Frank - I thought the controversy in 2004 with the women's 800 involved Rachael Komisarsz? Natalie Coughlin's book describes the controversy but does not name the swimmer who didn't get to swim finals. The book describes a very vocal negative reaction to the coaches decision.
In 2004 there was another controversy - the men's 4x100 free. Crocker swam leadoff and swam poorly. He had a fever for several days. He deserved to be on the relay based on time but Eddie misjudged Crocker's ability at the time. The relay finished 3rd, unable to recover from the poor 1st leg. Crocker recovered to swim superbly on the medley relay after Phelps stepped aside.
You are correct with both storys and the one I was refering to was another one in 2000 that was reported on also. The 1996 instance with John Piersma and the 2004 instance with Lindsay Benko was given to prove that even if you win the individual event at Olympic Trials or take second, you are not guaranteed a slot on either the prelims or the finals relays. The 800 Free Relay is a little different than the others because both the Men's and Women's 200 Free individual event is swam with finals before the heats of that relay have swam.
The 400 Medley Relay heats are swam before the final of the Men's 100 Fly and that is why Michael Phelps swam the prelims of that relay because at the 2004 Olympic Trials he was the second place finisher and thus was selected to swim the morning heats of the 100 Fly. Because he won the individual event over the first place finisher at Olympic Trials (Ian Crocker) he earned the right to swim in the final along with the prelim. This meant that Ian Crocker would not be awarded a medal (gold) in that relay. If he would have swam prelims he would have but no one knew who would win that event until the event was over and that was after the 400 Medley Relay heats. This year there could be the same problem for the coaches to figure.
This is also the same problem with the 400 Free Relay in that the final is a day before the 100 Free heats for Men and two days before for Women and you are not sure how your top 2 qualifers are going to do. So that relay is usually swam with the 3rd thru 6 place qualifers and they take the top two fastest times from those qualifers. Of course Michael Phelps negated this in 2004 because he posted a :49.05 in winning 2004 spring Nationals and that was a time the coaches wanted the swimmers to beat with Relay take offs factored in for the decision. With the splits it was determined that Neil Walker along with Michael would be joining the top 2 qualifers from the Olympic Trials.
That sound fair to all of the coaching staff and there was not a controversey until the relay swam and the 2 qualifers the next day failed to make the semi finals for the first time in USA Olympic history. That added fuel to the fire about the non qualifing Phelps, sick Crocker, and a healthy Hall.
Frank - I thought the controversy in 2004 with the women's 800 involved Rachael Komisarsz? Natalie Coughlin's book describes the controversy but does not name the swimmer who didn't get to swim finals. The book describes a very vocal negative reaction to the coaches decision.
In 2004 there was another controversy - the men's 4x100 free. Crocker swam leadoff and swam poorly. He had a fever for several days. He deserved to be on the relay based on time but Eddie misjudged Crocker's ability at the time. The relay finished 3rd, unable to recover from the poor 1st leg. Crocker recovered to swim superbly on the medley relay after Phelps stepped aside.
You are correct with both storys and the one I was refering to was another one in 2000 that was reported on also. The 1996 instance with John Piersma and the 2004 instance with Lindsay Benko was given to prove that even if you win the individual event at Olympic Trials or take second, you are not guaranteed a slot on either the prelims or the finals relays. The 800 Free Relay is a little different than the others because both the Men's and Women's 200 Free individual event is swam with finals before the heats of that relay have swam.
The 400 Medley Relay heats are swam before the final of the Men's 100 Fly and that is why Michael Phelps swam the prelims of that relay because at the 2004 Olympic Trials he was the second place finisher and thus was selected to swim the morning heats of the 100 Fly. Because he won the individual event over the first place finisher at Olympic Trials (Ian Crocker) he earned the right to swim in the final along with the prelim. This meant that Ian Crocker would not be awarded a medal (gold) in that relay. If he would have swam prelims he would have but no one knew who would win that event until the event was over and that was after the 400 Medley Relay heats. This year there could be the same problem for the coaches to figure.
This is also the same problem with the 400 Free Relay in that the final is a day before the 100 Free heats for Men and two days before for Women and you are not sure how your top 2 qualifers are going to do. So that relay is usually swam with the 3rd thru 6 place qualifers and they take the top two fastest times from those qualifers. Of course Michael Phelps negated this in 2004 because he posted a :49.05 in winning 2004 spring Nationals and that was a time the coaches wanted the swimmers to beat with Relay take offs factored in for the decision. With the splits it was determined that Neil Walker along with Michael would be joining the top 2 qualifers from the Olympic Trials.
That sound fair to all of the coaching staff and there was not a controversey until the relay swam and the 2 qualifers the next day failed to make the semi finals for the first time in USA Olympic history. That added fuel to the fire about the non qualifing Phelps, sick Crocker, and a healthy Hall.
