I saw very little of the competition at Worlds. For me it was a blur that started on 1 August and somewhat ended with the completion of the Open Water Swim. The only races that I remember were:
The fastest heat of the 200+ Mixed Free Relay was awsome. I wanted to see that heat as some of my friends from Walnut Creek were in it and then looked to see who was on the Florida and Colorado teams. All the swimmers on those teams were at least a top ten swimmer. On the last exchange, Colorado's 61 year old Rich Abrahams had a 1.36 lead over Florida's 47 year old Rowdy Gaines. Could Rowdy make up the difference? He had 14 years on him. It was a very fast last fifty, with Abrahams holding off the Olympian. The World record was broken by almost five seconds. The first four teams broke the record. All the teams in the heat broke the meet record.
I saw the meets executive director Anne Cribbs swim the breaststroke and freestyle. She had fun.
I saw Debbie Meyer swim the 200 freestyle and I saw Jacki Hirsty win one of her events from the outside lane.
I met the good Smith and the bad Smith near the top of the stairs one day. I still am not sure whether Paul is the good Smith or John is.
It looked like swimmers were have a great time in the tent village that sprang up on the west side of the aquatic center. There appeared to be a lot of trading of t-shirts and swim caps there.
On Saturday morning, I watched the USMS Fighting Flamingos win their match to secure the bronze medal, later that night there were four very good water polo games in the Avery Aquatic Center.
I did swim the 400 freestyle. If I would have swum it 39 seconds faster, I would have made the qualifying time. It did feel good to be in the water.
I would be interested in hearing any stories or vignettes about worlds and also if you were able to do well trading t-shirts or pins. For those who would like to see great pictures of the meet go to
http://www.isiphotos.com
I hope all who attended had a good time.
michael
Michael,
It was nice meeting you at the BBQ next to the Fighting Flamingoes! Great meet!!! Thank you for all of your hard work!!!
On T-shirt trading, I spent all week trying to find Frank Hesbacher of Germany. I had the pleasure of swimming against him in the 400 freestyle at the German National Championships in Berlin in April. We had a terrific race there and afterwards he told me that he would be at Worlds, swimming and playing water polo.
He was in the psych sheets for several races including the 400 free. However, he was a no show for his 100 and 200 free races. I suspected that he maybe did not come to the meet. I asked as many Germans as I could find if they knew Frank Hesbacher of Munich. Everyone said no. On Thursday, the day of the 400 free, I finally found a woman who knew him and told me he would be playing water polo at 5:00PM at the Palo Ato HS pool.
We found the pool and the 55+ year olds were playing. One team was Poseidan and the other was the Stanford team. No team from Munich. Darn. I then looked at the team roster and sure enough cap number 9 was Frank Hesbacher. Wasn't sure if it was him but after the game we approached him and with my wife's help (she knows German), determined that yes this was the right person. We talked for several minutes, exchanged addresses and of course t-shirts! Come to find out that Frank doesn't live in Munich, infact he lives quite a distance from there, but he was representing them in water polo.
It was great to see him again, exchange t-shirts and develop an international friendship. That's one of the nice things about a meet like this. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet and enjoy people from other cultures.
Thanks again Michael and all of the volunteers!!!!
Glenn:cool:
Michael,
It was nice meeting you at the BBQ next to the Fighting Flamingoes! Great meet!!! Thank you for all of your hard work!!!
On T-shirt trading, I spent all week trying to find Frank Hesbacher of Germany. I had the pleasure of swimming against him in the 400 freestyle at the German National Championships in Berlin in April. We had a terrific race there and afterwards he told me that he would be at Worlds, swimming and playing water polo.
He was in the psych sheets for several races including the 400 free. However, he was a no show for his 100 and 200 free races. I suspected that he maybe did not come to the meet. I asked as many Germans as I could find if they knew Frank Hesbacher of Munich. Everyone said no. On Thursday, the day of the 400 free, I finally found a woman who knew him and told me he would be playing water polo at 5:00PM at the Palo Ato HS pool.
We found the pool and the 55+ year olds were playing. One team was Poseidan and the other was the Stanford team. No team from Munich. Darn. I then looked at the team roster and sure enough cap number 9 was Frank Hesbacher. Wasn't sure if it was him but after the game we approached him and with my wife's help (she knows German), determined that yes this was the right person. We talked for several minutes, exchanged addresses and of course t-shirts! Come to find out that Frank doesn't live in Munich, infact he lives quite a distance from there, but he was representing them in water polo.
It was great to see him again, exchange t-shirts and develop an international friendship. That's one of the nice things about a meet like this. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet and enjoy people from other cultures.
Thanks again Michael and all of the volunteers!!!!
Glenn:cool:
