Torres out of 100

I have to agree it's a little selfish. The fact that there's very little chance she could medal in the 100 does take some of the edge off it. The fact remains the U.S. team's number one seed in the 100 free doesn't want to swim it because it might tire her out. So I guess the moral of the story is, unless you are prepared to swim the event at the Olympics, don't swim it at trials. I can see the selfish side of the argument, but is it really so bad that she wants to swim the best 50 she can? :dunno:

Two swimmers come to mind and I am sure there are more out there. In 2004, Michael Phelps quaified to swim the 200 Meter Back and choose not to contest this event at Athens. Shirley Babashoff qualified to swim the 400 IM by winning the Olympic Trials in this event and choose not to contest this event in Montreal at the 1976 Olympics. So it seems selfish behaviour is not reserved only for the elder elite swimmers, but for the youth as well. :rolleyes:

Everyone needs to relax. She is focusing on the 50 to get more endorsements if she wins. This will enable her to earn her own living and stop relying on the string of sugar daddies. She might also require a certain "recovery window" to swim to her fullest potential and the 100 could interfere with that.

After looking at the Olympic schedule I have to say I agree doing the 100 would make her schedule pretty difficult. Throw in the medley relay and that would be a lot of swims in three or four days.

I like the idea that she is doing this.....Focus on the event that she actually has a chance at making the stand. Like it was stated before, her main goal for the 100 was to make the relay team....she did a little better than that but doesn't want to waste the effort on a race she won't medal in. Different then other peoples' train of thought but makes sense to me.

Let's not "waste" our effort on events we can't win or medal. Perhaps I should teach that to my kids. "Don't bother playing if you can't win". Perhaps all the qualifiers on our US team should bag the races they feel are marginal or they can't win or medal. And don't kid yourself....... she's not doing this to be generous to the third place finisher. John Smith

My assumption was that she wants to minimize the possibility that she underperforms in the relay or the 50. If she is unlikely to medal in the 100 why jeopardize the relay and the 50?

What the hay happened to the less is more mantra? She's older and supposedly follows it for her training/ yardage. So now she's swimming less (fewer events) to have more of an impact.

Let's not "waste" our effort on events we can't win or medal. Perhaps I should teach that to my kids. "Don't bother playing if you can't win". Perhaps all the qualifiers on our US team should bag the races they feel are marginal or they can't win or medal. And don't kid yourself....... she's not doing this to be generous to the third place finisher. John Smith Maybe I am smoking too much crack these days, who knows. To me, it seems perfectly logical to skip an event to place more emphasis on your signature event(s). Would you rather swim two Olympic events and place 4th in each or swim one and make the medal stand? It's not about not bothering to play if you can't win, it's about being smart about your meet planning IMHO. I am well aware that this was not an act of kindness to the 3rd place finisher.

Let's not "waste" our effort on events we can't win or medal. Perhaps I should teach that to my kids. "Don't bother playing if you can't win". Perhaps all the qualifiers on our US team should bag the races they feel are marginal or they can't win or medal. And don't kid yourself....... she's not doing this to be generous to the third place finisher. John Smith I am curious....where did you get that out of what I said?