With the Final Four just finishing up, and everyone’s attention turning to the Masters this weekend, something got left out of the headlines. At the ‘07 World Championships last week, Michael Phelps won 7 gold medals - setting 5 world records in the process. Would likely have been 8 golds, but the men’s 4×100 medley relay was DQ’d for an early jump.
200 Individual Medley, 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Fly, 200 Free, and 2 relays (4×100 and 4×200 Free). That’s really amazing.
That’s a lot of swimming over a couple of days. You don’t just swim each race once, you have to work your way through the prelims and get into the finals. Most swimmers specialize in one stroke, and race in 2 or 3 individual events and a relay or 2 featuring that stroke. In the IM events, you’re using all the different strokes - and every muscle in your body.
Also, he didn’t just inch past some of the previous world records - he crushed them. He bettered his own mark in the 200IM by about a full second. In the 200 fly, nearly 2 seconds. This is a sport where the difference between gold and bronze is measured in tenths or hundredths of seconds.
2 Comments
Hmmm, how long do you think it will be before he gets busted for steroids?
Posted April 4, 2007 at 12:44 pm by Judy.
Speaking of the Masters…
Axel’s on Saturday?
Posted April 4, 2007 at 2:26 pm by Les.