Maybe he's just working really hard on his 100 and 200, but Ian Thorpe really did not look that good or confident in the 400. US is swimming well with a couple American records to go with the World Record by Phelps and almost upsetting the Aussies in thr Women's 4 x 100 Free Relay.

better look not so confident and win than the opposite :-)

Absolutely better to win looking badly than win looking great. But, I didn't think Phelps had a chance of beating Thorpe in the 200 until I saw how much Thorpe was looking around nervously for Hackett and how much slower he swam than he has swum. Maybe you are swimming in your own lane, by yourself, but it's not entirely an individual sport. You can definitely get psyched up and beat someone that you shouldn't or get psyched out and lose to someone than you should beat.

Did any of the Aussies swim career bests other than their relay anchor? Three Americans (Phelps, Keller and Sandeno) set American records and Erik Vendt may have swum faster than anyone other than Phelps in the 400 IM. We'll see over the next week, but right now the Americans look better than the Aussies.

unusual for thorpe. I wouldn't count on him doing that again...he has always come very confident in big events and has broken WR during the worlds and olympics...
maybe he knows he has lost a bit of endurance to get ready for 100-200 or was stressing because after being DQed then re-selected for the 400m, he HAD to win.

OZ: 2 gold - 1 silver
USA: 1 gold - 3 silver - one bronze

what I thought

"when I was swimming I was thinking about what everyone had sacrificed for me, in particular Craig Stevens. I am happy that this is over"...(Craig Stevens was the swimmer who qualified for the 400m and let Thorpedo go anyway, when he got his qual. over 1500)

thorpes 400 free record is a FUCKING amazing swim. hackett is the best 1500 swimmer the world has EVER seen. i dont know if thorpe will ever go as fast at 400 aain, as he is wanting to swim down.

the 200 free isnt between thorpe and phelps. it's betwee thorpe, van den hoogendand (olympic champ) and grant hackett. personally i think phelps will get 4th.

the aussies to me seem to have an edge...their women won the 4x100 free relay....



also watch out for kitajima to take out 100 breast.

Though they were supposed to win the 4x100 FR, and by a significantly larger margin than they did if you looked at both squads on paper beforehand.

So far the Americans (save Katie Hoff's nerves meltdown in the 400IM) are swimming better than they were supposed to if you look back at their Trials, and the Aussies don't seem to be progressing as much (save Jodie Henry's amazing relay split) from what they did at Trials.

they won the way they were supposed to . they broke the WR. I guess the surprise was to see the US women swimming so fast the 4x100.

The Americans are swimming to win. If you look at the detailed splits for the 4 x 100 Free Relay, you will see that the Americans picked up almost half a second total on the starts relative to the Aussies. Michael Phelps also went out and won his race. Ian Thorpe, on the other hand, looked unsure of himself and was swimming not to lose. It's only one day, but the Americans are looking a lot better than the Aussies so far.

oh well...if you say so...

so what is it you were saying about Thorpe not looking so good in the water? or the americans looking a lot better than the aussies?

US: 3 gold 4 silver 4 bronze
Australia: 4 gold 2 silver 1 bronze

USA: 300 million people
Australia; under 20 million

EXACTLY!!!! Let's not forget the total amount of money poured into technology etc. Nobody spends as much money on sports as the Yanks (no one can afford to!).

What's this about the Aussies being expected to win? Maybe they didn't do as good in their trials because it's harder to improve on better performances. Who knows. The fact is pound for pound the Aussies way outshine their northern hemisphere competitors. The USA should absolutely dominate the Aussies across the board but they don't.

Time out.

Just what is the point of the population comparison? If you want to play that way, what is the percentage of the population in each country that swims competitively from age group up? I am thinking by that comparison the US is kicking butt.

Put another way, the Aussie swimmers are the US equivalent of NBA, NASCAR etc. stars. The most the US swimmers can hope for is a Wheaties box and some magazine shoots.

If you are trying to say that the Aussies are "naturally" better athletes, then where is the Aussie track team? Where are the gymnasts? Etc.

You alway's try to act like you're some genius and all fair intelect with no sense of humor, so why the hell would you bother posting up the population of Australia in comparison with that of America as if that actually had anything to do the number of medals each country won over the course of, what so far amounts to, an abreviated, once every four years, swimming competition.

I think Francois was seeking to highlight the population differences to draw attention to the considerably larger pool of talent that the US can select from compared to Australia, which I think is a valid. I also believe that his POINT was that the Australian team are picking up momentum in the pool and medal tally, which I believe was the same point that you were making. I think each should be allowed the same latitude to comment without admonishment, don't you?

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

"I think Francois was seeking to highlight the population differences to draw attention to the considerably larger pool of talent that the US can select from compared to Australia, which I think is a valid."

Again, I think that the talent pool argument is diminished by the relative popularity of the sport in each country. I think someone pointed out that the ENTIRE population lives within 10 miles of the coast. That is going to make a difference.

"I also believe that his POINT was that the Australian team are picking up momentum in the pool and medal tally, which I believe was the same point that you were making. "

True enough. Time will tell. As I have said before, I respect the Aussies for having home grown and trained talent. No asterisks for them and they are entitled to a few. (Just not as many as the US;-))

"I think each should be allowed the same latitude to comment without admonishment, don't you?"

No admonishments from me. Just keeping up with the trash talking. I didn't even mention the USA v. Australia Softball game. Not once. ;-)

The enitire population lives within 10 miles of the coast ? Yet another american genius at geography. I must not exist.

hah its funny watching americans say 'i am the best'

Well said Blacky. My guess is that less than 1% of the population lives within 10 miles from the coast.

And don't worry Blacky, I know you exist.

What I'm waiting for is if Australia wins more Gold medals in the pool than the US, but then the US says that they "won" because they have more swimming medals in total. Like they did at the World Championships a few years ago. Yeah, like you can count a bronze medal as being equal to a Gold.

And I feel sorry for Phelps and all the attention. I get the opinion from some reports that the guy is just happy to be out there swimming. But then there's the media drumming up all this record gold medal haul stuff. I hope he gets a few more golds (as long as he's not up against any Aussies of course ;-)

don't know where you got that dude, but you sure never post as if you are some kind of genius...

let me remind you...you wrote:

the us are looking a LOT better than the aussies. overall I believe that thanks to phelps the US will likely get more medals...but they are far from looking a lot better...

No americans in the semis of the 100 free. Needless to say anything more.

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"Yeah, no one likes a smartass, but we all like stars" - Thom Yorke


smartasscoach.tri-oeiras.com

about the aussies being in every war to help you, you can thank the brits...
the aussies were not exactly planning to go to WWI...they sure weren't planning on being used as human shield in Gallipoli.

the aussies are also among the best in cricket (ooops, sorry, sports only...sorry mates...really never got the cricket thing, triathlon, and aussie football rules :-) surprising isn't it)...

actually if I remember correctly, the #1 nation if reported to # of inhabitants was NZ (in sydney or atlanta, not sure)