Author: Thomas Conroy (Page 27 of 28)

      Phelps is Three of a Kind: Wins Gold in 200 Freestyle

      August 12, 2008 /

      Three races, three gold medals, and three world records.

      Michael Phelps is dominating the swimming competition at the Beijing Games, as he won the 200-meter freestyle race with a world record time of 1:42.96. He led throughout the race, with at times a full body length advantage ahead of silver medalist, Park Tae-hwan, of South Korea.

      Phelps now joins fellow Americans Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis with nine career gold medals in Olympic competition. And he is 3-for-3 in his quest of breaking Spitz’s 36-year-old record of seven gold medals in one Olympiad.

      There’s no rest for the wicked, as Phelps goes for his fourth gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly tomorrow evening. Oh by the way, he holds the world record in that event as well.

      Swimming, The Olympics

      By a Fingertip: U.S. men win Gold in 4×100 Freestyle Relay

      August 11, 2008 /

      That’s what it took.

      Trailing French sprint star, Alain Bernard, going into the final turn, American Jason Lezak pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in Olympic history to capture the gold medal in the 4×100 freestyle swimming relay race at Beijing.

      This was the biggest obstacle in Michael Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals in one Olympiad. He set the pace for his relay team, as they shattered the world record by a full four seconds with a time of 3:08.24. The victory was also bittersweet because Bernard had guaranteed his team would “smash” the U.S. squad in head-to–head competition. After the defeat, he left the pool in stunned silence.


      Check out the video here.

      General Sports, Swimming, The Olympics

      Olympic boxing trying to get up off the mat

      August 7, 2008 /

      For nearly a quarter-century, amateur boxing has been an Olympic sore spot or the embarrassing relative you prefer not showing up at your summer party. Corruption, financial woes, and strange outcomes have all contribute to the negativity toward the sport.

      For fans, the memories of Oscar De La Hoya’s run through Barcelona or the amazing 1976 U.S. team dominating the competition in Montreal are distant ones. Instead, they remember Jong-il Byun 67-minute sit-in ring protest of corrupt judging that caused a ringside riot in Seoul. Or they remember the jaw-dropping “by decision” losses that kept the gold away from Roy Jones Jr. and Floyd Mayweather Jr. . U.S. fighters now assume that the international system has an unspoken bias against them.

      The International Olympic Committee (IOC) became frustrated with boxing after the Athens Games, and decided to freeze its share until the hierarchy cleaned up amateur boxing. And changes did come, as Taiwan’s Ching-Kuo Wu took over as the International Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) leader from Anwar Chowdhry, who ran the sport for 20 years.

      Wu’s intention was to turn amateur boxing into a dynamic, respectable competition. In the last 18 months, he has hired an independent auditor to revamp the computer scoring system and establish a process to assign referees and judges to bouts.

      The United States leads all nations in Olympic boxing medals, but has only won one gold medal in the last two Summer Games. Changes had to be made at the top of USA Boxing, and Jim Millman was named CEO of the organization last summer. A longtime sports marketing executive, Millman fixed USA Boxing’s financial woes and restructured its approach to Olympic competition.

      Millman renewed ties with De La Hoya by inviting the Golden Boy to assist with establishing the training philosophy for the team. De La Hoya will also use his connections to get USA Boxing more attention in upcoming years.

      Millman then brought back head coach Dan Campbell, who revived the residency program after a 24-year absence. The program consists of living year-round at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado without any family members present. This caused friction with several boxers on the squad. But Campbell contends the residency program fosters teamwork and improves their adaptation to international competition, which has been a struggle for U.S. boxers.

      Recently, USA Boxing reinstated Luis Yanez (light flyweight) to the squad after being thrown off for missing workouts. He was absent for most of the team’s training sessions in June, and later Yanez admitted his mistakes to Campbell, who urged USA Boxing to reinstate him. The 19 year old won a gold medal at the Pan-Am Games last year, but Yanez succumbed to the pressure of the residency training program.

      The U.S. team is expecting to rebound with success in Beijing, as two-time Olympian Rau’shee Warren and Demetrius Andrade both won titles at last year’s World Championships. Right now, Russia is the juggernaut of amateur boxing with Thailand, United States, and Cuba fighting for second place.

      Stung by recent defections, Cuba is heading to Beijing with their least experienced squad in decades. At the last Olympics, five Cubans were gold medal winners, but none of them will fight in this tournament. Three boxers (Yan Barthelemy, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis) defected in December of 2006 and two (Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara) were caught trying to defect last year in Brazil. Both were subsequently thrown off the squad as punishment. They may be inexperienced but they are still Cuba, so expect a formidable roster.

      They were not on the radar in Sydney or Athens, but experts are projecting U.S. Boxing to shine in the 2012 Olympics in London. And depending how things break, they could be successful in China as well.

      Boxing, General Sports, Television, The Olympics

      The American men swim towards gold

      August 4, 2008 /

      The first week of the Summer Olympics in Beijing could be highlighted by possible U.S. dominance in the men’s swimming competition. Some experts have projected the team to win 11 gold medals in 17 events. All eyes will be on the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley at the National Aquatic Center, as two American stars, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, will face-off.

      Phelps is in the prime of his swimming career, and will attempt to break Mark Spitz’s record of capturing seven gold medals at a single Olympics. He has qualified for five individual events and all three relay races in Beijing. Phelps’ grueling program will begin with the 400-meter IM, a race that requires the swimmer to use all four main strokes (freestyle-backstroke-breast-butterfly) in the event.

      Widely considered the most dominant swimmer in U.S. history, Phelps fell short of Spitz’s mark at the Athens games by winning six gold and eight overall medals. And even if he captures only four gold medals at Beijing, Phelps will have more first-place finishes than any other Olympic competitor. But this has not been Phelps’ best year to date.

      Last Halloween, Phelps injured his right wrist by falling on a patch of ice after a workout outside the University of Michigan campus pool. This injury was the first bump in Phelps’ road to excellence and he was out of the water for two months. But the rut continued as Phelps lost to fellow American Peter Vanderkaay in the 200-meter freestyle race in his much-anticipated return to the sport.

      One of the major obstacles that he’ll face in Beijing will be competing in the morning due to NBC’s desire to broadcast the event in primetime. But Phelps simply shrugs off the inconvenience. This is the Olympics – if you can’t compete, then there’s something wrong with you. Once the Beijing games are behind him, Phelps will have plenty of time to decompress from the stress of training.

      He is non-committal about swimming in the 2012 London Games, but if Phelps does compete, he may reduce his workload. Phelps will be four years older (27) and is unsure how his body will react to swimming multiple events over an eight-day period. If Phelps is going to break Spitz’ record, then it will mostly likely come this August in Beijing (and not in London).

      Ryan Lochte is arguably the principal threat to Phelps’ medal count in Beijing. Despite winning two medals in Athens, Lochte is still an unknown outside the swimming community, so this could be his breakout year. Lochte and Phelps are close friends, and they text message each other several times during the day. They met at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials, and later Phelps held off a charging Lochte for the gold in the 200-meter IM in Athens.

      Lochte has picked up the intensity in his swimming since the last Olympiad. He defeated a rusty Phelps in the 200-meter IM this past November in Atlanta, and then went on to defeat top international competition at an Olympic warm-up meet in England. This sets up a classic Olympic match (a la Ben Johnson vs. Carl Lewis) in the 200-meter IM at Beijing.

      One person denied a spot on the team was perennial Olympian Gary Hall Jr.. He was attempting to become the oldest person to win a gold medal in swimming for the United States. It would have been Hall’s third straight first-place finish in the Olympic 50-meter freestyle race. In all, Hall earned 10 medals, five gold, three silver, and two bronze in Olympic competition. He had a flair for the dramatic; he would walk onto the deck and used his hands as six-shooters in gunning down his opponents. Hall often complained about how the U.S. coaches often gave preferential treatment to Phelps, and urged the swimming world to speak openly about performance-enhancing drugs being used in the sport.

      Other Olympians to watch are Cullen Jones and Garrett Weber-Gale. Jones became the first African-American swimmer to break a world record on the victorious 400-meter freestyle relay team at the recent Pan Pacific Championships in Canada. Jones also set the American record in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 21.59 secs. at the U.S. Olympic Trials, only to see it broken a day later by Weber-Gale with a time of 21.47 seconds.

      The main competition for the U.S. should come from Australian team in the individual events, while the relay team will have an eye on the French squad, especially in the 4×100 freestyle race. It will be a treat to see all the action live and in living color during the Olympic evening broadcast. Expectations are high for the men’s U.S. swim team; their performance could set the tone for the entire American contingent.

      The Islanders’ Dilemma: The Bizarre Ownership History of Charles Wang

      July 25, 2008 /

      In the grand tradition of larger-than-life New York sports impresarios, Charles Wang is running his organization his way. He has never apologized for his approach to building a business. Whether in sports or in the computer world, Wang has gone about it in an unorthodox manner.

      Questionable decisions are nothing new for Wang’s Islanders, as the New York press has deemed the team’s front office as “The Long Island Lunacies.” For years, Wang has employed Mike Milbury to run his hockey franchise, once considered the worst general manager in the NHL. He traded away star G Roberto Luongo for basically a bunch of unknowns, and then advised Wang to sign C Alexei Yashin to a 10-year, 87.5 million dollar contract in 2004 and G Rick DiPietro to a 15-year, 67.5 million dollar contract in 2006.

      Wang thought he would be praised for his willingness to spend money; instead, these strange contract signings have become an albatross around the franchise’s neck. And questionable decisions are not limited only to the team’s personnel moves.

      The Islanders hired Neil Smith last year, only to be fired by Wang after 40 days on the job. In the ensuing press conference, Wang felt he had “philosophical differences” with Smith in running the organization. Smith objected to Wang’s preference to run the organization by committee. He wanted sole authority in decision making, while Wang sought the opinion of his coach and two advisors, Bryan Trottier and Ken Morrow, before making a personnel move. In the end, Wang hired Garth Snow as the GM, after he retired as the team’s back-up goaltender. Coming into this season, the Islanders will have their fourth coach behind the bench during Wang’s ownership reign.

      Most hockey writers have described Wang as being “quirky” or “eccentric” during their dealings with him, while the business world has called him a ruthless corporate raider, who devours small companies and spits out their bones. His business career has been marked with controversy.

      In building Computer Associates, Wang was engaged in numerous corporate takeovers that were followed by the firings of top management and key employees. His strategy was to force employees of the acquired company to sign an employment agreement on-the-spot at their initial meeting. Employees who refused or asked for a third party to review the agreement were immediately fired. Wang demands blind loyalty from his employees.

      Since becoming majority owner, Wang’s number one objective is developing the Lighthouse Project. It is the transformation of the Nassau Coliseum and the 77 surrounding acres into a business community consisting of a five-star hotel, condominiums, conference center, and an athletic complex to serve as the Islanders’ practice facility.

      The problem with the Islanders is that there are too many chefs in the kitchen. Charles Wang needs only to look at his own team’s history to find the answer to getting his team back on course to winning a Stanley Cup. The franchise began operation in 1972, and developed into a dynasty in the early eighties by winning four straight Stanley Cups from 1980-1983. How did the Islanders become such a juggernaut? Well, they had one architect in Bill Torrey and one taskmaster behind the bench in Al Arbour. Together, they built the franchise from the ground up. Right now, Wang has too many voices in his ear giving him too many solutions for his franchise’s problems. Come up with one plan and one direction, then move forward.

      NHL

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