Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool

Article Courtesy of Eurosport Busy calendar brings calls for change The world swimming championships ended on Sunday with pleas from coaches and swimmers for a return to staging the event once every four years. "We'd really like to encourage the world championships to be once every four years," said U.S. coach Dave Salo. "It's just such a crowded calendar. "You've got short-course worlds coming so quickly after the Olympic games and this meet coming so quickly, you don't get a chance to take a breath and I think that we're in agreement that we'd like to see a calendar that's better managed." While the championships produced nine world records and plenty of thrills, they were missing many of the top attractions, including Olympic champions and world record holders Ian Thorpe of Australia and Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruin of the Netherlands. Michael Phelps, winner of an unprecedented eight medals in Athens, provided the event with a badly needed "big name" but the American produced a mostly lethargic, uninspired performance that left questions about his ability to dominate the sport. He still won five gold medals and a silver, but failed to put his mark on the competition the way he had in Athens. Some of the problems were of his own doing. The Olympic champion and world record holder in the 400 metres individual medley and 200 butterfly, Phelps dropped both from his world championship programme and replaced them with the 100m and 400m freestyle, looking to experiment during his buildup to the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. CLUTTERED CALENDAR Phelps' coach Bob Bowman felt it was time to take control of an increasingly cluttered swimming calendar. "I personally think we should have one world championships in between the Olympics just like we use to do, that would be the best," said Bowman. "It's just to hard to get up every year. "The year after the Olympics no matter what you do, if you are very successful in the Olympics, it is next to impossible to match that the next year." Relief for the world's top swimmers, however, would appear far away. Pointing to the record number of swimmers and countries (143) in Montreal, FINA president Mustapha Larfaoui dismissed any suggestion that world swimming's governing body might return to staging the championships once every four years. The 2007 championships will be held in Melbourne, Australia while FINA announced at the opening of competition that the 2009 worlds had been awarded to Rome. "I think it's the exact opposite," said Larfaoui. "We have a large number of athletes and swimmers wanting to compete." The president also said the troubled Montreal championships, which FINA had stripped from the city then returned a few weeks later after receiving financial guarantees, were a success despite running an estimated $4 million deficit and failing to meet modest attendance targets selling just 160,000 tickets.

Article Courtesy of Eurosport Busy calendar brings calls for change The world swimming championships ended on Sunday with pleas from coaches and swimmers for a return to staging the event once every four years. "We'd really like to encourage the world championships to be once every four years," said U.S. coach Dave Salo. "It's just such a crowded calendar. "You've got short-course worlds coming so quickly after the Olympic games and this meet coming so quickly, you don't get a chance to take a breath and I think that we're in agreement that we'd like to see a calendar that's better managed." While the championships produced nine world records and plenty of thrills, they were missing many of the top attractions, including Olympic champions and world record holders Ian Thorpe of Australia and Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruin of the Netherlands. Michael Phelps, winner of an unprecedented eight medals in Athens, provided the event with a badly needed "big name" but the American produced a mostly lethargic, uninspired performance that left questions about his ability to dominate the sport. He still won five gold medals and a silver, but failed to put his mark on the competition the way he had in Athens. Some of the problems were of his own doing. The Olympic champion and world record holder in the 400 metres individual medley and 200 butterfly, Phelps dropped both from his world championship programme and replaced them with the 100m and 400m freestyle, looking to experiment during his buildup to the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. CLUTTERED CALENDAR Phelps' coach Bob Bowman felt it was time to take control of an increasingly cluttered swimming calendar. "I personally think we should have one world championships in between the Olympics just like we use to do, that would be the best," said Bowman. "It's just to hard to get up every year. "The year after the Olympics no matter what you do, if you are very successful in the Olympics, it is next to impossible to match that the next year." Relief for the world's top swimmers, however, would appear far away. Pointing to the record number of swimmers and countries (143) in Montreal, FINA president Mustapha Larfaoui dismissed any suggestion that world swimming's governing body might return to staging the championships once every four years. The 2007 championships will be held in Melbourne, Australia while FINA announced at the opening of competition that the 2009 worlds had been awarded to Rome. "I think it's the exact opposite," said Larfaoui. "We have a large number of athletes and swimmers wanting to compete." The president also said the troubled Montreal championships, which FINA had stripped from the city then returned a few weeks later after receiving financial guarantees, were a success despite running an estimated $4 million deficit and failing to meet modest attendance targets selling just 160,000 tickets.