When Katie Hoff made the Olympics in 2004, she was young, inexperienced, and got overwhelmed. Since then she's dominated swimming in America, done well globally, and in 2008 she has been overwhelmed - again. To me, she just looks the part of the nervous girl, constantly re-adjusting her goggles and plastering them to her face before races, taking deep breaths, etc. You don't see this out of Coughlin, Phelps, Piersol, and the list goes on and on. How is she going to perform at the highest level if she's a nervous wreck before races?
She was the prohibitive favorite in the IM's, and one of few favorites in the 2, 4, and 8 Freestyles. She got 4th, 3rd, 4th, 2nd, and an FTQ, respectively. We should all be so fortunate to be that good, but from a US Swimming standpoint, I think this has to go down as a disappointing performace. The only thing saving her (media-wise) is Phelps. Otherwise she'd have been the spotlight athlete. She was even mentioned as having a chance for 5 golds. She's failed to meet expectations. And it's a common occurrence in US women's swimming since the '88 games. Jenny Thompson comes to mind.
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Her 800 was disappointing, but look at her program 200 FR, 400 FR, 800 Fr, 200 IM, 400 IM, 800 FR Relay are you kidding me? I know she did it at trials, but the Olympics is a whole other story. My guess is that she will come back in 2012 with a less aggressive program and do great.
Her only mistake swimming wise was her touch in the 400M Free. Had she finished correctly, she would be a gold medalist and this discussion wouldn't even be happening.
The women from the rest of the world are swimming so much faster and she now knows she has a lot of work to do to catch up. The US women's team all has a lot of work to do, but I think we will be singing a different tune, because the age factor is definitely in our corner. Heck Dara will only be 45 then. :D
Her 800 was disappointing, but look at her program 200 FR, 400 FR, 800 Fr, 200 IM, 400 IM, 800 FR Relay are you kidding me? I know she did it at trials, but the Olympics is a whole other story. My guess is that she will come back in 2012 with a less aggressive program and do great.
Her only mistake swimming wise was her touch in the 400M Free. Had she finished correctly, she would be a gold medalist and this discussion wouldn't even be happening.
The women from the rest of the world are swimming so much faster and she now knows she has a lot of work to do to catch up. The US women's team all has a lot of work to do, but I think we will be singing a different tune, because the age factor is definitely in our corner. Heck Dara will only be 45 then. :D
