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.
