Pool and Open Water Swimming: Do Not Swallow the Water

[KenyaJ]

Wow. Props to Joseph Schooling! That was an amazing swim. And a three way tie for silver? Cray cray!

[jjj]

I won't see the NBC coverage for three more hours (Pacific Time), but the CBC Canadians are giving Schooling great coverage. 

[Dots And Stripes]

Michelle, don't make the man feel bad about a silver medal. 

[Rinaldo]

Well, Daisy, my "a three-way tie never happens" this morning looks pretty laughable now, doesn't it? Holy shit! And hurray for Schooling and Singapore!

[galaxygirl76]

If I never have to see Phelps' mom again it will be too soon.

[Kromm]

I hope this guy who won doesn't speak English. Because if he DOES then NBC has NO EXCUSE to go to Phelps instead.

Fuck you, NBC.

(okay, it does occur to me that perhaps the media from the guy's home country might have "dibs", so NBC gets one more chance after the commercial break...)

[Bewitched]

I thought Phelps handled that interview well.  Maybe a little easier to tolerate Schooling winning than others in the race? 

Also thrilled for Czeh to medal.

[Daisy]

1 minute ago, Rinaldo said:

Well, Daisy, my "a three-way tie never happens" this morning looks pretty laughable now, doesn't it? Holy shit! And hurray for Schooling and Singapore!

(laugh) hey! it's like they heard us talking!

Just now, galaxygirl76 said:

If I never have to see Phelps' mom again it will be too soon.

well, i think we have one more race and we'll never have to see her again

Now I wonder if we'll see crazy-pants stuff or will ledecky do ledecky things. 

[Ohwell]

My head is spinning...

Good for Schooling from Singapore!

[Daisy]

that answers my question. Ledecky is Ledecky'ing. 

[Sew Sumi]

I've been over Debbie Phelps and her sob story for about 3 Olympic cycles. Go away. 

[jjj]

1 minute ago, galaxygirl76 said:

If I never have to see Phelps' mom again it will be too soon.

I love Debbie Phelps.  What a hard life she had as a single mom, and constantly moving up the teaching and administrative path in her school system.  She deserves so much credit for raising her family and keeping her own career going.  I love seeing her and Michael talking together in interviews -- so much appreciation and devotion in that family. 

[Rinaldo]

Ledecky is just unreal.

[Kromm]

1 minute ago, Ohwell said:

My head is spinning...

Good for Schooling from Singapore!

Gee. It's a shame NBC wouldn't let us hear how HE feels about his win.

And he definitely has to speak English. How do I know that?  Mr. Google confirms he's being schooled (snerk) here in the US. He's an NCAA swimmer and here he is. You know. Speaking English.

You suck NBC.

[superdeluxe]

NBC started talking about Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky and I changed the channel.   Looks like I missed some good races.  Damn.

[KenyaJ]

Just now, Rinaldo said:

Ledecky is just unreal.

Cracks me up how NBC has to switch to a wide shot whenever they want to show the rest of the field.

[briochetwist]

Bronze for Hilary Caldwell! It's been amazing to watch the Canadians finally make it to the finals in a lot of events, and then go on to medal! So proud of our women!!!

[Aliconehead]

I did not realize that this was Katie Ledecky's second Olympics. With her being 19 i Just assumed it was her first. Props to her for winning gold at 15. 

[Daisy]

Ledecky is a body length of the world record. smokes. 

[MyAimIsTrue]

Watching Ledecky run away with the 800m free reminds me of when Aussie Kieren Perkins obliterated the field in the 1500m in Barcelona in 1992.

[sab85]

So how far do you think they would have to swim  for Katie Ledecky to start lapping people?!

[KenyaJ]

Yes, Rowdy. Drag them for not including the W 1500m in the Olympics.

Jesus. Now you can't even see the other swimmers in the wide shot.

Edited August 13, 2016 by KenyaJ

[jjj]

The camera now cannot capture the entire field of swimmers!  Amazing WR!

[Rinaldo]

And NOW she's stepping it up for the last 100? (I love Nicole's analysis of her technique on the livestream.)

[Cherpumple]

6 minutes ago, Kromm said:

I hope this guy who won doesn't speak English. Because if he DOES then NBC has NO EXCUSE to go to Phelps instead.

Fuck you, NBC.

(okay, it does occur to me that perhaps the media from the guy's home country might have "dibs", so NBC gets one more chance after the commercial break...)

I suspect that contractual (or other) issues are at play that are probably larger than NBC, since the BBC NEVER gets a post-race interview with Phelps, or any other foreign winners, and exclusively interviews the British athletes. It doesn't seem to be like a red carpet event, where they all just go down the line talking to all the reporters.

The race result was like the perfect Hollywood ending, with the three veterans handing the baton to the new generation. However, if that actually was the ending of a film, I would roll my eyes and scoff at how unlikely that outcome is!

Yay Katie!

[Kromm]

Hmm. I wonder why Katie's media team didn't bleach her teeth.  Bit o' yellow there.

[chitowngirl]

11 seconds faster than silver! Unreal!

[blackwing]

5 minutes ago, Kromm said:

I hope this guy who won doesn't speak English. Because if he DOES then NBC has NO EXCUSE to go to Phelps instead.

Fuck you, NBC.

(okay, it does occur to me that perhaps the media from the guy's home country might have "dibs", so NBC gets one more chance after the commercial break...)

He's from Singapore, a former British colony and one of the most highly educated countries in the world.  Additionally, I believe he went to college in Texas.  There's a 99.5% chance he speaks English.  I hate to defend NBC, but I haven't seen NBC interview anyone that isn't American.  So it's not just because they are obsessed with Phelps.   Schooling probably would be giving interviews to his home station and perhaps to other Asian TV markets.

Amazing swim by Dirado, glad to see that Hosszu is human.  I held out hope we didn't have to see her idiot husband and yet we still got him.  I think Hosszu is done, so no more of that tool.

Loved that Hilary Caldwell got the bronze, and I was happy to see Le Clos congratulate and hug Schooling and Phelps.  

[Cherpumple]

And only .20 between silver and bronze. That's crazy!

[Sew Sumi]

Katie FUCKING Ledecky. 

Sadly, I bet that in 2020, she takes out the 800, especially since she will have endured the college experience at Stanford. IF she goes. She may do the Missy Franklin and do a couple of years before declaring pro. 

[catray]

I can't watch the livestream but a three way tie for silver?! Crazy! Even though I was rooting for Phelps I'm not totally surprised he didn't win the race; I think he was feeling his age yesterday. 

Congrats to Schooling-- what a win! 

Sounds like Ledecky is kicking ass and taking names, as per usual. And congrats to Mayanon her win! 

[healthnut]

Can Katie go sub 8 minutes? Seems possible. Crazy. Brook Bennett won in 8:27 in Atlanta. Janet's record was 8:17, 8:04 is just amazing.

So, so happy for Maya Dirado. Her and Simone Manuel have just tugged the heart strings, so awesome to see people surprise themselves. 

[Rinaldo]

And we're told that Maya says this will be her only Olympics.

[Kromm]

Just now, Rinaldo said:

And we're told that Maya says this will be her only Olympics.

Well she probably has her endorsement deal, if she needs one now. 

Then again, if we're being honest, the endorsement deal baby here is gonna be Simone. She's pretty much designed to walk out of this with all the Wheaties Boxes and Sports Drink endorsements she needs.

[Rinaldo]

1 minute ago, Kromm said:

Well she probably has her endorsement deal, if she needs one now. 

Maybe. She also has her business degree from Stanford, and a husband in Atlanta.

[Crs97]

Hubby wants Katie to be the only person swimming the freestyle relay race for the U.S. just to give the other swimmers a chance.  I think she would still take gold!  Amazing!

[MyAimIsTrue]

Would it have killed NBC to show Hosszu and Caldwell getting their medals as well as DiRado, or to have shown the three of them standing together posing with their medals instead of a zooming closeup of Maya only?

[Daisy]

Ryan Lochte's hair is officially blue now. 

[catray]

I don't suppose we could start a peition to get Ledecky in the 1500m tomorrow, could we? Because she could probably school those guys. (I kid, mostly, I have no idea what the men's times are running for the 1500m but I would watch Ledecky take them on!) 

[Sew Sumi]

Maya has a PR kind of job waiting for her in Atlanta. I'm Pac-12 (Cal grad), so I've heard of this for years. 

Yay for the Stanford women, Maya and Simone. Cal women crashed and burned this cycle. :( 

Thank goodness for Cal men, who are all over the medals. /end rivalry

YAY USA!

[Cherpumple]

Yay for old man Ervin!!!

[Kromm]

Wow. Big tats on this dude.

[Aliconehead]

So happy for Ervin after everything he went through 

[galaxygirl76]

4 minutes ago, Daisy said:

Ryan Lochte's hair is officially blue now. 

He should take a dive in the diving pool and we can take bets what color it will be when he gets out.

[Bewitched]

1 minute ago, Sew Sumi said:

Yay for the Stanford women, Maya and Simone. Cal women crashed and burned this cycle. :(

That is a really interesting point I had not considered. 

 

Men's 50 free = wow!  Go old guy!

[Ohwell]

Holy shit old man!

[AimingforYoko]

Damn, Ervin and Phelps holding it down for the AARP set.

[KenyaJ]

5 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

Maybe. She also has her business degree from Stanford, and a husband in Atlanta.

IIRC, she's accepted a job with McKinsey & Company.

And OMG, Anthony Ervin! At 35! Sixteen years after his last gold. That's incredible. And yay to my boyfriend Adrian for getting the bronze. Congrats to Manadou too. The 50m is so damn exciting and fun.

Also, damn you Michael for preventing an American sweep of the gold medals tonight. What a bum. LOL.

[Dots And Stripes]

Now NBC is going to tell Phelps he needs to come back to become the oldest U.S. Swimmer to win a gold medal. 

[Kromm]

Just now, AimingforYoko said:

Damn, Ervin and Phelps holding it down for the AARP set.

Since Phelps will only be a year older than this dude is now, in 2020, I now see this giving him ideas.  Probably to come back in fewer events and just focus on them.