What does it mean when we look at the performance of the US men's swimming team at Beijing without Phelps....... i.e. without the man carrying the team? Is he merely the "Vince Young" of a slightly above average football Team?
We essentially lose the 400 free relay, 100 fly (Ian moves form 4th to 3rd), 200 IM and 400 IM (Lochted moves to silver), 200 free and 200 fly. That's makes 6 less golds and one extra bronze.
The US would effectively only win 2 individual events...... the 200 and 100 back.
Is Phelps a true representation of the state of US men's swimming or and exception?
www.nbcolympics.com/.../index.html
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I don't really understand the orginal posters point or question. We weren't without Phelps, so why think about it. Any team iwth out the greastest swimmer in history would be a lesser team...duh. Phelps will be back in 4 years (in what capacity remains to be seen) and 4 years is a long time to refresh the talent pool. Who knows what will come out of it. But you can pretty much be guaranteed that the US will still be at the top of the talent pool (no pun intended).
I don't really understand the orginal posters point or question. We weren't without Phelps, so why think about it. Any team iwth out the greastest swimmer in history would be a lesser team...duh. Phelps will be back in 4 years (in what capacity remains to be seen) and 4 years is a long time to refresh the talent pool. Who knows what will come out of it. But you can pretty much be guaranteed that the US will still be at the top of the talent pool (no pun intended).
