Don’t Talk Trash While Swimming
By Brendon Rosenau
Love of Sports Correspondent
Who knew swimmers talked more junk than the ballers at Rucker Park?
The swimming late Sunday (Monday morning in China) featured two intriguing storylines in the men’s events.
“The Americans? We’re going to smash them. That’s what we came here for,” said Alain Bernard of France.
Mr. Bernard … meet Jason Lezak.
Lezak stole Bernard’s beret, then slapped him around with it, chasing down the best 100-meter swimmer in the world in the final 50 meters for a unbelievably, pump fisting, primal screaming American upset in the 4x100m relay finals.
Michael Phelps grabbed his second gold and 10th U.S. medal (third gold) to keep his personal dream alive. Tonight, though, it was all about the team.
Phelps swam the fist leg well, but trialed the Aussies after 100 meters. Garrett Weber-Gale put the Americans in the lead with a time of 47.02 at the halfway point, but Cullen Jones fell behind at the 250-meter mark. With Bernard looming, the trash talking French were ahead by almost a body length.
However, Bernard’s loud mouth suddenly filled with water. Whether it was the presence of Lezak, the American captain, or maybe President Bush in stands, but Bernard shortened his stroke and his standing on the medal stand.
Lezak deserves all the credit, as he swam in a world relay record 46.06 seconds, besting Bernard’s time by almost 0.7. It was easily the swimming performance of the Olympics to date. The final time for the U.S. was a world record 3:08.24 (previously 3:12.23), a full .08 seconds ahead of France.
The reaction of the U.S. team matched that of everyone watching in their living rooms. The excitement of the final lap was higher then that of Mario Chalmers’ last second shot for Kansas. I don’t think there are words to even describe the feeling of watching that race. It was simply perfect. Exactly what the Olympics are all about.
Brendan Hansen talked a big game before the 100-meter butterfly. Despite slow times in qualifying (fifth place) and having to start in lane wo, Hansen was confident he was the best swimmer in the pool. He said he had a dream that he won the gold from and has stated more then once that no one, especially Kosuke Kitajima, was going to beat him.
However, when it came time to walk the walk - or swim the swim - Hansen was visibly stunned as he didn’t even get a spot on the medal stand. He said after his qualifying finish that he was like a card player not showing his best stuff until the final table.
The combination of over confidence and the self pressure put on Hansen left him out of gold once again. To make the cut just a bit deeper, he lost both the gold and his world record, to Kitajima.
Kitajima was the gold medal winner in Athens, while Hansen won silver. Friends of Hansen claim the Japanese swimmer cheated. Hansen got a bit of revenge when he claimed the world record recently, but he seemed to self destruct under the pressure. He also failed to qualify for the 200-meter individual event, finishing fourth in the American qualifier. In my opinion, he psyched himself out of a gold. He gets a final shot of redemption in the relay later this week.
Two More Silvers for the Swimmers
Christine Magnuson put the U.S. back in the medal lead with a silver in 100-meter freestyle. She finished 0.37 seconds behind Lisbeth Trickett of Australia. It was the second silver medal for the ladies in the pool and ninth for the U.S. overall.
It was heartbreak city for Katie Hoff in the 400-meter freestyle. She led for most of the race before Rebecca Adington touched the wall 0.07 seconds sooner. I feel like I got punched in the gut. I can’t imagine how Hoff feels.
(Rosenau’s daily Olympic update will appear in this same spot every day through the Games.)
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