Golden Day for Phelps, American Swimmers
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After faltering early in this year’s Olympic competition, American swimmers have recovered in fine fashion. Rejuvenated by dramatic relay wins Tuesday and Wednesday, Americans won three of four finals yesterday in Olympic-record times.
As expected, Michael Phelps dominated the field in the 200 individual medley final, winning his fourth gold and sixth overall medal by over a second and a half. His time of 1:57.14 was yet another Olympic record, his fifth of the games (he also established a a world record in the 400 I.M.). Teammate Ryan Lochte won silver at 1:58.78.
Phelps, who at age 19 is not yet even in his swimming prime, will attempt medals no. 7 and 8 in the 100 butterfly – an event in which he is favored, having swum an Olympic record yesterday in the semifinals – and the men’s 4×100 medley relay.
Seeing what he has accomplished, maybe it’s time to forgive Phelps the Mark Spitz comparison. In this age of sporting specialization and narrow achievement, it may be that he just picked the wrong legend to chase – a better precedent might have been Jim Thorpe.
Phelps’s teammate, Aaron Peirsol, won an even more decisive victory in the men’s 200 backstroke final, posting an Olympic-record time of 1:54.95. The competition, if you can call it that, was almost two-and-a-half seconds back.
The only drama of the race came immediately afterwards, when Peirsol was informed that he’d been disqualified for an illegal flip turn going into the final 50 meters. It was an ironic turn of events, as Peirsol was among the most vocal swimmers accusing Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima of an illegal dolphin kick earlier in the week.
Rules for swimming’s international governing body, FINA, state that in a backstroke race, any stroke taken once the swimmer has turned onto his stomach going into the wall must be “part of the continuous turning action.” Peirsol was accused of taking a discreet stroke on his stomach before beginning his turn. His gold was reinstated on appeal to FINA.
The 200 completes Peirsol’s sweep of the backstroke events in Athens, a repeat of the feat his mentor and teammate, Lenny Krayzelburg, accomplished at the Sydney games. Peirsol will swim the backstroke leg of the 4×100 medley relay Saturday.
Also yesterday, Amanda Beard won gold in the 200 breaststroke, setting a new Olympic record time of 2:23.37 and out touching Australia’s “Lethal” Liesel Jones by 23-hundredths.The race was one of contrasting styles: Liesel swam her smooth underwater recovery, hardly disturbing the water around her in the lane next to Beard. The American’s lunging, over-water-recovery – a technique pioneered by American great Mike Barrowman in the early 1990s – shot water in front of her with every stroke.
The gold medal was a long time coming for Beard, who is now competing in her third Olympic games. She will swim the women’s 4×100 medley relay Saturday.
In the only event not won by an American yesterday, the women’s 100 freestyle, the semifinal order repeated itself in the final. After a surprise world-record swim of 53.52 the day before, Australia’s Jodie Henry won gold with a time of 53.84. Defending Olympic champion Inge De Bruijn of the Netherlands won silver at 54.16 and American Natalie Coughlin won bronze with a swim of 54.40, raising her medal count to four, including two gold.
Tonight’s final in the men’s 50-meter freestyle will include familiar faces such as South Africa’s Roland Mark Schoeman and Americans Jason Lezak and Gary Hall Jr. (who is still smarting after being excluded from the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay). Conspicuously absent, however, will be standouts Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands and Russian Rocket Alexander Popov, both of whom failed to qualify.