interesting observations from Athens

With Kirsty Coventry (as well as Jenny Thompson and others), the helmet-like cap is worn because it reduces the amount of drag that a normal swim cap unavoidably offers. Look at a swim cap on a person's head. It has ridges on the top. That's drag. The helmet cap is fairly solid and eliminates that drag. How much it reduces the drag, I don't know. You have to wear it over a regular cap because the helmet doesn't completely cover your head/hair. As for Natalie, I'm not sure why she wears two regular caps. Superstition? It's not warmth. Maybe she has so much hair she wanted a second cap to cut down on the drag that big ball of hair in the back creates. It's a hunch.

Bill, having been on the national team and gone on international trips before, I can answer your observation about the media. When the national team is going to larger meets (Pan Pacs, Pan Ams, Worlds or Olympics), they must spend a day in media training. Must. MUST. MUST! These meets are often swarming with media of all kinds from all over the world asking all sorts of questions. At the Olympics, some, like Phelps, were experienced in getting the usual boring questions. Others, like Lochte, were new to it and still hadn't grasped the concept. But the media training helps everyone. You are taught to answer with as few "ums" and "uhs" as possible. Try to not breathe heavily into the microphone. Smile even if you got silver. Remember that you are representing the United States of America. Not everyone remembers the lessons in the heat of the interview minutes after winning gold or losing the gold by hundredths of a second. Ten years away from my last stint on the national team, and these words still stick with me. And.... As I mentioned in my previous post, Natalie did not wear the helmet cap. They were just made of a better material than regular caps.

With Natalie Coughlin, it's more of a cautious thing regarding her goggles, I think. The only explanation I can come up with is that she's wearing the first cap to stop her goggle straps from slipping under her second cap. There was a girl on my college swim team that did that for championships, because she'd lost her goggles on a huge race once before during her freshman year, and it cost her a championship title, so she was being "extra-slip proof" with her goggles. Who knows.

And goggles right on the hair .. ow, I don't know how people do that.

Hooked on --- Not to get off subject? Have you contacted that girl? We are all anxious. Re: #2 A lot of swimmers put on a 5/8 inch neoprene cap under their regular swim caps. It would keep their head warm in cold water. Help in the streamline under water and whenever I wore a cap the goggle straps were always under the cap. George www.swimdownhill.com

While that does make sense, I can't imagine that Natalie would be worried about her head getting cold. She was never in the comp. pool for two minutes straight ... just curious if that was the real reason.

QUOTE]Originally posted by hooked-on-swimming 2)Natalie Coughlin had two swim caps with goggles straps between them - she was probably thinking WORLD RECORD and was concerned the new speed would flush one cap away or something - so she put on two for reassurance, haha.But seriously - does she always do that and what is the purpose of that? Coughlin was wearing one of those Speedo helmets, which are designed to be worn over standard latex/silicone caps. I believe she may have been the only individual gold medalist who wore one of those. Jenny Thompson and Lenny Krayzelburg wore them, too. Originally posted by hooked-on-swimming 4)Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, 200m backstroke gold medal and more wore something resembling a World War II helmet rather than a swim cap.I have no clue what on earth that was.Again I suggest you see that. The commentators talked about Coventry's blue Zimbabwe swim cap during the televised coverage. They said she was given the cap several years ago, and she brings it out for international competitions because it's the only Zimbabwe cap she owns. Originally posted by hooked-on-swimming Any other interesting observations? Here are a few of mine: 1) Sprinters using straight-arm freestyle. Many more swimmers are using this recovery technique. The South Africans were particularly effective in the sprint events and the relay world record. One of the most pronounced was Lyndon Ferns. 2) Natalie Coughlin's 200 free leadoff on the world record breaking 800 freestyle relay. Around the 150, she completely switched her stroke tempo. It's like she was going easy and all the sudden flipped the switch on to "fast". It was amazing! The other swimmers on the relay had similar moves, but Coughlin's ability to shift gears was most remarkable. 3) Interview poise. Olympic athletes spend so much time preparing for athletic performance, they sometimes fail to prepare in other areas. As I watched the Olympics, I was very impressed by how poised many of the swimmers appeared in televised interviews. Phelps was perhaps best prepared. When reading his new book, I learned about how he was professionally coached to handle the press. One swimmer who did a whole lot better in this department was Inge deBruijn. In Sydney, she was not prepared to respond to questions about performance enhancing drugs. In Athens, she seemed a lot more relaxed, mature, and poised – although she probably didn’t have the same line of questioning. The swimmer I feel needs the most work in this department would be Ryan Lochte. At Trials and at the Olympics, he appeared to be at a total loss when responding to questions. 4) Come-from-behind victories. It seems like swimmers came from behind to win gold more often in Athens than in previous years. One of the most stunning was Jodie Henry, who came from behind in the semifinals of the women’s 100 free to break the world record. Then of course, there was Phelps in the 100 fly. 5) Male Hungarian youth movement. Laszlo Cseh and Daniel Gyurta were two of the younger male competitors, and both won medals. Cseh won bronze in the 400 IM, and Gyurta won silver in the 200 ***. Cseh was 19, and Gyurta was just 16. 6) Psyche swimmer. Some swimmers perform especially well when they are psyched up for an event. Of these, Kaitlin Sandeno was most amazing in her 400 IM. Already an experienced international competitor and Sydney Olympian, she lowered her previous best time by something like 6 seconds, and broke a 13 year old American record by three seconds. She was also outstanding in her other events, but the 400 IM race was extraordinary. 7) Women’s relays. In 2000, the US women won all three relays, two in world record time. In 2004, the US women won one relay (800 in world record time), and the Aussi women won two. The balance of power appears to have shifted. 8) American distance / middle distance swimming vs. sprint events. Larsen Jensen and the 800 freestyle relays showed us that Americans – especially the men – are starting to improve in these events. However, in the sprint events there were very few highlights for the US team. In the men’s 100 free, 2004 was the first time there wasn’t a US swimmer in the final, and the first time the US didn’t have a medalist since 1992. In the women’s 50 free, it was the first time in Olympic competition that a US woman didn’t win a medal. In the men’s 200 free, it was the first time the US had two men in the final since 1992, and the first time a US swimmer had won a medal since 1988. In the 1500, Jensen broke the American record by about 13 seconds. In the men’s 800 free relay, it was the first time the US men won gold since 1996. In the women’s 800 free relay, the US women broke the world record that had stood since 1987. 9) Laure Manadou. Manadou’s success was a big surprise to many. Before the Olympics, she had not ranked among the top 25 performers in the 400 free. Her time in the 400 final (4:05.34) now ranks her third all-time and was the fastest gold medal winning time since Janet Evans in 1988. Manadou also won silver in the 800 and bronze in the 100 backstroke in Athens. 10) Draganja’s Cal swim cap. Duje Draganja wore his Cal swimming cap in the finals of the men’s 50 free, in which he earned silver. Although he represents Croatia in international competition, he apparently represents Cal, too.

Kristy Coventry was probably wearing one of the speedo caps that are like helmets ... not sure if they are still on the speedo website or not. They are called speedlite caps or some thing along those lines. I remember they were around $70. As for the no goggles on backstroke ... I've heard of people not racing in goggles on other strokes b/c they don't want them to fall off but not on backstroke, where it's hard for them to fall off on the start... interesting ... As for Eva's IM ... still not good to move your head on backstroke, I'm sure (at least I hope) she's working on that.

I noticed the thing with eva Risztov too. it seems as she is lifting her head everytime she takes a breath. no one exactly knows but she seems to be successful with it. I guess I would be sure to seriously injure my neck while trying to copy it.

one of my olympic memories was right after the American men won the 4 x 200 free relay, upsetting the australians and they were hootin and hollering behind the blocks, they were on audio and it sounds like someone on the relay yelled "F*&# YEAH!" several times I rewound it and replayed it a few times on my DVR, to make sure I heard it right but probably not as many times as folks rewound and replayed janet jackson's super bowl half time show costume "malfunction" ande