Hansen was quoted as saying that he was (I'm paraphrasing) mentally
tied up in knots relating to the great competition suit controversy.
He said that he'd been spending the weeks before the trials
experimenting with every available suit/every serious choice. He
ultimately did go with the Lazr, but he had what was obviously, for
him, a disappointing swim in the 100 breast on Monday, even thought he
finished first. He obviously was disappointed in not breaking the WR.

I think that the 200 is going to be an important swim for him. I
think he's lost more than one race to Kitajima owing to mental issues,
as opposed to physical.

- Larry Weisenthal

On Jul 1, 2:50 am, "runns...@aol.com (Larry Weisenthal)"
<runns...@aol.com> wrote:
> Hansen was quoted as saying that he was (I'm paraphrasing) mentally
> tied up in knots relating to the great competition suit controversy.
> He said that he'd been spending the weeks before the trials
> experimenting with every available suit/every serious choice.  He
> ultimately did go with the Lazr, but he had what was obviously, for
> him, a disappointing swim in the 100 breast on Monday, even thought he
> finished first.  He obviously was disappointed in not breaking the WR.
>
> I think that the 200 is going to be an important swim for him.  I
> think he's lost more than one race to Kitajima owing to mental issues,
> as opposed to physical.
>
> - Larry Weisenthal

Seems like he would of had his suit issues sorted out awhile ago.

There's some truth to what you say on the mental side. At the last
olympics he lost the 100 when Kitajima had the dolphin kick. In the
200 it seemed like he went out too tentative. He does seem to hold
back a little bit when he might be better served by going out like a
madman - he's cerebral when he should be getting in touch with his
inner warrior. It's the Olympics for crying out loud: everyone is
going to be charging it so thinking your way through the race may not
get it done. Of course Kitajima is a formidable opponent. There are
times when Hansen may not be able to beat him.

On a side note - what is the deal with qualifying for the team? They
say Lochte still hasn't officially qualified. I thought second in
each event, except for maybe freestyle, is an automatic berth. I
realize freestyle is different because they have to fill slots for
relays and the number of slots depend on how many of the stroke slots
are taken by the same person. (i.e. Phelps)

-Eric

Meanwhile, Megan Jendrick finished second by 0.01s to win selection (Tara Kirk
was third). Formerly Megan Quann, she won the gold in Sydney in this event.

Lochte qualified by taking 2nd in the 400 IM. He's a cinch to swim on
the 4 x 200 relay, as well.

He appeared shell shocked after taking third in the 100 back; after
scratching from the 200 free (where he had a shot at a medal); so that
he could focus the day's efforts on the 100 back. Turned out not to
have been such a good move.

It was amazing to see Meghan Quann Jendrick finish 2nd. Nobody would
have predicted that. She sure has changed in 8 years. Whole new body,
but she's figured out a way to keep swimming fast. Aaron Peirsol
keeps figuring out ways to get his hand first to the wall.

Tomorrow's 200 IM between Coughlin and Hoff should be sensational.
Gotta go with Hoff, who is, in some ways, more impressive than Phelps.
I think that Hoff may very well swim the 800. Can you imagine if she
were to win the 200, 400, 800 frees? On top of both IMs?

But there are some great international swimmers this year, and I've
got a feeling that we'll see sensational swims from Chinese women whom
no one ever heard of before.

What a great month. US trials. Tour de France. Olympics.

- Larry Weisenthal

<runnswim@aol.com> wrote in message
news:92d577c0-1a1e-49a5-afc9-39aca2fcbb8f@q24g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> Lochte qualified by taking 2nd in the 400 IM. He's a cinch to swim on
> the 4 x 200 relay, as well.
>
> He appeared shell shocked after taking third in the 100 back; after
> scratching from the 200 free (where he had a shot at a medal); so that
> he could focus the day's efforts on the 100 back. Turned out not to
> have been such a good move.

I wondered at this. Wouldn't Lochte have had to make top 6
in the 200 free to make it on to 4 X 200 relay? Or do coaches
have discretion to pick from the pool of swimmers?

> But there are some great international swimmers this year, and I've
> got a feeling that we'll see sensational swims from Chinese women whom
> no one ever heard of before.

If you are right, then the rumors will start immediately.

-Eric

On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 22:30:27 -0700 (PDT), "runnswim@aol.com (Larry
Weisenthal)" <runnswim@aol.com> wrote:

>
>What a great month. US trials. Tour de France. Olympics.
>
>- Larry Weisenthal

I hope the TdF goes better this year. Seems it took you almost a year
to recover from the Landis debacle! :-)

Dave Clary
Corpus Christi, TX
http://davegetsfit.blogspot.com
Diet, Exercise, and Golf!

A few comments.

Hansen's 200 was one of the great meltdowns in history. Apparently
disappointed at not breaking the WR in the 100, Hansen took out the
first 100 of the 200 final in 1:01.67. He still led after the 150, but
then totally died, going 36:15 for the final 50, finishing 4th in
2:11.37. If he'd have just swum the same time in finals as he'd gone
in semifinals, he'd have qualified first. As it is, Kitajima looks to
have clear stroking to the gold, while Hansen is waiting for the
medley relay. Hansen's split differentials reminded me a lot more of
Junior Olympics than of Olympic Trials. Classic over-excited kid,
taking it out too fast.

What happened to Hansen has to be the ultimate pits. It's one thing to
go a lifetime best and finish 3rd by 0.02 seconds, or some such thing,
but to know that you could have qualified in your best event had you
just done a training swim, as opposed to trying to break the world
record by a full second, has to be the worst of the worst.

Swimming is very mental. Both training and racing. The body has to be
strong, but the mind has to control the body.

With respect to the question about the relay, the coaches have the
discretion to swim anyone on the relay who is on the Olympic team.
Lochte will swim in the 4 x 200 final and Phelps will swim in the 4 x
100 final, even though neither was top 6 in the finals of the 200
(Lochte) or 100 (Phelps), respectively.

With regard to the TdF, I shed no tears for Landis. He acted guilty
from the beginning, just like Marion Jones. Landis switched from
sounding and looking like a depressed felon, caught in the act, which
was his initial reaction, to sounding like someone falsely accused
only after a bunch of people on the internet started coming up with
theories to explain a false positive test. But, when those didn't pan
out, Landis then switched to an attack the lab defense, which was
vastly more justified in the case of Armstrong than in the case of
Landis. And the stuff regarding Greg LeMond was beyond bizarre.

I still love the Tour. It'll nicely fill up the days between the
Trials and the Olympics.

- Larry Weisenthal

>
> With regard to the TdF, I shed no tears for Landis. He acted guilty
> from the beginning, just like Marion Jones. Landis switched from
> sounding and looking like a depressed felon, caught in the act, which
> was his initial reaction, to sounding like someone falsely accused
> only after a bunch of people on the internet started coming up with
> theories to explain a false positive test. But, when those didn't pan
> out, Landis then switched to an attack the lab defense, which was
> vastly more justified in the case of Armstrong than in the case of
> Landis. And the stuff regarding Greg LeMond was beyond bizarre.
>
> I still love the Tour. It'll nicely fill up the days between the
> Trials and the Olympics.
>
> - Larry Weisenthal

The thing about Landis I don't understand is that he tested positive for
testosterone one day and negative the next day. I read where a physician
said that testosterone in the amounts he supposedly was positive for just
couldn't "clear" the body overnight.

Pat in TX
>
>

On Jul 2, 1:30 pm, "runns...@aol.com (Larry Weisenthal)"
<runns...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> But there are some great international swimmers this year, and I've
> got a feeling that we'll see sensational swims from Chinese women whom
> no one ever heard of before.
>
> - Larry Weisenthal

How many Chinese women from their 2006-2008 national team have you
"heard of before" ?