2012 Olympics: Swimming

I suspect that a big factor in having Lochte anchor the relay was that overall sense of Destiny - the "this is Lochte's time" vibe - pervading the atmosphere; the sense is that he is especially keyed up to win, that has has worked superhumanly hard leading up to this, and that he will make some sort of magic during these Olympics. Since it didn't happen in the relay, it may sound silly looking back; but I'm not saying that it's necessarily wrong for coaches to get caught up in that. It's not all about who's best on paper, who had the best splits, and pure rational calculation like that. Sometimes, it might be right to go with that kind of vibe, even when the "real world" evidence suggests otherwise. Who knows - the other three on the relay may also have been feeling that Lochte-destiny-vibe and may have taken some kind of strength and inspiration from knowing he was anchoring them - and so they may have swam better than they would have otherwise as a result. Who's to say? We'll probably never know exactly how and why the decision was made - the coaches themselves might not fully know. But in some way, going with Lochte made "sense." From the other side of things, Agnel must feel !great! knowing that he entered the water trailing "the best swimmer in the world" and came out ahead to win it for his team. Not quite a Lezak moment, but still, quite a moment indeed.

I suspect that a big factor in having Lochte anchor the relay was that overall sense of Destiny - the "this is Lochte's time" vibe - pervading the atmosphere; the sense is that he is especially keyed up to win, that has has worked superhumanly hard leading up to this, and that he will make some sort of magic during these Olympics. Since it didn't happen in the relay, it may sound silly looking back; but I'm not saying that it's necessarily wrong for coaches to get caught up in that. It's not all about who's best on paper, who had the best splits, and pure rational calculation like that. Sometimes, it might be right to go with that kind of vibe, even when the "real world" evidence suggests otherwise. Who knows - the other three on the relay may also have been feeling that Lochte-destiny-vibe and may have taken some kind of strength and inspiration from knowing he was anchoring them - and so they may have swam better than they would have otherwise as a result. Who's to say? We'll probably never know exactly how and why the decision was made - the coaches themselves might not fully know. But in some way, going with Lochte made "sense." From the other side of things, Agnel must feel !great! knowing that he entered the water trailing "the best swimmer in the world" and came out ahead to win it for his team. Not quite a Lezak moment, but still, quite a moment indeed.