I will go out on a limb and say that we will see at least one of the two (Crocker or Phelps) under 50 for the first time. Maybe even both, but I predict Phelps will take it......
Any others?
I thought Phelps did rather poorly at his first Olympics?
He got fifth, yes, but he was:
only 15 years old
racing guys who had been in this situation before
used a much different race strategy that would not get him world records today.
On the upside, he did swim a best time in Sydney. The following year, he broke the world record and never looked back.
Now, about this supposed "race fixing" by Crocker. He didn't fix the race. Don't be daft (as the Brits say). He was trying to time that last stroke right, and doing it at the normal speed would have meant a longer glide. As in breaststroke, the hardest thing about the race is timing the finish. Both guys had long glides to the wall. Michael's just got him to the finish .05 seconds quicker.
I thought Phelps did rather poorly at his first Olympics?
He got fifth, yes, but he was:
only 15 years old
racing guys who had been in this situation before
used a much different race strategy that would not get him world records today.
On the upside, he did swim a best time in Sydney. The following year, he broke the world record and never looked back.
Now, about this supposed "race fixing" by Crocker. He didn't fix the race. Don't be daft (as the Brits say). He was trying to time that last stroke right, and doing it at the normal speed would have meant a longer glide. As in breaststroke, the hardest thing about the race is timing the finish. Both guys had long glides to the wall. Michael's just got him to the finish .05 seconds quicker.
