2012 Olympic Trials USA Swimming

Anyone else think it was a bad choice for Pelton to drop the 100 bk? I am so pumped for Claire Donahue! What an awesome final! Computer question: is anyone having any luck watching live prelim action on an ipad? I only have an ipad2 and im having trouble finding sites that support this device.

I don't think there is any doubt(at least not in my mind) that Natalie has the greatest SDK of all time. I am not sure if I totally agree with this. In backstroke and free and I am not referring to being a specialist in these strokes, I would say yes. However, I saw Misty Hyman swim at the 1996 Olympic Trials and saw the SDK in both the 100 Fly and 200 Fly races and have never seen any female swim like that. Granted that would be illegal today but she was the first women swimmer that actually swam like this and it took her and her coach Bob Gilette to perfect this when she was a very young age grouper. I talked to Misty at the 2011 Long Course Nationals and told her she was the true innovator of this style of swimming and people seem to forget this. She did not disagree with me and thanked me for the compliment. With that being said, I never saw Misty perfect this in the backstroke and I know she swam that event because she had the National HS Record at one time and won the event at the NCAA meet one time. Natalie was actually the innovator in the back and has been since 2001. I did see Misty in the outdoor pool at Auburn where swimmers were warming up at the 2012 Nationals and she was doing the same thing that Natalie does but she never perfected it in back and I would give the nod to Natalie. In free, I never saw Misty swim or don't remember so I don't know how well she did off the walls in competition. Perhaps at the clinic on Wednesday, at the 2012 Long Course Nationals, we can ask for a demonstration from Misty of the SDK.

Did anyone notice that the announcers never mentioned Amanda Beard last night? Is she blacklisted for being too sexy? We can only hope she didn't cry about it...

Any other people from Texas notice that the graphic for Dana Vollmer showed her to be from "Cranbury" Texas? Granbury Texas is little town southwest of Fort Worth population 7,978 Wiki Info

I think Beard just got the general 'also swimming in this heat' because she's not really a contender in the 100 BR, and they already had the Hardy-Soni storyline planned for the event as well as a discussion of Breeja Larson's good form to cover. They'll probably say more in the 200 BR where she's got a better shot. I agree with this and there will be a big storyline about Amanda in the 200 ***. Now anybody out there correct me if I am wrong, but Amanda Beard, if she makes the team in the 200 ***, will be the first USA Women to make 5 consecutive Olympic Teams. Dara has made more but not consecutively. She might be the first Women to do this but I am not up on other countries Olympians and there is probably someone that has made more. For that reason and that reason alone, that should create a good story line. This will only be possible if she makes the final of the 200 ***. In 2008, Amanda Beard upset Catlin Leverenz for that second spot in the 200 *** where no gave her a chance so she has a shot. The way Leverenz swam the IM you would think not but then Leverenz did'nt swim a good 100 *** so you never know.

We can only hope she didn't cry about it... We will never know this because as Amanda states "in the water they can't see you cry"

We need 25 & 50 SDK races, Natalie Coughlin's SDK is exceptional. Lara Jackson is a great dolphin kicker and used it off both walls when she went 21.2 in the 50 yard free. Pretty much any female who goes 22 or 23 in the 50 fly or 23 or 24 in the 50 bk is a great dolphin kicker. Eddie Reese has told me several times that "The NCAA cuts for the mens 100 bk & 100 fl are so fast nobody can swim them. They have to kick most of the way." This is the fastest 50 LCM dolphin kick on film that I know of.

Did anyone notice that the announcers never mentioned Amanda Beard last night? Is she blacklisted for being too sexy? In the broadcast I watched (the west coast version, so it's possible that it had a different voiceover than earlier versions), the announcers did mention that Amanda was going for her 5th Olympic team and that she had a better chance of making it in the 200 ***. Since that was all well and good, I didn't think anything of it until now. Conspiracy theories, GO! :banana:

If you're looking for video after the fact, Comcast On-Demand has video from the finals of each event available. Unfortunately they mention in the title who the top two were, so if you're trying to avoid spoilers you're out of luck. I also went to the NBC website and had the same problem. They've got videos but the titles give away who won.

If you're looking for video after the fact, Comcast On-Demand has video from the finals of each event available. Unfortunately they mention in the title who the top two were, so if you're trying to avoid spoilers you're out of luck. I also went to the NBC website and had the same problem. They've got videos but the titles give away who won. Kirk, how about semi-finals? It seems like, with tonight's timeline, that the women's 200 free and 200 IM semis are outside the window for the live telecast. And I'd love to see the 200 IM semis, since a PSU swimmer got scratched in :)