Day Five Sunday August 10

Beijing, China A stone’s throw from the Water Cube!

Once again, the weather is hot and humid. Similar to Indiana, where it isn’t the heat that causes discomfort, it is the humidity that makes us miserable. Anyone with any swimming experience knows that the pool environment only adds to the moisture in the air. When the humidity approaches 100% despite the ability to sweat it does no good because the sweat doesn’t evaporate. I am trying to pretend that I am subjecting my pores to a well deserved cleansing as an “alternative traditional Chinese preventive medical practice”. Sort of like flushing out junk that has collected through prolonged disuse. My sweat glands should be very clean by now and by the end of the week they should absolutely sparkle. When I get home I should be fully acclimated to the heat and will suggest to Nan that we “go green” and turn off the air for the remainder of the summer. I am sure she’ll be with me on this.

There is a different feel here today as a result of the tragic events of yesterday. Once again, a random act of violence has cast a subtle pall over the Games. If you haven’t heard, members of the USA Volleyball family were attacked last night resulting in one American fatality and one serious injury. This took place near Tian’anmen Square outside of the Forbidden City. The government is very embarrassed and the people here are universally saddened by this bizarre act. But this could have happened anywhere in the world at any given moment and it is my hope that the Games will continue and the athletes and fans will continue to compete in the Olympic Spirit. There is no evidence whatsoever that the attack was directed toward the USA or its athletes or fans.

Today is the first day for final events in swimming. Men’s and women’s 400 IM and Men’s 400 free. Hopefully you have already seen the results. Michael came and did what was expected. He is clearly in a class by himself. He looked smooth through the fly and back and then appeared to notch it up in the breast. But his last length in the free simply left the field behind. It is clear that he is not only a national obsession in the States but the Chinese absolutely love him. When he steps onto the pool deck the crowd erupts. He is so genuine and gracious that people here adore him.

His main competition was thought to be Ryan Lochte. That didn’t happen. Ryan did not look as confident and or as aggressive as he did at the USA Trials.

The other ‘great race’ had to be by Kristy Coventry. And of course the Australian Stephanie Rice. Katie swam much better later in the 400 free. But in that race our highest qualifier, Ziegler, just didn’t look good at all. I certainly hope that she comes out today with her best swims of the year. She will need it if she hopes to medal.

My travel companions provide a running commentary that helps to keep me on top of what is happening. These guys (Jim Steen, coach at Kenyon College, Steve Junbluth , coach at Colgate in NY, and Arthur Albiero from the U of Louisville) are good guys to sit next to. Between them, it seems they know 90% of the swim world. Of course yesterday we added a couple more coaches to our group. Head coach George Bush (both of them) and his FBI entourage joined the spectators at the swimming venue.

As I mentioned, Michael delivered a world record performance and the crowd (including Coach Bush) was appreciative.

And the other big news… Dara Torres earned another Olympic Medal at age 41 years. She had already been the oldest swimmer to receive a medal in swimming. She pushed her record forward about another 8 years! I suppose some people would perceive a silver medal performance by the USA a failure. But that would be wrong when you consider the talent on the deck. Wow.

Here are some other highlights:
Three successive Olympic records in the 100 back for women. Zueva from Russia set the record first. Then Nakamura from a small country off the coast of China reset the record. OK…. She was from Japan! And she can swim! Finally, Coventry set the record one more time at 59 seconds flat. Nat Coughlin looked good and qualified fourth at 59.69 seconds. Fast enough at this point.

In the men’s 200 free former IU swimmer Colin Russell now swimming for Team Canada qualified 5th at 1:46.58. Wow. Double wow. Record holder Michael… (do we need a last name anymore?) qualified fourth fastest in 1:46.48 seconds. It looked smooth and conservative. Just as it should at this point.

In the 100 breast for women, the USA didn’t look especially strong. But we have to remember that this is the early round. Soni looked strong but Jendrick seemed to struggle a bit. Jones from Australia was fabulous and set another Olympic Record at 105.64. The slowest swimmer in this event… which I’m betting you won’t see on TV went 1:24.26 seconds.

Men’s 100 back: There were six heats of the 100 Back for men. Matt Greevers swam fast enough to break the Olympic Record at 53.41. Piersol looked as if he was conserving energy and yet also went fast by qualifying for the semis in 53.65 sec. The slowest time of the evening was 1:04 plus … so there is a realistic shot of competing in the Games (if you live in Papua New Guinea.)

Women’s 400 free : As mentioned earlier, Katie Hoff looked great in the 400 free. A new Olympic record was set by Adlington who hails from the island nation of Great Britain. This record has been on the books since 1988 set by Janet Evans. Look for a really fast time to win this event. We shall see shortly.

One interesting observation made by Coach Steen has to do with the total lack of any commercialism on the grounds of the venues. There are no billboards in the pool, on deck, in the hallways or anywhere. It is subtle and refreshing. The Chinese government has made it a policy to specifically not overwhelm and confuse the Chinese people by over-exploiting the fans. They are also protecting the official sponsors by building individual venues for each major sponsor. You can go to these buildings and see displays and shows. much like a world’s fair or EPCOT in Florida’s Disney World. The technology on display in these corporate venues is truly amazing. The big sponsors are limited in number… Volkswagen, Omega, Adidas, McDonalds, Visa, Coca Cola and only a couple more.. The Organizing committee even has limited wearing apparel with logos or other manufacturers such as Nike etc. It is all about control!