Pool and Open Water Swimming: Do Not Swallow the Water

[Fostersmom]

Ryan's hair.

[tanyak]

9 hours ago, photo fox said:

That is, in the five seconds he was allowed to speak. If the reporter said to Phelps, "I'm sure your teammates won't mind (that I ignore them)" one more time... I was kind of hoping when the camera zoomed out that they would have walked off. lol

That was ridiculous, and Michelle Tafoya/NBC deserve any flack they get for it. When the guys were gathering, all she had to say was "We'll talk about the relay first, and then Michael can you stay a minute or two since we didn't get to talk about your earlier race?" Then everyone knows what's going on and no one is standing around awkwardly being told they "don't mind." And I'm sure they didn't because they're good guys. But it's just the optics. Another example of NBC behaving like there are only three U.S. athletes at the Games--Phelps, Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles. 

[blueray]

I was thinking that too. It was so rude that she didn't really ask them about the relay for most of the interview. She should have found another time to talk to Michael. And at that point concentrate on the race they just did.

[selkie]

6 hours ago, katisha said:

Cool - thanks for clearing that up!

Quietly hoping Cam McEvoy can get us another gold tomorrow in the 100 metres freestyle, but I was so impressed by the effort of young Kyle Chalmers too. But I am loving the new geeky breed of Australian male swimmers. McEvoy is a physics student and Mitch Larkin is studying engineering. Go the four-eyes (from a fellow four-eyes!) I have wondered if either of them swim in prescription goggles.

I'm kind of surprised that Horton doesn't do soft/hard contacts + stock goggles like a lot of swimmers do. The problem with prescription goggles is that companies generally only make them in a limited number of styles and a limited number of correction types, so  it can be hard to find ones that both fit correctly and correct vision properly.

[Superpole2000]

The Phelps medal count bugs me. It's not a fair comparison to other sports because swimming has a serious medal inflation issue. His medals are very impressive. He's a legend. I am in awe of him. But let's stop showing Phelps' medal count in comparison to other countries and laughing at how those other countries are worse than one person. Let's stop implying that winning 10 swimming medals makes you a better Olympian than someone who only gets to compete in one event every four years because they aren't swimmers. It's simplistic and insulting to reduce accomplishments to a count of medals, when swimming hands out medals like drug dealers handing out crack.

[Crs97]

I don't know how I missed that Le Clos was the fool who called Michael out at worlds and, when Michael that same day at another meet swam a faster time, tried to argue it shouldn't count because Le Clos wasn't swimming against him.  (Who in the world believes that swimming against the elite flyers would have made Phelps swim slower?!?)  Then Le Clos' dad joined the mix, arguing that Michael's times don't matter because Chad will always beat him.  I am very much of the mindset that you act like you've won before, but I don't have a problem with Michael in this instance telling Le Clos to look at the scoreboard, look at the stadium, and choose a seat.

[Good Queen Jane]

Not to mention that Le Clos's actions have made Phelps an Internet meme for at least a week. No one likes being made fun of.

ETA: I wondered why Phelps was laughing during the playing of the National Anthem. Now I know why.

Edited August 10, 2016 by Good Queen Jane

[selkie]

52 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

I don't know how I missed that Le Clos was the fool who called Michael out at worlds and, when Michael that same day at another meet swam a faster time, tried to argue it shouldn't count because Le Clos wasn't swimming against him.  (Who in the world believes that swimming against the elite flyers would have made Phelps swim slower?!?)  Then Le Clos' dad joined the mix, arguing that Michael's times don't matter because Chad will always beat him.  I am very much of the mindset that you act like you've won before, but I don't have a problem with Michael in this instance telling Le Clos to look at the scoreboard, look at the stadium, and choose a seat.

 

There is something of a difference between a World Championships where you have to swim fairly hard in both prelims and semifinals in order to make the finals and a depleted US Open/IS Summer Nationals where the cream of the crop was largely at other big meets that summer (World Championships, Pan Ams). And you can't really draft in butterfly like you can in freestyle, so you end up with more challenging water/pool conditions when most of the field is hitting the turns together than when you can get out ahead of the field and not have to fight or work around the guy next to you's wake.

So there was something of a point buried under the grandstanding. But hey, both guys made it a performance issue and not an insult to the other person's character, so all fair in my book. As long as Le Clos doesn't start snarking on Michael over the depression problems, I'll call it a heated but not ugly rivalry.

[ExplainItAgain]

1 hour ago, Good Queen Jane said:

ETA: I wondered why Phelps was laughing during the playing of the National Anthem. Now I know why.

I can never make up my mind on things like this because when I saw it on TV I thought it was a little disrespectful to be laughing during the national anthem (and he was full-on laughing). But on the other hand, it ain't that serious and a little levity in an emotional moment can be nice. I think it rubbed me the wrong way because...Phelps. 

[methodwriter85]

Quote

I am very impressed that Baby Phelps has been at all these races.  He always seems so mellow, too.

I just keep thinking, "God, you are SCREWED if you wind up becoming a swimmer." For his sake, I hope he doesn't inherit his father's talent at all and does something else. A rower would probably be good if he winds up with Michael's body type.

It's definitely the end of an era. You could just see it on Phelp's face during the 20th gold medal ceremony for him- he's making his final victory lap.

On the other hand, I'm not counting Lochte out for 2020.

[galaxygirl76]

I don't understand all the earrings I see the ladies wear. Everything needs to be smoother than a baby's butt but then they wear things in their ears that stick out.

[TobinAlbers]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

I just keep thinking, "God, you are SCREWED if you wind up becoming a swimmer." For his sake, I hope he doesn't inherit his father's talent at all and does something else. A rower would probably be good if he winds up with Michael's body type.

I think Michael might actually steer his son in a different direction, too, as he knows all the sacrifices he made, how hard it's been, and whether the psychological toll it's taken is worth it. He may want a different 'normal' life for his son and I can see him telling his kid 'you do you' and not to chase medals because he has nothing to prove to anyone.

Also can you imagine if Boomer is in the Olympics in 2040 and seeing 55 year old Michael cheering in the stands/sidelines? It'd be Phelpsapalooza all over again! Costa would come out of retirement just to cover it as a special commentator for NBC.

Edited August 10, 2016 by TobinAlbers
Chnged 2020 to 2040 because knowing math is a good thing.

[againstthewind]

Lochte's still got it. I still find him so attractive.

[BitterApple]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm totally over Michael Phelps. I can't stand him, I can't stand his camera hog mother and I wish his girlfriend would put that poor baby to bed instead of using him as a prop for air time. 

I also agree that focusing on his medal count is ridiculous considering there's about a billion different events for swimmers to rack up gold. It's not like the other sports where you have maybe one or two chances. Don't get me wrong, I'll give him all the props in the world for what he's accomplished over the past fifteen years, but I'm just tired of the announcers having orgasms over him every time he swims. They barely gave any credit to the other guys on his relay team. 

Edited August 10, 2016 by BitterApple

[Cherpumple]

Quick question about the scheduling of the swimming events: is the order of events the same for all big meets, in which case it's up to the athletes not to overload their schedules and swim in events too close together, or do the officials make the schedule after they know who's competing in what event, and it's their job not to have someone swim in back-to-back events? Either way, some people seem to be cutting it pretty close (like Phelps last night), and it sounds like a logistical nightmare!

Thanks in advance for an answer!

[OSM Mom]

15 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

But for the love of god, man, don't sit on the lane line! This was absolutely forbidden during my summer swim team as a kid, and it still irks me to see these big dudes sitting on them while they celebrate.

This!!  My kids were on the swim team, and we always taught them to not hang it sit on them.  OSM dad and I yell at the TV to get off the ropes! 

[legaleagle53]

48 minutes ago, TobinAlbers said:

I think Michael might actually steer his son in a different direction, too, as he knows all the sacrifices he made, how hard it's been, and whether the psychological toll it's taken is worth it. He may want a different 'normal' life for his son and I can see him telling his kid 'you do you' and not to chase medals because he has nothing to prove to anyone.

Also can you imagine if Boomer is in the Olympics in 2020 and seeing 51 year old Michael cheering in the stands/sidelines? It'd be Phelpsapalooza all over again! Costa would come out of retirement just to cover it as a special commentator for NBC.

Boomer competing in Tokyo in 2020?  He'd be quite the prodigy.  I wouldn't blame Costas for wanting to cover THAT.

(I assume you really meant 2040 or thereabouts.)

Edited August 10, 2016 by legaleagle53

[TobinAlbers]

2 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

Boomer competing in Tokyo in 2020?  He'd be quite the prodigy.  I wouldn't blame Costas for wanting to cover THAT.

(I assume you really meant 2040 or thereabouts.)

LOL, whoa my math is off today. Yep, 2040.

[blackwing]

23 minutes ago, Cherpumple said:

Quick question about the scheduling of the swimming events: is the order of events the same for all big meets, in which case it's up to the athletes not to overload their schedules and swim in events too close together, or do the officials make the schedule after they know who's competing in what event, and it's their job not to have someone swim in back-to-back events? Either way, some people seem to be cutting it pretty close (like Phelps last night), and it sounds like a logistical nightmare!

Thanks in advance for an answer!

Pretty sure the schedule is made without any consideration of any individual swimmer's participation.  It's up to them to decide whether they will get overextended and for them to decide if they can compete in their events as scheduled.  Yesterday, Katinka Hosszu scratched a race because the finals of that event would have been too close to her 200 IM final.  This morning, it seems a number of swimmers also scratched to concentrate or save themselves for other events.  I saw that Federica Pellegrini and Sweden's Michelle Coleman scratched individual events to save themselves for a relay swim, not that it helped their teams any.  I also saw that Australia's Thomas Fraser Holmes scratched.  I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

[potatoradio]

Does anyone know who the announcer is for the swimming events and how to get him to calm down a bit? I can't understand a word he says with all of his shrieking and it's really annoying. OK, races are exciting, but you're not being paid by the scream, OK? 

[Cherpumple]

Thanks for the info about scheduling! So, is it standard practice for people to scratch races at the last minute? Do they have alternates who can take those places, or not? It would suck to just miss out on qualifying for an event, and then see an empty lane because someone who did qualify decided not to participate at the last minute.

[Lovecat]

1 minute ago, Cherpumple said:

 It would suck to just miss out on qualifying for an event, and then see an empty lane because someone who did qualify decided not to participate at the last minute.

I'm sure the Swiss Men's Gymnastics Team would have quite a lot to say about that.  #thanksUkraine

[Brattinella]

7 minutes ago, potatoradio said:

Does anyone know who the announcer is for the swimming events and how to get him to calm down a bit? I can't understand a word he says with all of his shrieking and it's really annoying. OK, races are exciting, but you're not being paid by the scream, OK? 

That screamer would be Rowdy Gaines, he is famous for it.  He gets so wound up I think only dogs can hear him!

 

Ambrose "Rowdy" Gaines, IV (born February 17, 1959) is an American former competition swimmer, U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame member, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He is currently the chief fundraiser for USA Swimming as well as a swimming analyst for television networks ESPN and NBC including coverage of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, the London 2012 Summer Olympics,[1] and the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

Edited August 10, 2016 by Brattinella
Information added

[tanyak]

44 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

 I wish his girlfriend would put that poor baby to bed instead of using him as a prop for air time. 

Yes!!! I've been stopping myself from commenting because I can't stand Mommy Drive-bys, but now that you've opened the door... lol

I was lucky because I had a baby who could sleep anytime, any place, anywhere. I was so grateful I wasn't one of those parents who had to be at home at 7:30 every night because baby needed X, Y and Z to go to sleep. Clearly Boomer leans lil' Mr. Tanyak's way. However, I wish they would give the kid one night off. Surely there's a nanny or another relative who could keep him at the hotel. The  noise-canceling headphones wrapped around his head, the bright lights, the constant whirl of activity, it just seems like so much for his little system night in and night out. I know that Nicole and Michael know their kid best, but it just seems like a lot.

*drive-by over*

[potatoradio]

Quote

That screamer would be Rowdy Gaines, he is famous for it.  He gets so wound up I think only dogs can hear him

Ah - thank you. I guess with a name like "Rowdy," it makes sense. Let's hope someone named "Boomer" doesn't go into announcing in the near future... :)

[Lovecat]

When Phelps' swim cap blew out all I could say was, "I wonder if that's how he wound up with a baby."

[Sew Sumi]

17 minutes ago, potatoradio said:

Ah - thank you. I guess with a name like "Rowdy," it makes sense. Let's hope someone named "Boomer" doesn't go into announcing in the near future... :)

Well, there's Boomer Esiason, but he's in football.

[Kromm]

All I can say is I hope the pool for these events don't have the same maintenance guys as the diving/polo pools (where the "mystery" has finally been "solved" and their green water is because they "ran out of chemicals" and apparently didn't tell anyone). 

Edited August 10, 2016 by Kromm

[MVFrostsMyPie]

2 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I just keep thinking, "God, you are SCREWED if you wind up becoming a swimmer." For his sake, I hope he doesn't inherit his father's talent at all and does something else. A rower would probably be good if he winds up with Michael's body type.

It's definitely the end of an era. You could just see it on Phelp's face during the 20th gold medal ceremony for him- he's making his final victory lap.

On the other hand, I'm not counting Lochte out for 2020.

I hope he doesn't inherit his father's face either....

It'd be nice if Lochte came back. Most of the other dudes are too young for me (and very similar looking) for me to not feel dirty crushing on. 

[photo fox]

Lochte has said he's not retiring, and he doesn't believe Phelps really will, either. FWIW, he said the same thing after London and was proven correct. 

[BitterApple]

7 minutes ago, MattDuffysCat said:

 

It'd be nice if Lochte came back. Most of the other dudes are too young for me (and very similar looking) for me to not feel dirty crushing on. 

Lulz! I feel pervy crushing on teenagers, but if you're an adult male over 21, you're fair game.

[Kromm]

2 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I just keep thinking, "God, you are SCREWED if you wind up becoming a swimmer." For his sake, I hope he doesn't inherit his father's talent at all and does something else. A rower would probably be good if he winds up with Michael's body type.

It's definitely the end of an era. You could just see it on Phelp's face during the 20th gold medal ceremony for him- he's making his final victory lap.

On the other hand, I'm not counting Lochte out for 2020.

Is it really all that unthinkable that Phelps could change his mind AGAIN and show up again in 4 years?  He'd be 35.  Ancient by most sporting standards, but if he's a freak of nature it wouldn't be impossible. I doubt he'd do a whole range of events, but I could see him focusing on a specific distance.

Really he probably should just get out while the getting is good, but you never know with athlete egos.

[BitterApple]

1 minute ago, Kromm said:

Is it really all that unthinkable that Phelps could change his mind AGAIN and show up again in 4 years?  He'd be 35.  Ancient by most sporting standards, but if he's a freak of nature it wouldn't be impossible. I doubt he'd do a whole range of events, but I could see him focusing on a specific distance.

Really he probably should just get out while the getting is good, but you never know with athlete egos.

It'll be probably depend on how well he manages or mismanages his endorsement money.

[galaxygirl76]

3 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Lulz! I feel pervy crushing on teenagers, but if you're an adult male over 21, you're fair game.

Yup, heeeello Adam Peaty..

[BitterApple]

1 minute ago, galaxygirl76 said:

Yup, heeeello Adam Peaty..

I'm a sucker for a ginger with a British accent.

[kili]

Quote

 I wish his girlfriend would put that poor baby to bed instead of using him as a prop for air time. 

As a Mom, I know that if she did leave the poor baby at home, we can probably count on others soon saying "I wish his girlfriend would spend some time with that poor baby instead of leaving him home alone with some babysitter she's never met before. Why did she even have him if she can't be bothered to spend time with him?" and then when she stayed home with the poor baby people would start speculating that Michael and her had broken up.

Moms learn fast that we frequently do everything all wrong..

I don't get the NBC feed, but whenever CBC shows the baby in the audience, he seems content. If he's bawling his head off and upset, then he should probably go home. Does the baby frequently look upset?  If he's not, then he is fine where he is. And then he can say he was there when his father set all those records. 

It's not Michael's girlfriend's fault NBC likes to keep showing the baby. It's not even Michael's fault. NBC needs to learn to stop pounding themes into the ground because they soon annoy everybody.

In swimming news....is it just me or is the wealth being spread around a lot these games? Typically, there are two or three nations dominating everything in the pool, but this time, it seems like we are seeing a lot more nations winning medals. Or maybe it just seems like that to me because Canada is doing better than they have done in a while.

[Good Queen Jane]

Too cute. Ryan Lochte's grandma.

[Kromm]

1 hour ago, kili said:

NBC needs to learn to stop pounding themes into the ground because they soon annoy everybody.

NBC has been doing this for decades. If they were capable of learning, you'd think it would have happened a long time ago.  Ergo, they are not.

[selkie]

3 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I just keep thinking, "God, you are SCREWED if you wind up becoming a swimmer." For his sake, I hope he doesn't inherit his father's talent at all and does something else. A rower would probably be good if he winds up with Michael's body type.

 

 

Boomer is actually less in the spotlight than little Manon Bosquet-Manaudou, who is the daughter of the Olympic gold medalist who took down Janet Evans' 400 free world record and a regular on France's men's 4x100 FR team with a bunch of world championships hardware of his own. And the niece of the defending champion in the men's 50M free. I wouldn't be surprised if Laure made Manon take just enough swimming lessons to be safe in the water, and then gave her a nudge over to beach volleyball or something.

3 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

Quick question about the scheduling of the swimming events: is the order of events the same for all big meets, in which case it's up to the athletes not to overload their schedules and swim in events too close together, or do the officials make the schedule after they know who's competing in what event, and it's their job not to have someone swim in back-to-back events? Either way, some people seem to be cutting it pretty close (like Phelps last night), and it sounds like a logistical nightmare!

There are common multiple entry situations- lots of people who swim, say, the 100 fly will also swim the 100 free and an event program is drawn up to give what is likely the greatest number of athletes with multiple entries the most reasonable rest schedule throughout the event. So different sessions for the 100 fly and 100 free. But every so often you get weird doubles like Jessica Hardy in both the 50 free and 50 breast, which got put more or less back to back because no one ever does both, and she just had to deal with the quick turnaround.

2 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

Thanks for the info about scheduling! So, is it standard practice for people to scratch races at the last minute? Do they have alternates who can take those places, or not? It would suck to just miss out on qualifying for an event, and then see an empty lane because someone who did qualify decided not to participate at the last minute.

It's pretty common for last minute scratches at big meets. In terms of prelims alternates, meet entries were determined something like July 15 for logistics purposes. (credentials, travel documentation, etc.). Most countries don't have the depth to have more than two A time standard qualifiers in each events (USA, Australia, China, in general and a few other countries in some areas like the Japanese in breaststroke are the exceptions) and the way the athlete allocation went this year meant that there were pretty much no B qualifying spots after the A qualifiers and 'universality' spots filled 95% of pool swimming's quota spots. So a prelims scratch is pretty harmless in most cases, and they do not replace athletes at that point.

In the finals  and semifinals, there are two official alternate spots. A qualified swimmer who is not going to compete in the next round is supposed to officially scratch X amount of time before the event so the alternate can be notified and the lane filled. Part of the reason why Sun is seen as the sport's designated asshole is that he no-showed the final of the men's 1500M last summer rather than scratching before the deadline. So there was an empty lane in the championship final that could have otherwise been filled by the Faroe Islands' greatest sporting hero- Pal Joenson.

[KenyaJ]

2 hours ago, Kromm said:

Is it really all that unthinkable that Phelps could change his mind AGAIN and show up again in 4 years?  He'd be 35.  Ancient by most sporting standards, but if he's a freak of nature it wouldn't be impossible. I doubt he'd do a whole range of events, but I could see him focusing on a specific distance.

I wouldn't be surprised at all. Anthony Ervin is still winning Olympic gold at 36. There's no reason Michael and Ryan can't do the same in Tokyo.

[Cherpumple]

Thanks for all the details selkie! I was on swim team as a kid, and those meets were always in the same order, but the coach picked who participated in each, so I never much paid attention to how it all came together.

[legaleagle53]

17 minutes ago, KenyaJ said:

I wouldn't be surprised at all. Anthony Ervin is still winning Olympic gold at 36. There's no reason Michael and Ryan can't do the same in Tokyo.

Agreed.  As long as his body will allow him to compete, I see no reason for him not to be competing even as late as 2024 or 2028.

[Raachel2008]

9 hours ago, Superpole2000 said:

when swimming hands out medals like drug dealers handing out crack.

I see what you did here and I applaud.

[Sew Sumi]

Live Feed FTW! The site greeted me with a huge picture of a topless Nathan Adrian in a lounge chair with his medals draped across his forearm. Hello, Olympic Boyfriend! 

[Rinaldo]

Wow, I'm gonna get to hear the Kazakhstan national anthem!

That reminded me a bit of Manadou getting in ahead of Cullen Jones in 2012 -- sneaking up in a side lane (lane 7 in that case).

Edited August 11, 2016 by Rinaldo

[Ohwell]

Yay Kazakhstan!

[photo fox]

Not a swimmer or a swimming expert, obviously.  But the breaststroke seems so ridiculous.  It just looks so exhausting, heaving themselves up out of the water like that.

I always imagine it was invented by someone who kept losing with the other three strokes, and so came up with something they could win.  (There's lots of Olympic events like that, IMO.) lol

[KenyaJ]

Wow! When's the last time you saw a gold medal out of Lane 8? Congrats to Dmitriy Balandin and all the people of Kazakhstan! That was awesome.

ETA: I just saw that Kazakhstan pays $250,000 for a gold medal. Even more congrats to Dmitry!

And great swim, Simone Manuel! I love her so much.

Edited August 11, 2016 by KenyaJ

[Ohwell]

6 minutes ago, photo fox said:

Not a swimmer or a swimming expert, obviously.  But the breaststroke seems so ridiculous.  It just looks so exhausting, heaving themselves up out of the water like that.

I always imagine it was invented by someone who kept losing with the other three strokes, and so came up with something they could win.  (There's lots of Olympic events like that, IMO.) lol

Not a swimmer either, but the butterfly looks even more exhausting, lol

[selkie]

Outside smoke, as the American swimmers say.

Dear Rowdy- the men's 200 breast world record is a fluke and a half- a swim at a low key meet from a guy who has never replicated it, but it's not a soft record. If it was someone would have broken it between then and now.