The Leaving London Series: The End Of The Comeback Era

Over the last four years leading into the London Olympics, it seemed like an unusually high number of swimmers returned to the sport in search of one last chance at Olympic glory.

Why?  Perhaps it is the trend that successful Olympic swimmers are excelling at an older age then before.  Science and funding is at the root of the success of older swimmers.

Some swimmers launched their comebacks successfully and made it to the London Olympics...

Hungary's Eva Risztov claimed Olympic Gold in the 10km
Open Water after retiring from 2005-2009

Eva Risztov
Anthony Ervin
Brendan Hansen
Tobias Oriwol
Libby Trickett
Laure Manaudou

Other swimmers saw their comebacks fall short of their expectations...

Ian Thorpe
Geoff Huegill
Michael Klim
Janet Evans
Dara Torres
Ed Moses

Although this is nowhere near an exhaustive list, it does give you a sense that a lot of big names came back to give this Olympic cycle a try.  Some of these comeback athletes will even stick and will continue beyond London, like Trickett who has vowed a campaign to making the Australian Olympic Team again in 2016.

There will be swimmers launching comeback campaigns leading into the 2016 Rio Games but I would find it hard to believe that the list could be as compelling as the list of those who made a 2012 run.  Sure... there's a guy who won 22 Olympic medals who would be the beginning and end of compelling comeback stories but beyond that 2012 will stand as the apex of the swimmer Olympic comeback era.

TOMORROW... Ryan Lochte!  Jeah!

The Leaving London Series

After four solid years of anticipation, the Olympic Summer Games in London have come to a close and in the sport of swimming the next four years leading into London will see the greatest change in the sport's recent history.

Michael Phelps is now retired from swimming and after 4 Olympic Games, 3 in which he thoroughly dominated the sport, swimming is ready for change.

So what is next?  Or who is next?

Coming up will be a series of articles outlining either interesting swimmers or interesting trends the are coming out of London.  As always, I have absolutely zero inside information that would lend credibility to what I will write about, but speculation is a long celebrated cornerstone of the Internet and I look forward to applying some interesting narratives to this series of articles.

Enjoy.

The Craziest Thing I Saw At The Olympics

Above is a picture of Germany's Daniela Schreiber who competed at the Olympics in the 100FR and the two freestyle relays.  In the 100FR Schreiber tied for 15th after preliminaries and then was eliminated in the semifinal she tied for 15th again and was eliminated

All these things are fine and well, but what the hell was with the 1960s old school start?

Really?  Was this a joke?  Or does Schreiber know something that the rest of the world doesn't know?

I scoured the Google but my German is not that sharp and there did not appear to be anything in English that covered this unconventional start.

Of course the Canada swimming coverage team of Rod Smith (who did a decent job) and Joanne Malar (who did not) failed to point out this odd start or to follow up as to why?  Where was Superbodies man Dr. Greg Wells to figure out more about this odd start?  I'll tweet him and see if he can figure this out... so odd.

More post-Olympic swimming thoughts to come throughout the week..

Final Thoughts On US Trials

A little overdue I will admit but never too late to review the US Olympic Trials.


THE WINNERS

Lochte, Phelps, Franklin... The big 3 names going into the US Trials came out unscathed and nothing injuring their status heading to London.

Schmitt & Vollmer...  Allison Schmitt and Dana Vollmer came into the US Trials as well established names to the informed swimming public but after dazzling performances in the mid-distance freestyles from Schmitt and the valid world record pursuit in the 100FL from Vollmer these two ladies stood out as emerging stars.

Gregg Troy...  Troy's program down in Gainsville is kicking ass, with names like Lochte, Beisel, Vanderkaay, and Dwyer making the US team (and some of them on multiple occassions).  The US Olympic team is covered with swimmers from well defined high performance swimming centers and none looked as consistently strong as those training with Troy.

Matt Grevers... B-E-A-S-T!  Stepped up and straight took the 100BK away from a lot of big names like Lochte, Thoman, Plummer, and others.

Anthony Ervin...  The man with the comeback that came to fruition.  Others tried and failed but Ervin showed that time and age have not slowed the enigmatic Californian sprinter who will be a medal contender for the 50FR in London, 12 years after his golden performance in Sydney.


NBC Sports... what fantastic coverage from the guys at NBC.  Pitch perfect, insightful, a big step forward for swimming on television.  Perhaps this view is enhanced by the absolutely amateur coverage of swimming from SportsNet in Canada but after careful thought NBC's coverage is maturing and getting better while swimming coverage changing hands from CBC to SportsNet has been an awful step back for Canadian coverage.

THE LOSERS

Katie Hoff...  Time for some soul searching after a disasterous Trials and failing to make the US Olympic team.  Olympic glory was never meant to be for Hoff who was once what Missy Franklin is primed to become.

FAST Swim Team... yes, they put Tyler Clary and Katie Ziegler on the team but a couple years ago FAST was "THE" place to be and now... a good team but not what some might thought they could have become.

Dara Torres & Janet Evans... tough to call them "losers", Evans (40) was never really in the fight for an Olympic spot and Torres (45) came amazingly close but neither will be in London.  These two ladies are amazing for how good they still are and we should celebrate them for attempting to do what so many former swimmers talk about but do not have the moxie to do, which is put it on the line and give it one last shot at Olympic glory.

Men's Freestyle Swimming... a quick look at the Olympic landscape the American men look remarkably weaker then usual.  Cullen Jones and Anthony Ervin are early medal threats and so too is Ryan Lochte in the 200FR but in the 100, 400, and 1500 the Americans are going to need big swims to get towards the podium.  This bodes poorly for the freestyle relays too where the Americans love to win those relays... it's going to be a tough road ahead.

US Trials Day 7 Primer

Short prelims session for Day 7.

Women's 50FR:  The Last Stand Of Dara Torres?
If watching Anthony Ervin tear it up today in the men's 50FR wasn't exciting enough, the ageless Dara Torres gets her opportunity to start her journey towards London in her only event of Trials.  Torres will be the front and center story but she's going to have to swim through a gauntlet of fast ladies to get on the team.  Jessica Hardy was fantastic winning the 100FR, Amanda Weir was good in the 100FR, and there will be a number of 50 specialists that come forth to challenge for the two Olympic spots.

Prediction...  Hardy is on a roll, have to expect her to win the event.  As for Torres, I don't like her chances, I don't expect her to make the team.

Men's 1500FR:  I Heart The Mile
I love the 1500.  Barring a serious breakthrough swim at these Trials, the Americans do not seem to have a serious medal threat in the 1500 during this Olympic cycle.  I like Andrew Gemmell to rise up and win the 1500FR... why?  It looks like he's swimming well and I would not be surprised that some new, young blood finds a way onto the US team laden with veterans.

US Trials Day 6 Primer

This one is going to have to go quickie style, sorry but it's off to prelims here in Nepean...

Men's 50FR:  Jonesin'
After Cullen Jones stepped up big in the 100FR last night it's pretty much impossible not to pick him in his better event today.  Adrian (winner of the 100FR) will be the favourite and then after that it's a cavalcade of US sprinters capable of winner because this is a 50 after all... Schneider, Ervin, Feigen, Brunelli, Schneider, Lezak, Weber-Gale, Grevers, they are all in there and capable but for now I'm with Jones.

Women's 800FR:  Sutton
There were a lot of fast girls in the 400FR but Allison Schmitt doesn't do today's 800 so I'll go with Chloe Sutton who is already on the team in the 400 but the 800 is more her wheelhouse so she looks like the strong favourite in this race.  Ledecky and Ziegler also feature prominently in this race, Ledecky has been particularly strong this week so she's in a good position to grab that second spot to London.

Men's 100FL:  One Name.
Michael Phelps... maybe you've heard of  him.

Women's 200BK:  Franklin vs. Beisel
Good showdown between these two ladies.  Franklin was so dominant in the 100BK and in such very impressive fashion and Beisel has been in the mix all week, including a dominant performance in the 400IM.  200BK was Beisel's breakout event so one has to believe she's going to super prepared for this, I'll take the veteran over the youngster... pick = Beisel.

Only one more day of prelims action tomorrow with the women's 50FR and the men's 1500!!

US Trials Day 5 Primer

Sorry about the lack of recaps from Finals... day 1 here in Nepean took forever and the sauna-esque conditions are not facilitating the energy to spend a great deal of time blogging afterwards.  I completely missed Finals tonight, the results looked fantastic and set up for some big time showdowns in the Day 6 events.

Women's 100FR:  The Unstoppable Force
Can anyone pick against Allison Schmitt??  Why would you want to?  1:54.40 200FR tonight, are you kidding me (kidding wasn't my first choice of words).  Schmitt has been the story of the women's side of Trials, and even Missy Franklin is taking a back seat to Schmitt's brilliance.  Ranking 1-4... Schmitt, Franklin, Vollmer, Romano

Men's 200BK:  Lochte
Good field... a bunch of non-sense analysis, blah blah blah... I'm taking Lochte to win.

Women's 200BR:  Soni's Revenge
Breeja Larson posted one of the biggest surprises of Trials thus far but in the 200BR I'm taking Soni to win Trials and move forward to win the Olympic gold.

Men's 200IM:  Lochte vs. Phelps: The Final Round
Flip a coin...  I did.  Phelps 1, Lochte 2.