it's not impossible because Spitz did it once"
Spitz did it “once” but that was “then”….and a whole lot has changed since “then”…. NOT in today’s times.........Not going to happen…..Now, doing that is as close to an exercise in futility as it gets.....and again..I HOPE I AM WRONG....
