Women's 4x100

Natalie just looked like she seized up with 20m to go. Out too fast?

Natalie's start and turn were terrific. It was just the swimming part of the race that failed her a little!

Sounds good to me...she is a machine!

I was very pleased with how the team did! The JH matter has been very upsetting and must have hurt the women's team morale not to mention having been somewhat of a distraction. I imagine in the elite swimming world, fellow swimmers are somewhat like family. For some of these younger swimmers like Natalie and Kara Lynn (by younger I mean younger than Dara), I am sure it was very shocking and like losing a family member to have one of your own thrown off the team. To Dara's credit, she has lived life longer, knows the cruel things that life can throw you, and was able to shake it off. She had a fantastic swim as I knew she would. Like her or not, there is no denying that she is an awesome competitor. For all the trauma the team has gone through lately, I think it is awesome that they got silver!

With Natalie's reliance on her amazing SDKs she is often a bit of a crap shoot.I think sometimes she just gets into too much oxygen debt.She either holds it together and is really fast,or doesn't like in the relay.

For some of these younger swimmers like Natalie and Kara Lynn, I am sure it was very shocking and like losing a family member to have one of your own thrown off the team. I don't think so. Those two are vets. Coughlin was slow, no getting around it. She swam more than half a second faster at the Santa Clara meet in May, for heaven's sake!

I don't think so. Those two are vets. Coughlin was slow, no getting around it. She swam more than half a second faster at the Santa Clara meet in May, for heaven's sake! They may be vets in swimming, but they are young in years of living on the planet. Big difference in how 25 year olds handle life and 41 year olds handle life. I think the JH matter has affected things and there is no denying that anything that can affect one mentally will have an impact on performance.

I agree about Coughlin... but I didn't realize KLJ and Nymeyer swam poorly. How far off of their bests were they? Nymeyer's best (from Trials) is a 54.02. Her split was 53.91, so if you give 0.5 for the relay start she was about 0.4 off. Joyce's best is a 54.34 and her split was 53.98, so pretty much right on her best. The swimmer they were really missing was Amanda Weir, who swam poorly at Trials, but has a best time of 53.5. Too bad she couldn't have been on form this year.

Nymeyer's best (from Trials) is a 54.02. Her split was 53.91, so if you give 0.5 for the relay start she was about 0.4 off. Joyce's best is a 54.34 and her split was 53.98, so pretty much right on her best. The swimmer they were really missing was Amanda Weir, who swam poorly at Trials, but has a best time of 53.5. Too bad she couldn't have been on form this year. I think it is a better comparison to see what these gals' best relay splits are to see whether they were off or not.

I think it is a better comparison to see what these gals' best relay splits are to see whether they were off or not. Maybe, but those are more difficult to find. Here's how the US team split the relay at World champs in Melbourne last year: 2. 4 United States USA 3:35.68 0.20 COUGHLIN Natalie 82 0.68 25.98 54.13 54.13 NYMEYER Lacey 85 0.34 25.70 53.50 1:47.63 WEIR Amanda 86 0.19 25.91 54.02 2:41.65 JOYCE Kara Lynn 85 0.20 25.58 54.03 3:35.68