Olympic 10k

It's on. (The race, not the telly.) And for anyone interested, David Walliams, quite a figure in British entertainment in some fashion, swam the English Channel this morning. As the BBC "live commentators" said, where's his medal? He raised a biggish pile of pledge money. A million pounds? Can't be right. Could be. Is! news.bbc.co.uk/.../5256196.stm

Does anyone know if they will replay the 10K race tomorrow evening on NBC TV?

the two brits never traded places, never switched leads. Maybe I gave them too much credit for "team tactics," then. I didn't watch the middle and I just assumed that they had been switching off. If they weren't, then they were being pretty foolish. It's not as if they'd never swum against the others before. They should have known who had the potential to draft well and overtake at the finish and who didn't. But of course it isn't billed or medaled as a team sport, so they had a bit of a Prisoner's Dilemma going.

I missed the start FWIW, most swimmers used a grab start rather than the trendier track start. :) Honest, they did. The announcer said "take your marks," and then they all dove just about like they would have off blocks. No running in from the beach or treading water behind an imaginary line here.

I watched the race on the live streaming on CBC, so there was no commentary and it was very boring. Two hours of close ups of the two Brits swimming next to eachother, occasional zoom out to the following pack. Has any major women's 10km race ended any other way than the Russian drafting all the way to the end and then passing the leader(s) for the win? i too watched the last 1/2 hour of the race. i found it much more interesting however. some points to discuss: the two brits never traded places, never switched leads. two swimmers moving at that speed so close to each other create quite a powerful draft for those behind them. when i tuned in it was two brazilians and the russian (winner). the brazilian pair tried to challenge the leaders but were not strong enough when they moved outside the draft. the russian was patient and timed her sprint perfectly to the finish. yes, this is how it always ends, but one would think other swimmers would have figured out that it takes a bit of strategy to win the 10k. if you think you can just go full speed ahead for 2 hours and hold off any challengers at the end.......no gold for you!

two observations: they were "sighting" about every 4-6 strokes. not sure why. 20-30 seems more typical in tri's. lots of windmill strokes. they sure must have strong shoulders. one thought that would make the race much more fairer: no drafting or 2 minute penalty each time, staggered start about 2 minutes apart (48 minutes total). greatest comment from Canadian announcer was " the swimmers can see the bottom of the river/canal so it's just like swimming in a pool!!!!" :joker:

Maybe I gave them too much credit for "team tactics," then. I didn't watch the middle and I just assumed that they had been switching off. If they weren't, then they were being pretty foolish. It's not as if they'd never swum against the others before. They should have known who had the potential to draft well and overtake at the finish and who didn't. But of course it isn't billed or medaled as a team sport, so they had a bit of a Prisoner's Dilemma going. i did only catch the last 30 min. i don't know what preceeded it.

i did only catch the last 30 min. i don't know what preceeded it. I missed the start but there was at least 1.5 hours of swimming side by side.

David Davies is in the men's race. He won bronze at Athens in the 1500 and swam in the finals of the 1500 last weekend. The men's race starts at 9PM eastern time. I guess that you have to watch it on nbcolympics.com

I missed the start but there was at least 1.5 hours of swimming side by side. lindsay, as you watched a minimum of 90 minutes of this race with no audio (and very little change in the action) i think you are ideally qualified to join my foreign film club (even though you are a foreigner.....i think) this month's film is a mongolian adaptation of samuel beckett's "waiting for godot" ................you in?