Beijing Olympics 2008: 4x100 Men's Swimming Finish

[Gokul43201]

Um, who? Phelps? And what did he do...and do as well?

Oh, nothing new. Won another gold and broke another WR.

 

[~christina~]

Oh but then they would start throwing their feces at the judges...it wouldn't end well for them.

Quite a hazard. lol

 

[Gokul43201]

The Serbs (for Cavic, who finished second) are challenging Phelps' win in the 100m fly. The margin was 0.01s, and from the top view, you'd never have thought Phelps actually won. The underwater cam makes the case for Phelps though.

Curiously, Cavic's coach will be moving soon to U Mich, to replace Phelps' coach.

Edit: The challenge has been turned down by the review panel, after confirmation by other cameras. The seventh gold is in the bag.

Now it's only the 400m IM relay between Phelps and a record 8 golds. That's coming up in about 24 hrs.

And what a great semifinal swim by Dara Torres (41) in the 50m free.

 

[Gokul43201]

Anyone watch the men's track - 100m heats? Usain Bolt is insane! He basically stopped running about midway through and cruised to a ridiculous 9.92s first place finish in his quarterfinal heat.

 

[tribdog]

Thank god for diving. I'll admit that the new swimsuits are form fitting, but I like to see a little skin. Jingjing the diver is hot.

 

[marlon]

I find it hard to believe that only 1 swimmer is so much better than the rest of the WORLD in over 3 different styles.

I really wonder what's going on here ?

marlon

 

[Gokul43201]

Anyone watch the men's track - 100m heats? Usain Bolt is insane! He basically stopped running about midway through and cruised to a ridiculous 9.92s first place finish in his quarterfinal heat.

Bolt won the gold and set a new WR.

BEIJING (AP) -- Usain Bolt capped his stunning rise to stardom with an Olympic title Saturday and, without even really trying, set a world record in the 100 meters.

With world champion Tyson Gay out in the semifinals, the 21-year-old Jamaican seemingly only had Asafa Powell to beat, but when he looked around and realized he was all clear with 30 meters to go, he coasted and still set a world record of 9.69 seconds.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/08/16/bolt.100gold.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

 

[Gokul43201]

Very neat frame-by-frame of the 100m fly (looking up, Phelps on left, Cavic on right) :

http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0808/oly.phelps.sequence/images/00.37110-mid.jpg[/URL] [/PLAIN]

http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0808/oly.phelps.sequence/images/00.37112-mid.jpg[/URL] [/PLAIN]

http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0808/oly.phelps.sequence/images/00.37114-mid.jpg[/URL] [/PLAIN]

http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0808/oly.phelps.sequence/images/opgm-37116-mid.jpg[/URL] [/PLAIN]

http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0808/oly.phelps.sequence/images/opgm-37117-mid.jpg[/URL] [/PLAIN]​

 

[D H]

Another first for these Olympics: BSOD.

http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/08/bsod_nest_main2.jpg

From http://blogs.computerworld.com/the_biggest_blue_screen_of_death_ever"

No... Ah stuff; there I was watching the Olympics opening ceremonies when I thought, for just a second, that I saw a BSOD during the run up to the lighting of the Olympic flame. It turns out I hadn't been spending too much time at the keyboard. It seems that during the lighting ceremony that Windows really had fouled up on the world's largest stage.​

 

[Gokul43201]

If you want to find out if Phelps will make history by winning his eighth medal...tune in now. Phelps swims in the individual medley (third split - butterfly) in about 5 - 10 minutes.

Kudos to Darra Torres, 41 (2 Silvers today, in swimming the relay immediately after the 50m freestyle) and Constantina Tomescu, 38 (Gold in the women's marathon).

 

[Gokul43201]

WHHHHOOOOOOOOooooo!

My quote of the day:

C'mon Jason... C'mon Jason... C'mon Jason... C'mon Jason... C'mon Jason... C'mon Jason... C'mon Jason... C'mon Jason... yaaaay!

You have to have seen it.

 

[chasely]

WHHHHOOOOOOOOooooo!

My quote of the day:

You have to have seen it.

That was fantastic...I was yelling at my TV the entire last 50 m.

 

[jtbell]

Then there was Bolt in the men's 100m dash. If he hadn't let up at the end he could have had a 9.59 instead of the 9.69 he actually got.

 

[Moonbear]

WHHHHOOOOOOOOooooo!

My quote of the day:

You have to have seen it.

Looking at the frame-by-frame you posted above really reinforces the impression I've gotten watching Phelps live...he's got some almost creepy way his shoulders seem put together, almost like they aren't fully attached. It looks strangest when he's standing out of water to me. I wonder if that's what gives him the advantage, a strange shoulder joint with just a bit extra range of motion than other swimmers to get longer, more efficient strokes in while swimming.

 

[BobG]

I find it hard to believe that only 1 swimmer is so much better than the rest of the WORLD in over 3 different styles.

I really wonder what's going on here ?

marlon

Large feet, a very good dolphin kick, and better lungs.

The dolphin kick thing underwater started with David Berkoff in '88 for the backstroke and some other breaststroker took that idea to the extreme where he'd go about half the length of the pool before surfacing and actually starting the breastroke. They finally put in a rule where you had to surface within so many meters (15 I think).

All the swimmers do this on the start. It gets harder to do this on flip turns later in the race since you need a lot of oxygen for your muscles. Phelps is about the only one who can still do this for any kind of distance by time he gets to his last flip turn. That's a huge advantage by time you get to lengths of 200 m or more.

The amazing thing is all the close calls turned out his way, because he really isn't that far above the performance of his competitors. The world records sound impressive, but everyone is beating the world records. This is the first competition where you've combined a "fast" swim suit with a very fast pool. The pool is very deep, plus it's actually 10 full lanes wide. That reduces the turbulence in the water and makes for incredibly fast times by all of the swimmers.

 

[BobG]

Then there was Bolt in the men's 100m dash. If he hadn't let up at the end he could have had a 9.59 instead of the 9.69 he actually got.

That was flat out insane. I think that time and the way Bolt ran it will probably be the most incredible feat of the entire Olympics.

Most of the track world records are pretty old except for the 100m record. The 100m dash record has been tied or broken 7 times just since the last Olympics. Part of that progression has to be technology related.

 

[Gokul43201]

I wonder if Bolt didn't plan on that. He can now break his current record quite easily again. Some would call that smart marketing.

 

[Gokul43201]

Looking at the frame-by-frame you posted above really reinforces the impression I've gotten watching Phelps live...he's got some almost creepy way his shoulders seem put together, almost like they aren't fully attached. It looks strangest when he's standing out of water to me. I wonder if that's what gives him the advantage, a strange shoulder joint with just a bit extra range of motion than other swimmers to get longer, more efficient strokes in while swimming.

I've heard that he is able to hyper-extend many of the joints in his body.

Best link I could find from a quick search: http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/300663

The amazing thing is all the close calls turned out his way, because he really isn't that far above the performance of his competitors.

He would have lost the 100 fly if Cavic had simply kept his head down for the last second. (see last two frames posted before)

 

[chasely]

I'm tuning into some of the events tonight. I don't get the gymnastics floor exercise.

 

[porums]

These days I and my wife are so busy packing, we can't catch up with any sport games, we only enjoy hightlights at midnight.

 

[JasonRox]

China missed a couple in gymnastics! Damn!

I'm cheering for China.

 

[BobG]

It'll get lost in the mix, but Nigeria's bronze in the women's 4x100m Relay has to be a contender for the biggest upset of Track & Field.

They were 18th in Olympic qualifying where only the top 16 qualify for the Olympics. Two qualifying teams (Cuba and Finland) withdrew, elevating Nigeria to the last qualifier for the Olympics.

Then they win a bronze when only two of the top 5 teams in the world actually finish the final (US, Jamaica, and Great Britain all dropped batons in either the semi's or the finals). It looked like Jamaica took out Great Britain in the next lane during their botched hand-off in the final.

The 4x100 is a wild race. In 6 races between both the Mens and Womens, a third of the field either dropped their baton or were disqualified for running out of the exchange zone.

The bibs with USA written in crayon were a fitting touch on a night where both US teams wound up dropping the baton.