Swimming is one of the biggest sport of the Olympics and has always been a part of the modern Olympics programme in one form or another. It was in the 1908 London games that the rules had been formalised and that the competition was held in the pool as we are accustomed to today. In this Olympics will also showcase a marathon 10km event as the only outdoor event.
Swimmers compete in a pool that's 50m long, 25m wide and 3m deep that has been divided into ten spererate lanes where the two outer lanes aren't used for competition. There are four different kinds of strokes used in olympic swimming: Breaststroke, Backstroke, Freestyle and Butterfly, which all apperar as individual, medley and relay events. The athletes in London will be competing for a total of 34 gold medals, 16 each for the Men's and Women's competition in competition ranging from 50m to 10km.
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So before talking about some of the names to look out for I would like to explain the title of this post. On the 22nd of July there was a terrorist attack in Norway where 77 people where killed, most of them younng kids on a political summercamp. This affected the entire nation deeply and while this was happening the World Swimming Champiuonships was underway in China. Alexander Dale Oen, Norway's best swimmer throughout time swam to the country's first ever WC gold only three days after the attack. After the semi-final he pointed to the flag on his swimming cap and later said "I'm honoring those who died". After winning the next day on the 100m Breaststroke final he broke down in tears on the podium as the national anthem was played and in the interview later when he started talking to the Norwegian press he completly broke down in tears. As one of those who lost somebody I can't explain it properly, but what he said and did affected me and many other people deeply. On the 30th of April this year he was training in Flagstaff, USA when he was found dead on his bathroom floor. This was such a blow to the country, here was the now national hero who had shown the emotion the country was feeling was now dead. My first reaction was that this couldn't be real, but then slowly you realised it wasn't and it brought back alot of the sorrow from last summer. In the European Championships later all the Norwegian athletes had is initials A.D.O. printed on their swimming caps. It's believed he died from a heart defect which is becoming an increasing problem as performers train even harder from an even younger age. For me it's going to be wierd that he's not going to be at the Olympics as that was something the entire nation had been waiting for. However the entire swimming community has been incredible in showing their support for the incredible athlete and man Alexander Dale Oen was and he will forever be remembered in his home country as one of the greatest athletes and public figures of all times. I know the Norwegian swimmers going to the Olympics will be racing with him in mind.
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So looking forward to the Olympics there are many favourites to talk about, but before that let's talk abit the biggest star of them all, Michael Phelps. So for anyone who doesn't know Michael Phelps holds the record for most gold medals one in one Olympic games with eight and the record for most gold medals of all-time with 14. In the 2008 Beijing games he set out to win eight gold medals and made his dreams come true becoming the greatest olympian off all time winning gold in every event he entered. It's in these events he is now in 2012 also favourite to win: 100m and 200m Butterfly, 200m freestyle, 200m and 400m individual medley, 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay, 4x100m medley relay. If he wants he will take medals in all these events easily.
So because of the number of medal events let's talk about some of the favourites I'm looking forward to seeing instead of going through the list of events:
- Cesar Cielo, 50m Freestyle and Butterfly/100m Freestyle (World Champion/Bronze WC, World Record)
- Sun Yang (CHN) 1500 Freestyle (World Champion, decimated the field setting a new World record)
- Terese Alshammar (SWE) 50m Freestyle and Butterfly (World Champion).
- Rebecca Soni (USA) 100m Breaststroke (World Champion)
These four will surely take at least one medal each in my opinion and is somebody for you to have your eyes on during the games. They all have the talent, skills and experience necessary to win Olympic gold and don't be suprised if they all end up winning.
The Men's relay is all about the USA team and I think they will take all the gold medals, but for the Women's competition I think that it's a bit more open with the teams from The Netherlands, USA, Australia and China fighting for the medals.
As with many sports the sport of swimming is unpredictable and there's a chance that champions may fail and give rise to new and unexpected stars in the swimming world. Micheal Phelps might be a machine, but even he might buckle under the immense pressure put on him by the entire world. One thing is for sure nothing is decided yet and it will be a thrilling few weeks with swimming during these games with athletes producing better and better times as the games draw closer.
So who is your favourite to win? think Michael Phelps will fail? leave a comment below
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