The Leaving London Series: The Biggest Upset Gold In London

Everyone loves an underdog.  In London there were a lot of great races but many of the races were won by well established stars of the sport.

No one was surprised to see Phelps, Lochte, Sun, Kromowidjojo, Muffat, Soni, Franklin, Vollmer, Grevers, Agnel, Ye, and van der Burgh on top of a medal podium.Although some were in tougher competition then other, winning was not a shock.

Evan Chad le Clos' shocking victory in the 200FL over Phelps was surprising but if asked who was the one swimmer who had a chance to unseat Phelps it would have been Phelps.  Similarly Nathan Adrian upsetting James Magnussen was interesting but not overwhelming.

Katie Ledecky (800FR) and Ruta Meilutyte (100BR) were rocketing to Gold situations but at least both came into the Games with great momentum throughout the 2011-2012 season.

However, amongst all these wins the most shocking of all was Flourent Manaudou's golden performance in the 50FR.  Ranked 10th coming into London, Manaudou was a 50-1 shot in many of the London sports books (a popular place this Olympic Games).  After heats Manaudou was in a 3-way tie for 7th at 22.09 after prelims, 6th after semi-Finals in 21.80, but then his 21.34 out of Lane 7 in Finals was a thing of brilliance.

Of all the names in the 50FR - Cielo, Jones, Fratus, Ervin, Schoeman, Bovell, Sullivan, and Manaudou there were a 5 names who had previously won Olympic Gold, including Manaudou except that the Manaudou with an Olympic Gold medal was Flourent's sister Laure who won Gold in the 400FR in Athens in 2004.  Flourent was up to that breakthrough swim in London, just the Brother of an Olympic Champion, but now he's the Man.

Let's dig into the amazing numbers behind Manaudou's performance...

- 21 years old... the youngest man in the Olympic Final
- 21.34 is the fastest time in a textile suit, besting the previous textile best of Fred Bousquet 21.36
- 21.77 Manaudou's best time in the 50FR... short course meters...
- 21.86 Maudauou's previous best time in the 50FR LCM
- 2... the number of times Manaudou had swam under 22 in the 50FR prior to the London Olympics
- 22.09 was the 3rd fastest Manaudou had ever swam, he needed that strong prelim swim
- 21.80 was a best time by .06 posted in the Semi-Final
- 21.34... Gold... talk about a great time to go a best time by .46 in the 50FR

Brilliance.  Pure brilliance.  A perfect Olympic moment and what this sport is all about.  Congratulations Flourent!

TOMORROW...  Who Will Be The 2016 Alpha Dog In The Pool With Phelps Gone?