Everyone agrees that a major contributer to such impressive improvements worldwide is technology... so why not use it...

Which reminds me of something Sebastian Coe said in Auckland recently; he was watching the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch on TV and after the legendary 1,500 between Filbert Bayi and John Walker, his father/coach said, 'What you have just seen has changed middle-distance running forever.'
(1500 starts at 2'10" in the video)

Relay, Relay, Relay, Oi! Oi! Oi!

Craig Lord from Beijing on swimnews on the swims from last night: 'Suit? What suit? Anyone seen a suit fly by? No, me neither.'


Men's 4 x 100 freestyle relay.

Time to make the final in Beijing, Melbourne and Athens:

* 2008: 3:13.69
* 2007: 3:18.15
* 2004: 3:17.97

Impact of the Beijing heats on all-time top 20 - new entries 2008 time compared to nation's best in 2007:

* 1 3:12.23 USA 3:12.72
* 2 3:12.36 FRA 3:14.68
* 3 3:12.41 AUS 3:14.26
* 4 3:12.65 ITA 3:14.04
* 5 3:12.73 SWE 3:16.09
* 6 3:13.06 RSA 3:14.77
* 7 3:13.68 CAN 3:16.91
* 8 3:13.69 GBR 3:18.96
* 10 3:14.36 NED 3:19.36
* 12 3:15.41 NZL 3:21.73
* 15 3:16.16 CHN 3:18.94
* 16 3:16.80 SUI 3:19.22
* 19 3:17.28 JPN 3:18.83

That's 12th fastest all -time! After qualifying in 16th place on the last chance with an Olympic Trials time-trial, then having to wait until early June when William Benson hit his 'B' time, then nailbitingly waiting again until the final FINA deadline to ensure no-one else had bumped them off, the quartet excelled themselves last night by finishing 11th and breaking the NZ record by over 2 seconds.

Mark Herring 23.73, 49.73 (2007 flat start best 50.69)
Cameron Gibson 22.76, 48.07 (2007 flat start best 49.88)
William Benson 22.89, 48.65 (2007 flat start best 51.58)
Orinoco F-B 22.97, 48.96 (2007 flat start best 51.73)

Truly terrific. Cam's time was the 6th fastest from any team and bodes well for the medley relay.

Finals Day 1

Well, no Kiwi's swimming on the first morning of finals and semi's :(

Phelps is one for one and how! 4:03! Grandma Torres split 52.44! Quite fast really.

FINA points - here you go; for today's completed events the all-time top 10 average and the points score using the current tables is as follows:

• Men's 400 IM - old average 4:12.18, new 4:09.29, 1,035 pts.
  
• Men's 400 FR - old average 3:44.31, new 3:42.69, 1,022 pts.
  
• Women's 400 IM - old average 4:35.83, new 4:33.00, 1,031 pts.
  

So a 29 point shift across the three events; better look to some serious training plans and sets for the next 12 months.

Just hanging on at number 10 in the 400 FR is Kieren Perkins' world record from the Rome World Championships in 1994 - 3:43.80. Still on my list of all-time greatest swims, it changed the way people looked at 400 FR. Which reminds me of something Sebastian Coe said in Auckland recentle; he was watching the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch on TV and after the legendary 1,500 between Filbert Bayi and John Walker, his father/coach said, 'What you have just seen has changed middle-distance running forever.'

Furry Beard

Amanda Beard really knows how to do the media thing. Check out this.

Worst Pools in the World

swimwatch, a creation of David Wright and regularly updated by daughter Jane, has a current article on the worst pools in the world. Four out of the published five are in New Zealand! Everyone to their opinion I guess, but why is the top listed one called Clive?

Michael Phelps

... and one on Michael Phelps here.

Dara Torres

Very interesting article in TIME magazine.