Ok, I know the result but where the hell are the splits? Does anyone know a site that updates more often than athens2004.com
Interesting that we put Phelps first and Keller last. Anyone know why? Was the thinking that Phelps has a better flat start? Keller has a better relay start? That Phelps was tired from 200 fly? That Keller would come through in the clutch? Was it a psychological “we’d rather start ahead” thing?
I thought all along that this, not the 200 free, would be the best US vs. Aussie race this year. Guess that was right though my guess about how it would come out was backwards.
Swimming your fastest swimmer first to get a lead and smoother water is a common strategy. If you have experienced enough relay swimmers, you can get the total fastest time this way. The US also did this in 1984, when their fastest swimmer led off, and Bruce Hayes, who also had a history of swimming great anchor legs, anchored the relay. Michael Gross caught him at the 150 mark, but Hayes had the fastest last lap of anyone, and the US won the relay. I looked at the slips quickly on NBC (they were just there right after the race), and it looked like Thorpe swam his first 50 a full second faster than Keller, then Klete was slightly faster over the next two 50s, and Thorpe was maybe .4 seconds faster on the last lap, but did not quite catch him.
I watched the race live on CBC, and the announcers keep talking about the Canadian team in lane 2 and whether they could win a medal, along with how Great Britain and Italy were looking good, with hardly a word about the US and Aussies fighting it out in the middle of the pool.
I’m so psyched for them. I know Ryan Lochte, one of the guys on the relay team (who swam a 1:47.52 split). His Mom was my swim coach for 3 years in high school. Ryan used to come to practice with her (he was 4 or 5 at the time) and was just SO BAD! She would spend all practice yelling at him. He was a little fish in the water though. His sisters were both awesome swimmers too, and his Dad coached my club team for a few years.
It’s interesting that, given all the talk we hear constantly about negative splitting, that these guys don’t even try. The final 50m was often 1-3 seconds slower than the first.
Everyone’s first lap is always faster than the others. A dive is good for 2 seconds +/-. I have my doubts as to whether negative splitting races is a good thing anyway and I’m not sure anyone recommends it in races as short as a 200.
Ya. You don’t really start thinking negative split until you get to 400s. For a 200, my goal was to go comfy but fast the first 50, and keep the last three 50s as even as I could.
You may have already seen this but Rowdy Gaines talked about the '84 relay and Hayes in relation to this year’s. This is what he said about this year’s order:
"I think the American coaches were dead on in that order. Michael Phelps likes to lead, likes to be out front, because he doesn’t have that relay experience. That’s a good thing for him. He knew unless they put Ian Thorpe out there he was going to have the lead. No matter who they put out there, he was going to have a lead against them. "
Obviously, it worked out well. I have always thought that coaches should be more creative with relay orders and switch them up to fit swimmer’s strengths and weaknesses and to mess with the competition. It seems like a lot are just slaves to the 4-1-3-2 system though.
I’m glad I stayed away from the results and from this thread to watch the race tonight. That was one exciting as Hell last leg! Who’d have thought anyone could hold off Thorpe when he was that close?
That is exactly what I was thinking during that whole relay. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time having not known how it was going to end. That relay was incredible!
I knew the result and I culdn’t figure out how that guy was gonna hold off Thorpe when Thorpe made up the body length lead in 50m!!! It was still exciting.