Wow, wookiee - did the article point out why? I find that very curious since it is a year before an olympics.
With Klim and Thorpe out, any guesses on who will step up for the Aussie Men? Those are some pretty big, er, shoes, to fill.
:fish2:
I am linking two articles about the press release of Michael Klim's retirement. He had a real good chance to become the first Australian to make 4 Olympic teams. The retirement came less than a month after Swimming Australia levied a fine of $500 and 12 month suspension of a 3 month ban when Klim skipped an offical organization dinner after the FINA World Championships. I wonder now if he will pay that fine? Maybe that has something to do with this. He also stated that if he can't swim in top form, why bother showing up just to make a 4th Olympic team. He said he got valuable guidance from Ian Thorpe before making his decision. Thorpe stated if the commitment is not quite there, then we are not doing it for the right reasons. Klim agreed with this guidance. I don't think either one of them thought that they were doing there country and the Australian team a diservice by not competiting and trying for the Olympics in 2008.
I will always remember Michael Klim as a great champion and World Record holder. He was Swimming World's "World Swimmer of the Year in 1997" and was instrumental with there Men's team being very competitive with the USA. I remember him pretending to play guitar after the 400 Free Relay in Sydney when they won the gold medal. This was in reference to what Gary Hall Jr. said about the smashing the Aussies like guitars. Klim set the World Record leading of that relay in :48.18 and that was a key because he out split Anthony Ervin and that was not suppose to happen. He had the WR for 3 days and then PVH did that :47.84 and that record still stands today. Gary Hall got his revenge when he beat Klim by .01 in the 100 Free to get the bronze medal. Klim went slower in the individal event at :48.74 in taking 4th.
The two swimmers that I can think of that will step up for them are Matt Target and Eamon Sullivan. I have been impressed with both swimmers. Matt Target swam for Auburn and was on all those US Open Record breaking relays. He is swimming real well right now.
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../15018.aspwww.swimnews.com/.../displayStory.jhtml
From memory (I could be wrong) Klimmy only made the last worlds team as a member of the 100m free relay.He eventually wasn't even used as one of the younger Aussies (Lauterstein ??) was swimming faster.
I guess being a second string relay swimmer at the Olympics doesn't excite you when you have a record such as his.
I'll remember Klimmy for his world 100 Butterfly record.He hit the scene when Australia had very few champions (only Perkin in males) and was one of the reasons the 15m underwater rule was introduced.He has been there during the bad, better ,best and now just good years.i.e He trained with Popov in Australia and that's when his freestyle excelled.
He at times used to finish his 100m free with butterfly kick.Unusual.
He has incredibly wide shoulders and bigger hands than Thorpe(Thorpes feet are bigger).He was rumoured to have grown or worn fake finger nails when he set the butterfly record.I find this funny but beleivable given his character.He has a great warm personality and the recent fine shows Australias swimming officials possibly haven't progressed past Dawn Fraser's era.
He at times used to finish his 100m free with butterfly kick.Unusual.
I remember seeing him do that in 2000 and thinking he was real tired and floundering to the wall.
I watched the swim on DVD Wednesday and was marveling at his stroke. Very efficient.
I think that relay will go down as one of the top five relay races in Olympic history.
5. Women's 800 free relay, Athens
4. Men's 400 free relay, Sydney
3. Men's 800 free relay, Los Angeles
2. Men's 800 free relay, Athens
1. Women's 400 free relay, Montreal
Your choices of 5-2 are great. The womens relay from 1976 goes in an entirely different catagory.It was simply unbelievable.There was no way the US women could beat the roided up E. Germans,but they did!!!
I always thought Klim was a class act and his retiring this way seems consistent.
Lefty:
I remember Anthony winning the 50 and 100 meter Free at the 2000 NCAA Championships. The NCAA were Short Course Meters and he set a World Record in the 50 Free at :21.21 and won the 100 in :47.36 to beat Roland Schoeman who got 2nd. I do remember him not breaking :49.00 at Olympic trials and he was 5th about a half second behind Neil Walker who won the event. His NCAA swim was much better and that is what I was thinking about when I thought that he would be even with Klim. The next year was really the break out year for him when he set the American Record at :48.33 in defeating PVH in the 2001 World Championships and that swim made him 4th all time behind PVH, Klim, and Popov. So maybe I was one year ahead when thinking about this. His NCAA swim was about a half second from Popov's SCM record. But I guess you shouldn't compare SCM to LCM because they are different. At the 2001 World Championships, the Men's 400 Free Relay was almost identical to the 2000 Olympics. Ervin went last and caught Thorpe on the first 50 but Thorpe outsplit him on the second 50, just like he did Hall and touched him out at the wall. Both Hall and Ervin had outsplit Thorpe very narrowly.
out split Anthony Ervin and that was not suppose to happen.
Frank I always like reading your commentary mostly because it brings me back to when I was watching said events. Regarding this race, I thought that Walker and Lezak were going to have to be the difference makers because I figured Klim was going to out swim Ervin by alot and I doubted that Hall would outsplit Thorpe (I was wrong about that, Hall did outsplit Thorpe, just not by enough to make the difference). I think Ervin's career best at that point was 49.3 while Klim had been a 48. I could be wrong about this and should look it up but that is what I thought at the time. I was also suprised to see Ervin out there in the first place, because he was an unknown at that time swimming in the place of Scott Tucker (48.9 at Trials) and Josh Davis...
