Back to Phelps.
What about his try at changing his crawl technique prior to the worlds. Could this be the reason for his very good but as most say his (poor???) 200 fr swim? May have been bad judgement by the coach or the swimmer? I did not like what I saw during the changing style period, it looked Helter Skelter.
I thought he did OK in the 200fr, he just was not at his best that day.
I don't know if Phelps' stroke change had anything to do with his "poor" 200 meter free. In fact I argue his 200 freestyle was excellent - he came within .3 of his time in Beijing. It just looked substandard because Paul Biedermann's swim qualifies as one of the greatest in history, akin to Mary T.'s butterfly world records at Brown Deer in 1981. However Biedermann's swims have a gigantic question mark attached to them because of the suit. To his credit Biedermann seems to recognize this and wants to race without it. But until he does we won't know how fast he can really go, nor how fast Phelps can really go.
Back to Phelps' stroke - I would have to say, from my vantage point, that Phelps' attempt to remodel his freestyle has been a failure thus far. He did it to have a faster 100 meter free, but his times have been slower than last year's. (47.5 at Beijing to 47.7 at WC I think.) He did not swim the 100 meter race at trials, a decision which confused me since he had spent so much time changing his stroke.
If I were Bowman I might have focused less on Phelps' stroke, and simply given Phelps more sprint and power training. His stroke may have evolved naturally as each pull became faster and more powerful. At least mine did - I used to have a classic high elbow freestyle. As I added sprint and power training, my stroke slowly evolved into a partial straight arm. I realize I am a subset of one, but it is a theory.
I loved how the two of them were standing on opposite sides of the blocks so they could stare each other down.
The same thing happened in Beijing. When asked about it afterward though, Phelps was unaware of it. Although he was facing Cavic, he was 100% focused on his race, probably looking downward at the blocks or whatever.
Cavic did take the loss like a man
What else could he do? - he ran his mouth, whined (again) about Bejing and then got couldn't back it up with a win in the pool. Cavic seemed to have all the advantages, his prelim swim, he had a pretty easy meet schedule, and Phelps was more inconsistent than usual (the free stroke change experiment seems to have messed up all his free races).
And his post interview was pretty lame - I guess he couldn't take his own comments like a man - don't pull that bs about not saying what he said, or the lame "context" argument. No touch pad argument on this one.
I don't know if I'd want Phelps to date my daughter, but the hate for the guy baffles me.
The haters are out in force, swimming has seen a huge general public resurgance because of Phelps (and some others) so I don't get it.
And I know what male swimmers are like and I don't want them dating most people's daughters.
I loved how the two of them were standing on opposite sides of the blocks so they could stare each other down.
Cavic did take the loss like a man, >>>>>>>>> snip...............
What's important is what you said
Cavic did take the loss like a man
and congratulated Phelps, right there and then, in the water, (not in a follow-up interview.)
Fly technique:
Breathing every stroke helps more in the 200 fly and I just to don't think that style is suited to the 100 for fast flat fly. Advantage Cavic.
Suit:
100% polyeurethane vs. LZR. Advantage Cavic.
Meet event load:
Advantage Cavic.
Chip on their shoulder:
Advantage Cavic.
Confidence:
Smashing the WR in the prelims. Advantage Cavic.
Conditioning:
No time off. Advantage Cavic.
Chance of Phelps winning? Not good. Am I pulling for him? You bet.
Great points Rob. Phelps knows this guy is gunning for him. That could make all the difference.
Like Peirsol, he may just dig deeper than ever before..
What's important is what you said
Cavic did take the loss like a man
and congratulated Phelps, right there and then, in the water, (not in a follow-up interview.)
So Cavic gets the sportsmanship credit over Phelps for shaking his hand in the water vs. a few minutes later? What about the cockamamie conspiracy theory about how the timing system didn't work for one heat out of the thousands at the Olympics? I'll take no handshake for 2 minutes over delusional pre-race conspiratorial rants if I'm shopping in the sportsmanship department. Yes, Cavic was gracious in defeat, but Phelps was gracious in victory and in the circus that preceded (motivated?) said victory.
I don't know if I'd want Phelps to date my daughter, but the hate for the guy baffles me. We wouldn't even be able to watch these WCs on network tv if it weren't for him. He congratulates his opponents, is loyal to his team and country and just proved to be the fiercest competitor the sport has seen in decades, maybe ever (has the pressure ever been greater on a swimmer?). He's raised the bar for the field, many of whom are faster now than they would've imagined themselves to be without him (see geek's comment about Tiger).
