The Leaving London Series: Officiating

The only reason the notion of officiating is an issue coming out of London were the comments from South African 100BR Gold medalist Cameron van der Burgh that he used extra illegal dolphin kicks off his wall like 99% of other breaststrokers do in order to keep up, win, and break the world record.

"If you're not doing it, you're all behind." - Cameron van der Burgh

Wow.

This is a slap in the face of the on deck officials that failed to notice the infraction of van der Burgh, or his competitors in the 100BR Final.  The claims are out there that everyone is doing it, Rickard, Kitajima, Hansen, etc... Either it's time for officials to step up and be hyper-vigilant watching breaststroke pull outs or FINA needs to evolve and use better technology to officiate their races.   The call is out there for video technology to be allowed to be used for officiating.  If the technology is out there it's clear after a slap in the face like van der Burgh issued that it's time for FINA to change with the times to prevent issues like this stripping away the credibility of the officials who give their valuable time to support our sport.

Not the greatest subplot coming out of London, but something clearly needs to be done.

TOMORROW... Ye Shiwen

The Leaving London Series: Stroke 50s

Last week speculation surfaced via one of the premier swimming swimming websites on the Internet SwimSwam that the International Olympic Committee is considering adding the stroke 50s to the Olympic program (along with ditching the women's 800FR in favour of a women's 1500).

As SwimSwam pointed out, the IOC has refused adding stroke 50s to the Games program because of the number of swimming medals already being handed out at the Games.  With Michael Phelps claiming 22 medals over 3 Olympiads is a feat that can not be duplicated by a sailer, a soccer player, a tennis player, basketball, or handball.  Really, the only sports that could yield so many medals to an individual are track, gymnastics, and swimming.  As a result it's hard to see the IOC actually pulling the trigger on stroke 50s.

However, as SwimSwam points out, money talks and when it comes to the first week of the Olympics, the world is focused almost squarely on the excitement in the pool and it's hard to argue against the "excitement" factor of stroke 50s.

Men's 10km podium, LtoR - Lurz, Mellouli, Weinberger

As someone within the swimming community, I'm all in favour of more Olympic team spots via more events.  The men's 10km open water race yielded a bronze medal for Canadian Richard Weinberger, who is a force in open water swimming but a non-factor in the 1500 pool race.  For guys like Richard, the open water Olympic race gave him Olympic glory and anyone in the swimming community should support even more opportunities.

Yes, more 50s mean more piling on for the sprinters and might serve to stunt the development of some younger swimmers who see their future in just the 50s at too young an age but with good coaching and time it will be observed that young kids are just not going to be able to compete with older, stronger, and more mature swimmers that gravitate to the 50s as they get older.

Opening the door for stroke 50s will hopefully at a later date open the door for the men's 800 and women's 1500, who would not want to see Katie Ledecky and Sun Yang compete for more Gold with the addition of these great races??

I am also for expansion of the Open Water program to include the 5km and 25km races.  Take it from me, you want a real marathon of swimming, it's not the puny 1500, it's not the comfortable 10km race, it's a grueling 25km race.  Love that race, a true test of distance capabilities.

The more Olympic swimming the merrier, sign me up as interested.

TOMORROW...  Officiating

The Leaving London Series: Sun Yang

Potential realized.  At age 16 Sun competed at the Beijing Olympics and managed an 8th place finish in the 1500FR (15:05.12) and a distant 28th place finish in the 400FR.

Four years later, Sun is the the brightest emerging start in men's swimming... OK... Forgive the pun.

In 2012, now 20 years old...

GOLD... 400FR (3:40.14 - just off the WR)
SILVER... 200FR (1:44.93 - tied with Park Tae-Hwan)
GOLD... 1500FR (14:31.02 - smashing his own WR)
BRONZE... 4x200FR relay... throw it into the record

I don't know where Sun Yang gets the energy to celebrate so elaborately after swimming a 14:31.02 1500FR

And the scary news is that Sun is clearly progressing and getting even faster.  He stands as the clear favourite to break 14:30 in the Mile, break 3:40 in the 400FR, and given his progression into the 200FR he's likely the odds on favourite to break Paul Biedermann's World Record in the 200FR and possibly be the first person to ever post a 1:39??  There's a long way to go before that point, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility given Sun's progression curve.

Neigh sayers will point to the dubious non-disqualification of Sun in the 1500FR in London, after an apparent false start that would have eliminated Sun from the Final, officials allowed Sun to go on and dominate the race and smash his own world record.

There is no evidence at this point in time that points to Sun not being perfectly capable of continuing onto Rio and being the favourite to win the 200, 400, and 1500FR.  Maybe someone can even convince him to give the 100FR a try too, just to see what happens.  Nothing but excitement in the future for Sun in the next quadrennial.

TOMORROW... Sprinters' Favourites, Stroke 50s

The Leaving London Series: Australia & Germany Searching For Answers

The two swimming federations with the most frustration coming out of the London Olympic Games are easily the Australians and the Germans.  Two traditional powerhouse programs with borderline disastrous results in London.

Stephanie Rice was unable to reclaim
the magic she had in Beijing at the
London Olympic Games in 2012

Australian medalists...

GOLD... Women's 4x100FR Relay
SILVER... James Magnussen 100FR
SILVER... Christian Sprenger 100BR
SILVER... Emily Seebohm 100BK
SILVER... Alicia Coutts 200IM
SILVER...  Women's 4x200FR Relay
SILVER... Women's 4x100 Medley Relay
BRONZE... Bronte Barratt 200FR
BRONZE... Alicia Coutts 100FL
BRONZE... Men's 4x100 Medley Relay

German medalists...

SILVER... Thomas Lurz 10km Open Water

ABC Australia did a thorough job analyzing the problems with the Australian swimming program.  Clearly there are a lot of deep resentment within the infrastructure of the sport, where the roles and goals of the executives, the coaches, and the athletes are in contrast.  Just 10 medals, 1 gold... not good, especially from the traditionally strong men's squad.  There were a number of disappointing performances but of particular disappointment to Aussies had to be Brenton Rickard and the performance on the men's 4x100 team, that almost looked like it could of actually used Ian Thorpe.

Brenton Rickard, Aussie breaststroke start and world record holder in the 100BR entering the Olympic Games, saw his world record get smashed by Cameron van der Burgh while Rickard finished a disappointing 6th.

The Australian relay team that many thought were a shoe-in for Gold, the men's 4x100FR relay were out-touched on the last leg by the Russians and the Aussies finished an ultra-disappointing 4th.

The problems on the German side are a little tougher to pin point because there is little out there in terms of the media assessing the German problems.  Zero medals in the pool and just 1 medal from a 32-year old open water swimmer can not be the outcome that the German swimmers were aiming for in London.  Piling onto the German medal drought is that there is not really anyone the German team can point to and say they are building around him or her for future International success.

German freestyle star Paul Biedermann, current world record holder in the 200FR (1:42.00) could only muster a 5th place finish in the 200FR and a time of 1:45.53, which is obviously well off his record best.

On the women's side for Germany, defending Olympic champion and world record holder Britta Steffen finished a disappointing 4th in the 50FR and missed the 100FR Final by quite a bit.

The Germans and the Australians have a lot of rebuilding to do over the next quadrennial.

LATER TODAY... Sun Yang (teaser: he's really fast)

The Leaving London Series: Missy Franklin

Sorry for the 24 hour delay... we'll make this is two post Sunday...

This just in... Missy Franklin is not Katie Hoff.

In 2008 Katie Hoff was supposed to be the female equivalent of her North Baltimore peer Michael Phelps.  After a series of inconsistent performances in Beijing, Hoff had a disastrous 2012 US Olympic Trials and was unable to qualify for the US Olympic team for London.

Coming into the 2012 London Games, Missy Franklin was the new hotness in American swimming, but those who were wise waiting for Franklin to deal with the pressure of swimming at it's highest level before appointing Franklin as the Queen of the swimming world.

Coming out of London...

GOLD in the 100 & 200BK with a dominating World Record performance in the 200BK.
GOLD in the 4x100MR and 4x200FR relays
BRONZE in the 4x100FR relay.

4th in the 200FR and 5th in the 100FR.

The 17-year old Franklin is the real deal.  She already dominates the backstroke world and she's quickly moving into the realm of the super elite of the freestyle world.  At 6'1" Franklin has all the tools to continue to emerge and become the best swimmer in the history of women's swimming.

Franklin will undergo significant change in the next quadrennial, the most important change will be when she graduates high school a year from now, Franklin will likely undergo a coaching change.  Todd Schmitz has done a brilliant job bringing Franklin to the top of the sport but given Franklin's well documented interest in swimming in university and competing in the NCAA she's going to have to leave her comfort zone and continue to progress, which is far from an easy process.  For every Elizabeth Beisel who went from her club team to Gregg Troy at Florida and continued her success through to these London Olympic Games, there are plenty of swimmers who leave their smaller clubs and struggle to find success with their new programs (see: Knutson, Dagny).  Never discount the coach/swimmer relationship, it's an important bond to athletes and changing coaches is often an imperfect science no matter how great the swimmer or how brilliant the coach, sometimes the transition is just not successful.

If Franklin manages a successful coaching transition she's well positioned to be a threat to win 6, 7, 8 medals and the possibility of an 8 gold medal Phelpsian program should be a live option.

LATER TODAY... Australia, Germany, and their London Struggles

The Leaving London Series: Suit Controversy?

Suit controversy?  What suit controversy?

8 World Records in London did a great job of killing the suits meme once and for all.

The only suit subplot in London was the proof that ARENA is back as a major player in the suits world!  ARENA suits in their fun colours were all over the games, the ARENA suits are now all over the Age Group circuit here in Canada, and the only real interesting question is how will Speedo react to get back into the market because FS3 has been a complete and utter bust of a technology and marketing campaign.

Ruta Meilutyte in the new ARENA suit celebrating her breakthrough Gold medal performance
in the 100BR in London

TOMORROW...  Canada's Favourite/US Sweetheart Missy Franklin

The Leaving London Series: Ryan Lochte

With the nature of swimming's popularity cycle coming to a peak every four years at the Olympics, these London Games were a fascinating study in how the general public views swimming as compared to those who follow the sport on a regular basis.

Ryan Lochte was the darling of the swimming community since the Beijing Games.  Seemingly upset with his performance in Beijing, Lochte was a man on a mission over the last 4 years.  The first man to break a world record after the rule revisions with the swim suits.  Lochte owned Twitter, posted videos of his strength training exploits, and seemingly became the most popular swimmer on the planet.  Accessible, personable, the swimmer's swimmer.

However, something changed after Lochte claimed gold in the 400IM in London.

Lochte let down the US general public in the 200FR finishing 4th and was out-touched by the French in the 4x100FR relay... all of a sudden Lochte became more Alain Bernard like...  Jason Lezak would have never "let" the French win.  The casual fans were not in Lochte's corner.  All Lochte's talk about how much he trained to win in London was undone by Yannick Agnel and his brilliant 46.74 split.

After some redemption in the 4x200FR relay that Lochte led off, it was really the brilliant split by Conor Dwyer that set up for Michael Phelps to anchor and pull away for the dominating victory.

200BK... Lochte leads the world for 150m but then Tyler Clary and Ryosuke Irie blew by Lochte who would eventually settle for Bronze.

200IM... Lochte left in the dust of Michael Phelps.

All of a sudden the Lochte narrative is that he is Phil Mickelson so Phelps' Tiger Woods.  But wait, does that narrative stand up?

Here are the general news items on how Lochte is perceived following his Olympic events...

Ryan Lochte is sort of a douche (WWTDD)

Lochte eyes 'DWTS and 'The Bachelor' (UPI & every gossip site on the web)

Bill Simmons of ESPN jokingly listed Ryan Lochte as a -350 betting favourite to be the US team member most likely to have an Olympic village sex-tape "leaked".  In Lochte's defense, Simmons then listed Lochte as the favourite over Usain Bolt who despite US protests is not a member of the US Olympic team...  And this was an easy crack after the flap with Lochte's mother stating that Lochte went on a lot of one-night stands (to paraphrase).

Ryan Lochte WTF?  What happened to the young man who could do no wrong and represented the best of what swimming is, this is pretty low brow stuff.  However, I guess he's launched himself into the popular culture discussion, beyond the swimming bubble.  It's just amazing that the man loved by the swimming community is so dragged through the mud in comparison to the American love affair with the Olympic icon Phelps.

From all reports it appears that Lochte is going to continue on for another quadrennial to Rio 2016.  By the time Rio rolls around Lochte will be 31 (maybe 32) and carrying with him a medal record of 11 Olympic medals.  Lochte will have a lot to live up to and it will be interesting to see if his body can handle the load that his Gregg Troy program will throw Lochte leading up to Rio.  It won't be easy especially given that Lochte will have many of the distractions that sidetracked Phelps over the last 4 years.  Lochte is going to need to right the ship at some point and get back to being the Ryan Lochte that everyone in the swimming community admires.

Ultimately... Lochte is great for the sport, even if he is not beloved by popular culture.  If he has another 4 years left in him then it's good for the profile of swimming in the sports community.

TOMORROW... Suit Controversy?