I would like to know what kind of drug regiment Liu Zige is on to drop from a best 2007 time of 2:09.45 from last September, to a 2:04.18 today. Call me a skeptic but that's huge drop that seems too good to be true.
When you take a country as small as Canada and compare to a country as huge as the US, you are not doing an appropriate comparison. Canada is doing quite well, if not exceptionally. Canada has never been a swimming powerhouse and they have their own sports they are fantastic in, such as curling.
Leonard - not trying to be funny here, but is racewalking still an Olympic sport, or was it ever?
Canada may not have the best swimmers, but they sure have the best Olympic TV coverage. The US (NBC) is a farce, have a hard time getting it right after having 8 hours to review the race.:duel:
Australia Medal count, 5 gold 4 silver 7 bronze 16 total, a very small country 20,434,176 . Canada 33,400,000 how many medals? Canada going in the wrong direction has been for years.
Hmmmm... I realize that Canada isn't medalling all over the pool, but it SEEMS as if I see a decent number of Canadians in heats/finals. It struck me that for a country with 10% of the U.S population and where swimming isn't a national obsession, that Canada at least seems pretty well represented. Maybe it's an incorrect impression, however.
-LBJ
Yup. Hoff is swimming well. Forgot about Hoelzer.
And weak swims from Beard, Schmitt, Breeden, Hersey, and Beisel.
Beaten by the Chinese in 200 fly, 200 free, and the 800 relay???
Actually I think Katie Hoff swam the better time out of all the US girls in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay.
Australia Medal count, 5 gold 4 silver 7 bronze 16 total, a very small country 20,434,176 . Canada 33,400,000 how many medals? Canada going in the wrong direction has been for years.
Swimming Canada has changed almost everything since Athens, what are they doing wrong and what should they change?
Honestly though, look at Coventry and a few other "non-American" swimmers (both guys and girls). They might have been born outside the states, but they use American Universities, American coaches, and the American swimming machine to get better. I don't have any statistics, but I would be willing to bet that a good portion of foreign medals come from American trained swimmers.
Sorry, but I don't think Zimbabwe has any world class swim clubs or teams to train with.
They have to start at the bottom. They are spending too much on the top swimmers not enough on grass roots (the little kids). Too many idiot coaches that have been dictating swimming for years in Canada with the Swim Canada organization.
They bring in someone to head it up and he is following the same direction as in the past. Really the change is a no change.
