Arena Games of the XXXI Olympiad - Official Rio Summer Olympics (8/5-21) Thread

Any news on the Russia ban? Is it still being upheld?

 

Missy Franklin ... that was a shock in the 100 back. At least to those of use who only become "experts" in swimming every four years.

 

It is great to see Phelps able to dominate his signature event. Don't know for sure that he gets gold in Rio in the 200 fly, but seeing him there makes nearly everyone happy.

She wasn't a top seed in the event, so it must not have been a shock to her or her coaches.

 

So the Daily Mail put up pictures of the venues yesterday. Looks like they have a ways to go.

 

Wow, and I thought Athens was bad.

 

Reading into it, she's coming off some injuries, including to her back. So, not shocking to those who actually follow the sport outside of the Olympics. But, for the rest of us ... a shock, based on name alone.

 

Sochi looked like an impending disaster too. There's still a lot of time!

(The exclamation mark in this case represents my complete ignorance on the matter. I have no idea what's going to happen.)

 

The Ringer has an excellent peice on how the games will be a disaster ... just not in the ways we're being told they will be.

 

Our friend's son has joined the global elite of the sport today by making the 50m free semifinals tonight and shaving .5 seconds off his personal best. If not tonight, then eventually, he's going to swim this event in less than 22 seconds.

 

Also, third in the prelims: Olympic great Cullen Jones! Still going strong! He still swims this thing under 22 seconds.

 

In a potential destruction of track and field, since so few people watch now anyways, Usain Bolt pulled out of the Jamaican Olympic trials after tearing his hamstring. He will apply for a medical exemption to compete (which they would be insane not to grant).

 

Just stick him on a relay team. Time for another star to shine.

 

He haves the Posiden blood.

 

Some of my thoughts on the Trials so far:

4IM: I was happy for Kalisz making it in his event. I was also happy for Litherland, who basically no one predicted would be the other US competitor in this event. Which brings me to Ryan Lochte. The man got third in a very close race, in which he admittedly died at the end, but the media makes it seem like he was absolutely annihilated by his competition. This is a 31-year-old man, getting third, in the 4IM, at US Olympic Trials. Not a bad showing at all.

1FLY: Dana Vollmer is going to her third Olympics and she's 28 years old and a brand new mother. Wow.

2FR: Missy Franklin gets in! Whew! If she hadn't made it to the Olympics, all those Minute Maid commercials would have been kind of awkward.

2FL: Aaaaand GOAT gets in his fifth Olympics. Dara Torres welcomes him to a very elite US club. The best thing about Phelps at these trials has been watching Boomer, though. While everyone's cheering their ass off, Boomer could give no ****s.

2IM: I was very happy for DiRado and Margalis, but I couldn't stop thinking about Caitlin Leverenz, who took third by five one-hundredths of a second. I've never been closer to understanding the absolutely heartache and agony of coming third at Trials than watching Leverenz after that race. Hope she bounces back from this. And she'll always have London.

2BR: The men's race is my favorite of the trials so far. Cordes was the favorite to win, and he still took second to earn another spot on the team, but Josh Prenot swam one of the most perfect and beautiful races I have ever seen from any swimmer. I'll be keeping my eye on Prenot-- he may just take the gold in Rio.

2BK: Everyone knew Murphy was getting in, but Pebley was a question mark. I'm very glad he was able to get in, too, with him being Murphy's teammate at Cal, and always in his shadow. I was glad to see Pebley get his due from NBC (unlike another swimmer I'll mention shortly). Also, Tyler Clary fails to take one of the top two spots, and won't be going to Rio. Great swimmer, hard worker, and I hate to see the back of him now that he's retiring. His 200 backstroke win in London was spectacular.

2IM: A Phelps-Lochte 1-2 finish for the top two spots? What a snooze! But seriously, I'm psyched these two get to continue their friendly rivalry in another Olympics, and that Lochte got an individual spot on the team.

1FL: Okay, I'm very happy Phelps takes another spot and gets to defend his gold in these event, but where is the interview for Tom Shields? I don't get it. Do Phelps and Shields not like each other, or something? Does the media dislike Shields? It has to be something like that, because Shields said, upon being asked what's been driving him, that it was "you guys," as in the media, because they've been doubting him for so long. Very dismaying to see Shields not get his time in the limelight yet. If there weren't a man named Phelps, or if Phelps had stayed retired, Shields would be looked at as one of the most talented butterflyers in a generation. I really want to see Phelps add more gold to the pile in Rio, but I'm also kind of rooting for Shields to upset Phelps or Le Clos in Rio.

50FR: Anthony Ervin took spot number two in this event and he's 35 years old. 35 years old. He's the oldest male US swimmer in an individual Olympic event since 1904. Wins gold at the age of 19 in 2000, decides to retire for a decade, then qualifies for London, and only just starts training seriously for these Olympics a year and a half ago. If it weren't for the fact that Ervin's physiology seems suited for any race shorter than 75 meters, he might have been seen as the most gifted swimmer ever. I'll have to take a look at his book sometime soon.


Overall, these Olympic Trials seems to have been about a changing of the guard. There's way more rookies than there were for London. Marquee names like Grevers, Clary, and Coughlin won't be going with the team to Rio. I'm excited to see what the newbies like Townley Haas, Jay Litherland, Josh Prenot, Lilly King, Maya DiRado, and David Plummer can all do. That said, I think we have more teammates in their 30s than ever on this team, which certainly suggests a lot of things about the shelf life of competitive swimmers (especially the males), but at the same time, there were a lot of older swimmers who got chased down by the young blood. In this new era of professional swimming in one's mid-20s to mid-30s, coaches and swimmers are still working on finding how much rest older swimmers need, while not sacrificing their conditioning or readiness, or blowing their tapers for later on down the road.

 

thinking about the same thing with all the 30+ players doing well in tennis right now. Exactly what Phelps said: everything hurts a little more and it takes longer to recover after competing. Federer or Serena could have said the same thing. But the declines in peak performance are marginal for those willing to take the physio seriously and figure out how to work through the added discomfort.

It's a great thing to see. Certainly the dollar value of extending the career for someone like Phelps or Federer is obvious.

 

Age and wisdom will always beat youth and vigor!

 

Always good for a laugh RK.