Now by the time most of you read this the finals will be over but ... Keller had the slowest split, OBVIOUSLY Phelps (& I'm guessing Lochte) are a done deal ... Vanderkaay put up a 1:46.67 leading off followed by Jayme Cramer's 1:47.97, David Walters 1:47.75 & Keller's 1:48.60 ...
Do you take a total rookie? Slightly more experience with Cramer, or a struggling but veteran Keller? Personally I say give the rookie a shot, who knows what he'll put up next year.
My prediction: Phelps, Lochte, Vanderkaay, & Cramer
I'd like to see ... Phelps, Lochte, Vanderkaay & Walters ...
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Former Member
Jim, granted, the logic doesn't apply if you allow all countries to bring three competitors per event, but it does if you allow countries to bring extra athletes if those athletes are top ranked.
In the same spirit as Peter's proposal, perhaps we should allow corporate teams? One would guess that that would lead to better financial support of the athletes. I wonder what the average cost would be to convince an athlete to swim on Team Speedo instead of Team USA.
The way I interpreted the proposal was that any country that has the top 3 swimmers in a particular event can qualify all 3 swimmers for that event....so that it was not necessarily a U.S. specific rule change.....but I agree with you that the fairest thing to do along these lines is to just change it from having only 2 qualify from each nation in each event to having 3 qualify from each nation in each event. One of the pros to this change would be that each nation can have more qualifiers for the Olympics (especially when there are 3 very deserving swimmers from the same nation in the same event....like the top 3 swimmers in that event for example)....One of the cons to this change would be that all 3 medals could potentially go to the same nation ina given event (thus leaving out the other nations in that event). ...Which ever way, I think it was suppose to be a rule change that would somehow be impartial to all nations....Problem is, either way, the U.S. would gain advantages over other nations ....more so than any other nation would right now.....So who knows?
Newmastersswimmer
Jim, granted, the logic doesn't apply if you allow all countries to bring three competitors per event, but it does if you allow countries to bring extra athletes if those athletes are top ranked.
In the same spirit as Peter's proposal, perhaps we should allow corporate teams? One would guess that that would lead to better financial support of the athletes. I wonder what the average cost would be to convince an athlete to swim on Team Speedo instead of Team USA.
The way I interpreted the proposal was that any country that has the top 3 swimmers in a particular event can qualify all 3 swimmers for that event....so that it was not necessarily a U.S. specific rule change.....but I agree with you that the fairest thing to do along these lines is to just change it from having only 2 qualify from each nation in each event to having 3 qualify from each nation in each event. One of the pros to this change would be that each nation can have more qualifiers for the Olympics (especially when there are 3 very deserving swimmers from the same nation in the same event....like the top 3 swimmers in that event for example)....One of the cons to this change would be that all 3 medals could potentially go to the same nation ina given event (thus leaving out the other nations in that event). ...Which ever way, I think it was suppose to be a rule change that would somehow be impartial to all nations....Problem is, either way, the U.S. would gain advantages over other nations ....more so than any other nation would right now.....So who knows?
Newmastersswimmer
