2008 Olympics in China
While many of you are intimately familiar with the swimming portion of the 2008 Olympics, here is quick overview what is happening in our sport:
The Olympic Program is 8 days long. All events 200 meters and down are swum in a preliminary-semi-final-final progression. 16 athletes advance to the semi-finals and the fastest eight from the semis advance to the finals. All events 400 meters and longer are swum as preliminaries and finals. The fastest eight athletes (or relay teams) advance to the finals. All preliminary swims are swum at night in China, around 6-9AM for us in North Carolina. All semi-finals and finals are swum in the morning in China, around 10PM-12midnight for us. The decision to swim finals in the morning was made to accomodate the American viewing and advertising audience.
You may notice that the competitive field is not very big - there are only 5-7 heats in preliminaries. The IOC (International Olympic Committee) and FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation - International governing body for Swimming) determined a series of qualifying standards, the Olympic A and B standards. A competing country may enter up to two athletes in an individual event if both meet the A standard, or one athlete per event who meets the B standard. (There is also a provision for developing/emerging nations to allow entrance into the Olympic events without meeting a qualifying standard - I believe this policy has been revisited and severely restricts admission in the Olympic Swimming. In Olympics past there were athletes from the countries who were extremely slow - finishing minutes behind the leaders.) As an example, the 100 meter freestyle standards are: Men A 49.23 and B 50.95 and Women A 55.24 and B 57.17. Not many athletes in the world can achieve these B standards, so most countries will only field a limited squad or no squad at all. Relay selection is based off the Top-12 finishing countries from the previous year's World Championships and four additional at-large meritous selections. Qualified relay teams may swim any athletes on their Olympic roster on relays and countries may elect to swim different athletes in the relay preliminaries and the relay finals.
Day 1 Prelims
The opening day saw the US advance both Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte to the men's 400IM final and also advance Katie Hoff and Elizabeth Beisel to the women's 400IM final. Both American female 100 flyers advance to semi-finals (Christine Magnuson and Elaine Breeden) and both male 100 breaststrokers advanced the semi-finals (Brendan Hansen and Mark Gangloff). Peter Vanderkaay and Larsen Jensen advanced to the men's 400 free final. The US women's 400 free relay team also advanced to finals with efforts from the foursome of: Kara Lynn Joyce, Lacey Nymeyer, Julia Smit, and Emily Silver. Joyce and Nymeyer were significantly faster than Smit and Silver, so both will likely swim the finals relay with Natalie Coughlin and Dara Torres.
Day 1 Finals
Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte led the US to a 1-3 finish in the 400IM, with Phelps shattering his own World Record in the event (4:03.84). Christine Magnuson advanced to the women's 100 fly final but teammate Elaine Breeden failed to advance. Larsen Jensen earned a bronze in the men's 400 freestyle, while Peter Vanderkaay ended up 4th and out of the medals. Stephanie Rice of Australia shattered the women's 400IM World Record with a 4:29.54 effort and Katie Hoff finished with a bronze for USA. Both Brendan Hansen and Mark Gangloff advanced to the men's 100 breaststroke final. The final event of the evening saw the USA win silver behind The Netherlands in the women's 400 meter freestyle relay. The foursome for USA was: Natalie Coughlin, Lacey Nymeyer, Kara Lynn Joyce and Dara Torres.
Phelps' win was expected, but shattering the record was a surprise to most. Lochte was purported as a real threat in this event. Magnuson's advance to finals is some positive momentum for the USA, while Breeden was not expected to final. Hoff's bronze was a surprise to many, but her time was nearly her personal best. Hoff is contesting 5 individual races plus a relay in China, so her focus is divided and her overall program is very taxing. Jensen's bronze was an American record, so nothing to be dissapointed about. Neither Hansen nor Gangloff looked impressive in the semi-finals, but both (especially Hansen) could bring a different approach tonight in the finals. The American's relay was highlighted by Torres' 52.44 anchor, the second-fastest split ever. Couglin's lead-off was well off her personal best (by .70 seconds), so the USA probably should have been closer to the Gold. This relay was also affected by Jessica Hardy's drug suspension, as she would have factored into the preliminary relay line-up and likely would have forced Kara Lynn Joyce or Emily Silver out of Olympic participation altogether
Day 2 prelims
Both Phelps and Vanderkaay advanced to the 200 free semi-finals. Both Rebecca Soni and Megan Jendrick advanced to the women's 100 breaststroke semi-finals. (Soni was the substitute for Trials champion Hardy) Both Americans advanced to the men's 100 meter backstroke semi-final (Aaron Peirsol and Matt Grevers). Katie Hoff advanced to her second finals of the games in the women's 400 free, but American Kate Ziegler was extremely slow - 6 seconds off her personal best and the first truly sub-par swim for team USA. The prelims ended with a bang, however, with another World Record, this one the American Men's 400 meter freestyle relay team of Nathan Adrian, Ben Wildman-Tobriner, Cullen Jones, and Matt Grevers recording a 3:12.23. In all liklihood Phelps, Jason Lezak, and Garret Weber-Gale will replace three of the preliminary athletes - Jones was the fastest split with Grevers a close second. With Grevers swimming the 100 backstroke already in semi-finals, the nod will likely go to Jones. Both France and Australia went under the exisiting World Record and both countries were not at full strength either in the preliminary relays - tonight's finals will be incredibly fast and incredibly competitive!
Day 2 Finals
Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe started the finals session off with a World Record in the women's 100 meter backstroke (58.77). Coughlin and Margaret Hoelzer advance to the finals. Vanderkaay and Phelps advance to the men's 200 free final. Christine Magnusun earned a silver for the USA in the women's 100 fly. Kosuke Kitajima defended his 2004 title in the 100 meter breastroke for men and also claimed the World Record in 58.91. Both Americans, Soni and Jendrick, advanced to the women's 100 breast final. Peirsol and Grevers advanced to the men's 100 back final. American Katie Hoff claimed her second medal of the games with a silver in the women's 400 meter freestyle. The US men (3:08.24) won the 400 freestyle relay with a team comprised of Michael Phelps, Garret Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezak.
Coventry's 100 back World Record was somewhat a surprise, as she is more of a 200-400 swimmer (bettered the exisiting World Record to earn Silver in the 400IM 1 day ago). Coughlin continues to not perform up to expectations - the final today should be interesting as Coughlin will have to go out harder than she has been approaching the first 50. The men's 200 free showed us a rare example of the potential difficulties of the semi-final format as 7 of the 8 finalists advanced from the 2nd semi-final after the 1st heat was very slow. Magnusun's silver was an unexpected medal for the US and makes our 400 medley relay much more competitive. Kitajima's 100 breaststroke win and World Record were no shock, but Brendan Hansen's 4th-place certainly was. Hansen is the consummate gentleman, gracious in victory and defeat, but even he revealed some bitterness and bewilderment about his lackluster World Record defense - even hinting at not retiring after these games. Rebecca Soni continues to benefit from Hardy's removal, as she sits second in an event she did not even qualify for at the US Trials. The men's 100 back final will be extremely close, with numerous athletes capable of medaling. Hoff's silver medal ostensibly was a good finish for the US, but the way she lost the race getting tracked down by 1.53 seconds over the final 50 meters was not ideal. Great Britain ended up 1-3 in the women's 400 free - quite an accomplishment and a sign of things to come from the 2012 host nation. The men's 400 free relay was one for the ages, as FIVE countries went under the World Record and all eight relay teams were under 3:13. Eamon Sullivan of Australia set the World Record leading off the Aussie relay (47.24). Meanwhile the Americans and the French were dueling for the gold: Phelps led off with a 47.51 and Weber-Gale followed with a 47.02. Cullen Jones then swam a 47.65 effort to place the US in a huge hole against the French. Jason Lezak then answered with the fastest split in history (46.06) to track down Bernard, the French anchor. The French were visibly shaken by the loss, while the Americans were ecstatic - it will be interesting to see how the adrenalin carries over the final six days of competition.
Day 3 prelims
While most athletes are conserving energy in prelims when possible, Federica Pellegrini (1:55.45) broke the women's world record in the 200 meter freestyle in prelims this morning (night in China). Pellegrini, the world record holder in the 400 free, went medal-less just 8 hours earlier with an extremely sub-par 400 free. Both Americans, Hoff and Allison Schmitt, advanced to semis. Both Phelps and Gil Stovall advanced to the men's 200 fly semifinal. Hoff and Coughlin advanced to the women's 200IM semis as well.
Day 3 Finals
Hoff advances to the finals of the women's 200 free, but Schmitt missed by 1 slot with a 9th-place result. Phelps shattered his own World Record in the men's 200 meter free and won his third gold of the games with a time of 1:42.96 while Vanderkaay earned the bronze. Coughlin and Hoelzer went 1-3 in the 100 backstroke while Peirsol and Grevers finished 1-2 in the men's 100 backstroke with Peirsol lowering his own World standard with a time of 52.54. Soni earned silver in the women's 100 breaststroke. Phelps advanced to the 200 fly final but Stovall missed qualifying for finals. Hoff and Coughlin advaced to the 200IM final as well.
Hoff is attempting a very difficult double tonight with the 200free and 200IM finals less than an hour apart. Schmitt's 9th in the 200 free was unexpected, as she was over 2 seconds slower than her swim at Trials and missed the finals by only .01. The women's 200 free title in Phelps' 200 free was epic, as he is over a second clear of the next fastest performer ever, the legendary Ian Thorpe. Thinking in a sort of perspective, Phelps' opening 100 in his 200 was 50.2 - just 4 years ago our USA 400 free relay leadoff split was a 50.1 (albeit a subpar swim, but nonetheless our Olympic effort). Vanderkaay's bronze was his first individual medal. Coughlin's gold was a gritty defense of her Olympic title (and an American record of 58.96) and Hoelzer's bronze was an unexpected bonus for the USA. Peirsol's 100 back World record was another Olympic title defense and he continues to stay ahead of the rest of the world even though this event is getting faster and faster. (Nick Thoman's 2008 US Open title just two weeks ago would have earned the silver last night!) Grevers' silver was another bonus for the USA and perhaps a sign of the future for the enormous (6' 8") and immesely talented Grevers. Soni's silver again evidences the benefit of a second chance as she finished fourth at Trials but was bumped into the event when Hardy was disqualified from participation.
Day 4 Prelims
Weber-Gale and Lezak advance to the 100 free semis. Kathleen Hersey and Breeden advanced to the women's 200 fly semi-finals. Scott Spann and Eric Shanteau advanced to the men's 200 breaststroke semis in an extremely fast event with 2:11.30 not earning a top-16 finish. The American men's 4 x 200 relay team (Dave Walters, Ricky Berens, Eric Vendt, Klete Keller) qualified first, but Phelps, Lochte and Vanderkaay will likely swim the finals tonight. Berens' split was slightly faster than Keller (.04), but Keller is the Olympic veteran while Berens is an Olympic newcomer - it will be interesting which athlete joins the rest of the A team tonight in a very real effort to become the first relay under seven minutes.
Day 4 Finals
Lezak advanced to the men's 100 free final. Hoff finished 4th in the women's 200 free. Phelps continued his streak with his 4th gold and 4th World Record with a win in the 200 fly. Hersey and Breeden advanced to the finals of the women's 200 fly. Spann advanced to the finals of the men's 200 breaststroke. Coughlin earned the bronze in the 200IM while Hoff added another 4th-place finish in the session. The US men's 800 free relay of Michael Phelps, Ricky Berens, Peter Vanderkaay, and Ryan Lochte won the event and established a new World Record, making it five for five for Phelps in both the Gold medal count and the World Record count.
The men's 100 free semis provided the second and third World Records in the event this week. Alain Bernard of France and Eamon Sullivan again traded the WR for the fifth time this year. Pellegrini again re-set her World standard in the 200 free (1:54.82), becoming the first woman under 1:55 in the event. Hoff's 1:55.78 was an American record, another indication of the worldwide parity in the sport. Phelps' 200 fly (1:52.03) was his most pedestrian performance of the games, but a World Record and Gold Medal nonetheless. China is poised for potential medals in the women's 200 fly with the 1st and 3rd qualifiers. Schipper and Jedrzejczak will likely contend tonight, however. Spann will have his hands full in the 200 breast final, as Kitajima and Gyurta will be tough. Eric Shanteau, the American recently diagnosed with cancer, did not advance to finals and will return to Atlanta prior to the end of the games to have surgery. Rice's 2:08.45 in the 200IM was another World Record and an IM sweep for the Australian. Coventry continues a tremendous Games with her third silver medal. The 800 free relay of 6:58.56 shattered the World Record (set in 2007) by nearly 5 seconds. Not to be lost here is Phelps transcendant performance on the greatest stage - he is under constant pressure, expectations, media scrutiny and simply facing the task of negotiating an 8-day prelim/semi-final/final meet. His preparation is superb and his execution is flawless. Not only is he poised to have the greatest Olympics ever for any athlete, he has already become the greatest Olympic Champion ever. We are truly privy to something special and I hope everyone is appreciative of this.
Day 5 prelims
Both Coughlin and Nymeyer advance to the 100 free semis. Lochte and Peirsol both advance to the 200 back semi-final. Soni (American Record 2:22.17) advances to the women's 200 breaststroke semi, but defending champion Amanda Beard was 18th and her Olympics are complete. Phelps and Lochte both advance to the 200IM semis. The USA women's 800 free relay squad of Caroline Burckle, Julia Smit, Kim Vandenberg, and Christine Marshall qualified second. Three of those women will likely be replaced by Coughlin, Schmitt, and Hoff - Burckle is the most likely candidate to swim the final from the preliminary foursome.
Day 5 Finals
Kitajima defends his 200 breaststroke crown and American Spann finishes sixth. Coughlin qualifies for the women's 100 free final, while Nymeyer does not. Peirsol and Lochte advance to the men's 200 back final. The Americans finished 7th and 8th in the women's 200 fly final. Lezak earned a bronze in the men's 100 free. Soni advances to the women's 200 breaststroke finals. Phelps and Lochte advance to the 200im final. USA took bronze in the women's 800 free relay.
Kitajima now owns both breaststroke World Records and successfully defended both breaststroke titles - he is the best in history at this stroke. World Record holder Libby Trickett (nee Lenton) squeaks in as the beneficiary of a false start DQ, qualifying 8th. Watch for a fast swim out of lane 8 in the final. The men's 200 back final is perhaps the USA's best chance for a 1-2 finish (the men's 100 back final was a surprise 1-2) with Peirsol looking especially likely to break his World Record. Lochte has a tough double 200bk-200im tonight. Liu Zige (2:04.18) smashed the women's 200 fly World Record and led the host nation to a 1-2 finish in the event, only the second national 1-2 so far in the meet. Lezak's bronze was the first individual gold for the longtime relay stalwart. Soni versus Jones in the women's 200 breaststroke will be a phenomenal race tonight. Phelps is potentially challenged in the 200IM tonight, but it is hard to see anyone capable of generating enough of a lead to hold him off on the freestyle leg. Additionally, Lochte has the 200 backstroke final earlier in the program. Australia (7:44.31) destroyed the World Record in the 4 x 200 free relay by over five seconds - a bigger margin than the men's event. Kylie Palmer of Australia split 1:55low to highlight the Australian effort, one largely comprised of role players and athletes like Stephanie Rice swimming an off event. The US effort was an American Record, but inconsistent performances by some of the Americans prevented what looked to be on paper a more competitive moment.
Day 6 preliminaries
We are rapidly running out of events in the preliminaries, with only a few remaining: women's 50 free, women's 800 free, women's 200 back, and women's 400 medley relay as well as men's 50 free, men's 1500 free, men's 100 fly and men's 400 medley relay. Both Americans, Weber-Gale and Wildman-Tobriner, advance to the semi-finals of the 50 free. Neither Hoff nor Zeigler advance to the women's 800 free final. While the event was a fast prelim, it is shocking to have no representation in the Final Eight from the USA. This is the only event so far with no American presence in the final eight. Ian Crocker and Phelps advance to the 100 fly semi-finals. Beisel and Hoelzer advance to the women's 100 back semifinal as well.
Day 6 Finals
Ben Wildman-Tobriner advances to the men's 50 free final. Rebecca Soni (2:20.22) wins gold in the 200 breaststroke and sets a World Record. Lochte earned individual gold with 1:53.94 World Record in the 200 backstroke while Peirsol earned the silver for an American 1-2 finish. Hoelzer and Beisel advance to the women's 200 backstroke final. Phelps (1:54.23) earned his 6th gold and 6th World Record in the men's 200IM while Lochte finished with the bronze. Coughlin earned a bronze in the women's 100 free. Phelps and Crocker both advance to tonight's 100 fly final.
The men's 50 final will feature the fastest field in history. Soni's swim was considered by most a huge upset as she defeated Leisel Jones, the reigning world-record holder, quite soundly. Soni had a fantastic third 50, building tempo throughout the lap, and continued to surge into the final wall. Lochte's win was his first individual gold and caps his Olympics with 2 golds and 2 bronzes - a feat in any other Olympics without a Phelps taking all the attention. Watch for Coventry to add a gold to her three silvers in the 200 back tonight. Phelps' IM keeps him on pace to equal and then potentially surpass Spitz's feat of seven Golds and seven World Records from the 1972 games.
Day 7 prelims
Torres and Joyce advance to the women's 50 free semifinal. Jensen advances to the men's 1500 final in an incredibly fast preliminary event which featured an Olympic Record, an Asian Record, a Canadian record and a European record and twelve men went under 15 minutes. In the 2000 games breaking 15 minutes was a top-4 finish, with the bronze medalist at 14:58. The American women advance to the 400 medley relay final, but the quartet of Hoelzer, Jendrick, Breeden and Joyce will likely be replace by the foursome of Coughlin, Soni, Magnuson, and Torres. The Australians will be the favorite and likely have the lead at 200 meters and anchor with Trickett who owns the fastest 100 free split in history. The American men also advance to the 400 medley relay final, with the group of Grevers, Gangloff, Crocker and Weber-Gale likely to be replaced with Peirsol, Hansen, Phelps and Lezak. Tonight's races are: women's 200 back final, women's 50 free semi-final, men's 50 free final, women's 800 free final, and men's 100 fly final.
Day 7 Finals
Coventry (2:05.24) wins the 200 back with a World Record while Hoelzer garners silver. Phelps wins the 100 fly. Both Torres and Joyce advance to the women's 50 free final.
Coventry's swim shattered the World Record and she was nearly prepared to go 2:04. Phelps' win was close (remember it could have been a little closer and still earned him the Gold had they tied) and Crocker missed the bronze by 1/100th. Rebecca Adlington (8:14.10) demolished the longest-standing World Record in our sport (20 years - Janet Evans) This accomplishment is somewhat lost in the Phelps fenzy, but in a recent 2-3 year period where every record is broken and re-broken in our sport we have now completely moved into the 21st century. Torres has a real shot to medal in the 50 at age 41.
Day 8 Finals
No prelims on Day 8 - Finals only!
Torres misses out on the Gold by 1/100th but sets an American record with a 24.07 and earns the Silver. Mellouli's win in the 1500 was quite outside the ordinary, as Tunisia is not a swimming power by any means. Australia (3:52.69) set the World Record in the 400 medley relay for women, while the US team of Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, Christine Magnuson, and Dara Torres earned the silver in an American Record swim of 3:53.30. Coughlin's 58.94 lead-off was an American Record, but we could not contend with Jones' 1:04.58 breaststroke leg for Australia. This was a great relay for our women, especially considering our breaststroker was 4th at Trials. The American men swept the relays with another World Record of 3:29.34 from Piersol, Hansen, Phelps, and Lezak. Phelps' 50.15 fly split highlighted the winning relay, while Kitajima's 58.07 breaststroke leg was the highlight of the event.
These Olympics not only gave us a performance for the ages in Michael Phelps' eight golds (now giving him 16 Olympic medals), it also gave us the greatest relay ever in the men's 400 free relay, World-Record trade-offs between Sullivan and Bernard in the men's 100 free, Phelps' 7 World Records, Kitajima's double defense in the breaststrokes, Soni taking down Jones in the 200 breast, Hoff attempting an extremely difficult program, Torres at 41, Adlington's 800 free World Record, Coventry's 1 gold/ triple silver, Rice's IM double...the list goes on from China 2008.